The long take is an interesting topic to cover and there is scope to expand this into a dissertation, especially if you come at it from different angles e.g. edited and unedited approach. ‘Edited’ would include works like 1917 (Mendes, 2020) or Rope (Hitchcock, 1948), where shots are stitched together in post to create a ‘oner’ and ‘unedited’ could be films like Russian Ark (Sokurov, 2002) or Victoria (Schipper, 2015), where the film is literally captured without cuts in camera? If so, would you be able to discuss this for 12000-words?
Identify specific areas surrounding approach to the long-take related to the works you can find that use them. Spielberg and Edgar Wright are two directors that love the long-take (they call them ‘oners’) but there are lots of other directors who utilise them too (e.g. John Woo: Hard Boiled (1992) . These such directors don’t use them enitirely as an approach (with a mix of ‘cutscenes’ too) and will present work that could run for a minute or more/less but would still qualify for your discussion once you’ve identified a specific question for your dissertation title.
Look at how the long takes benefit works. Why do people use them? What effects can be achieved that enhances the enjoyment of viewing for the viewer? Have some long takes been used that simply don’t work or aren’t as well achieved as they could have been? What tricks are relied upon by other departments (not just camera) that enable long takes to work (e.g. Hard Boiled corridor shooting scene, with set redressing)? How might scenes have been shot more ‘conventionally’ to better/worse effect and do long takes need movement to achieve the intended impact by the director or actors (e.g. Hunger (McQueen, 2008) ‘priest conversation scene‘)?
