How These One-Shot Movies & Shows Were Made

How These Movies & TV Shows Were Made In a Single Take

Welcome to MsMojo, and today, we're diving into how these movies and TV episodes used cinematic magic to capture their events in a single take — or, at least, make it look that way.

“Review”

“The Bear” (2022-)
You don’t know the meaning of stress till you’ve worked in a restaurant… or watched “The Bear”. Over the course of 20 nervewracking minutes, Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy and his staff at The Beef are forced to contend with an overwhelming, increasingly chaotic workday. Series creator Christopher Storer, who also directed from a script by co-showrunner Joanna Calo, admitted that the idea to film “Review” in one long take originated only a few weeks before filming. Said Calo, “Having a penultimate episode where things fall apart is very Structure 101. Our dialogue is so stripped back, you find the need to let your camera do more work.” Filmed in at most five takes, Storer and his crew carefully preplanned the route that cameras would need to take, keeping the cast’s positions in mind. Series star White mused that the one-take method “really lends itself to the story and where the characters are at because the tension is building so quickly we don't give the audience a break from it. There's no reprieve.”

“Victoria” (2015)

You likely haven’t heard of this pulse-pounding German crime thriller, and that’s a shame. Filmmaker Sebastian Schipper’s breathtaking heist movie follows the titular Victoria as played by Laia Costa, a Spanish barista who has recently emigrated to Berlin. Victoria’s seemingly innocent night on the town with a new potential suitor takes a dark turn — which could potentially upend her entire life. “Victoria” is the rare film that is actually shot in a single, continuous take, rather than being edited to look that way. Shot from 4:30 to 7am on location in Berlin on April 27, 2014, attempts were made to shoot “Victoria” in separate takes, but director Schipper was dissatisfied and rejected them. Working from a 12-page script and mostly improvised dialogue, the filming of “Victoria” went down to the wire, with the third and final take being the end result.

“Adolescence” (2025)

This isn’t the last project by British filmmaker Philip Barantini you’ll see in our video today — but it’s probably the buzziest. Debuting to critical acclaim and waves of social media buzz, this Netflix original miniseries depicts a disturbing criminal case unfolding across four, hour-long, one-take episodes. Like “Victoria”, the four episodes of “Adolescence” were, indeed, shot in meticulously planned and rehearsed single takes. Cinematographer Matthew Lewis, in speaking to Variety, revealed that, for a one-take episode, “you can’t do a shot list, so we didn’t have one. We mapped the area we were using and looked at how the camera would move within it, and we rehearsed it like a dance, between me and the cast.” Lewis also revealed that the occasional mishap caused entire takes to be lost, with only some allowing for the take to continue. Series star Stephen Graham said that each episode took about three weeks to shoot — yeah, we believe that.

“The Oner”

“The Studio” (2025-)
It kind of goes without saying that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s “The Studio” is pretty meta, set in a lightly fictionalized version of the real-world film industry, with celebrities often appearing as themselves. Case in point: the series’ second episode, filmed in a panic-inducing 25-minute long take, is about the making of a complex one-take shot… and just how precarious that can be. Co-directors Rogen and Goldberg, who strove for accuracy and precision, were adamant that they capture a real golden hour and accompanying sunset, which initially proved difficult given their filming location. Said Rogen, “We broke [the script] up into four 10-page chunks and we would rehearse each chunk from like 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and then shoot from 5 to 6:30.” Doing that made it possible to more seamlessly hide the stitching together of shots, creating the illusion of a single take. Movie magic, indeed!

“Boiling Point” (2021)

Okay, so you’ve survived the “Review” episode of “The Bear”. Now, how about an entire film, shot in one take, and set in the kitchen of a restaurant? That’s what director Philip Barantini’s nail-biting drama asks you to imagine. Barantini, who went on to direct “Adolescence” for Netflix, intended to film eight full takes, but much like the operations of real-life restaurants, the filming of “Boiling Point” was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Filmed in the real-life East London restaurant Jones & Sons, a Time Out interview with its owner Andy Jones revealed that “The restaurant was closed during the week of filming and on weekdays during the three-week rehearsal period, but opened on the Saturdays and Sundays.” Jones, a heavily fictionalized version of whom is portrayed in the film by Stephen Graham, also noted that “A few of my staff were extras in the film. My manager Chloe O’Brien was heavily linked to the producers, and we catered for everyone on set as well.”

“Russian Ark” (2002)

Sometimes, a one-take sequence can be tense and intimate, like on “The Bear”. Other times, it can be sweeping, grandiose, and even fantastical — just look at this experimental, international co-production. Shot entirely in a single take at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, and filmed through its protagonist’s POV, the making of “Russian Ark” involved over 2000 actors and three orchestras. A spellbinding journey through Russian history, the fourth and final take ended up as the finished film. The world’s second-largest art museum after the Louvre, the State Hermitage Museum would only remain closed for a day, disallowing a complete dress rehearsal. According to cinematographer Tilman Büttner, crew members would build and disassemble sets just offscreen. Said Büttner, “I didn’t have a diagram on the camera, nobody could tell me where we were going or what was happening. I really did commit the whole thing to memory.”

“1917” (2019)

Oscar winner Sam Mendes’ thrilling World War I drama won Best Cinematography at the 92nd Academy Awards — and it’s fairly easy to tell why. Roger Deakins’ fourth collaboration with director Mendes (of “American Beauty” and “Skyfall” fame), the film tells the story of two young soldiers who scramble to deliver a message in a race against time. According to CNN’s Thomas Page, “Scale models of production designer Dennis Gassner’s sets, built on a backlot at Shepperton Studios and on location up and down the UK, were used to choreograph performances and camera movements ahead of time.” Although often said to be filmed and edited to produce the appearance of a single take, the film is actually split into two sequences: morning and evening. The film’s climactic scene, in which George MacKay’s character runs across an active battlefield, required certain crew members to dress as soldiers to preserve the illusion. Requiring complex choreography and over 500 extras, this scene helps us understand Mendes’ lack of interest in doing another one-take film.

“Birdman” (2014)

Arguably the film that singlehandedly reignited public interest in the idea of a “one-take” project, director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s surreal psychological satire also revitalized Michael Keaton’s career with an Oscar nomination. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, a longtime friend of Iñárritu’s, openly feared that no film had ever been made in the way that the director had envisioned. Lubezki’s fears came true; said Iñárritu, “There was no room to improvise at all. Every movement, every line, every door opening, absolutely everything was rehearsed.” Iñárritu also noted that production and post-production almost needed to be done simultaneously, and the film’s editors were highly involved in shooting. In fact, the filmmakers were so conscious of how the film needed to be shot, that even the sets were built with the one-take motif in mind. Said steadicam operator Chris Haarhoff, the production of “Birdman” was “a type of dance where everyone would hopefully try to peak all at the same moment”.

Which one-take film or episode impressed you the most? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!