Movies

A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.

Film

In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot. Takes of each shot are generally numbered starting with "take one" and the number of each successive take is increased (with the director calling for "take two" or "take eighteen") until the filming of the scene is completed.

A one-take occurs when there is only one chance to get it right; for example, a special effects shot featuring a destructive explosion.

Film takes are often designated with the aid of a clapboard; the number of each take is written or attached to the clapboard, which is filmed briefly prior to the actual take. Only takes which are vetted by the continuity person and/or script supervisor are printed and are sent to the film editor.

Some film directors are known for using very long, unedited takes. Alfred Hitchcock's Rope is famous for being composed of nine uninterrupted takes, each from four to ten minutes long. This required actors to step over cables and dolly tracks while filming, and stagehands to move furniture and props out of the camera's way as it moved around the room. A camera operator's foot was broken by a heavy dolly during one intensive take, and he was gagged and hauled out of the studio so that filming could continue without interruption.[1] The eight-minute opening shot of The Player includes people discussing long takes in other movies.

Other directors such as Stanley Kubrick are notorious for demanding numerous retakes of a single scene, once asking Shelley Duvall to repeat a scene 127 times for The Shining. Charlie Chaplin, both director and star of The Gold Rush, did 63 separate takes of a scene where his character eats a boot -- in reality, a prop made of licorice -- and ended up being taken to the hospital for insulin shock due to the high sugar intake.^[2]

In other cases, it is the actors who cause multiple takes. One fight scene in Jackie Chan's The Young Master was so intricate that it required 329 takes to complete, and most Jackie Chan films include the most humorous of the outtakes from filming during the end credits. Director Bryan Singer tried for a full day to get his desired shots of the cast of The Usual Suspects behaving sullenly in a police lineup, but the actors could not remain serious and kept spoiling the takes by laughing and making faces. In the end, Singer changed his plan and used the funniest of the takes in the final movie to illustrate the contempt the criminals had for the police. During the filming of Some Like It Hot, director Billy Wilder was notoriously frustrated by the retakes required by Marilyn Monroe's inability to remember her lines.

Charlie Chaplin did 342 takes of a scene in City Lights (1931).

The feature-length film RUSSIAN ARK consists of a single take done on digital video.

Music

In music, a take similarly refers to successive attempts to record a song or part. Musical takes are also sequentially numbered. The need to obtain a complete, acceptable take was especially important in the years predating multi-track recording and overdubbing techniques.

Different versions of the same song from a single recording session are sometimes eventually released as alternate takes of the recording; indeed, alternate takes of songs recorded by The Beatles were some of the most sought-after bootleg recordings by the band, before their official release as part of The Beatles Anthology.