MovieChat Forums > Letyat zhuravli (1960) Discussion > All One Shot - Hand-Held Camera on Bus a...

All One Shot - Hand-Held Camera on Bus and Street

posted 15 years ago by Sproketer
13 replies | jump to latest

I was amazed at one specific shot that others may have already mentioned, but I feel deserves its own topic thread. When the scene starts, we are on a bus filming the female lead with a hand-held camera. Suddenly the bus stops and we follow the girl off the bus into a large crowd, and as we follow her as she makes her way though the crowd, frantically trying to get through, the camera interprets her own turmoil at not getting home quickly by shifting with her and following her right to the edge of a parade of tanks, and as she tries to get across, the camera suddenly, totally unexpectingly, rises, as if on a crane, and shoots the parade as it approaches towards us below, and the girl runs off through the tanks to the horizon. It was all ONE SHOT, and it was breathtaking, especially since this is not a shot I ever see in a film from the 1950's. It was brilliant. I wish I could see how the crane shot was done without the cameraman shifting or hopping up in any noticible way. As an audience, we have sense-memory of the transition, and this was seamless.

[–] SenteZa 15 years ago

It certainly was absolutely stunning.

[–] daflauta 15 years ago

It's one of Kalatozov's great tricks. He makes you feel like a hummingbird following the scene close and suddenly you jump up (or down) and stop where and when you want to. Urusuyev is the genius behind the camera, together with Kalatozov's creativity. Definitely a masterpiece.

[–] black_hound_13 15 years ago

See his 'Cuba Soy' which also contains some stunning one shot takes. There is one where it drops down a storey, waltzes through a crowd then submerges in a pool! Another where it traverses a room then exits through a second storey window! In 1964...no cgi!

[–] mCihhh 13 years ago

Have you seen the opening shot from Touch of Evil (1958) ?
It's another great and memorable scene.

- inevertoldyouwhatidoforaliving -

[–] Sproketer 13 years ago

Yes, it was a very memorable scene. Worth watching again.

[–] garyahampton 13 years ago

I watched this film last night and was amazed by the same aspects that have impressed a lot of reviewers on this site. I was constantly reminding my self that this film is over 50 years old. Here's the photographic moments that impressed me most :

The shot as Boris runs up the staircase in Veronika's apartment block with the camera following up through the central space.

The camera raising above the recruits as they march away from the collection point.

The flashes of the bombs when Veronika is alone in the apartment with Boris's cousin (this put me very much in mind of the night scena from Schindler's List when the Krakow ghetto is being liquidated).

The final shot when the troops finally come hope on the train. Beautifully filmed in black-and-white, but that scene would have been particularly wonderful if filmed in colour.

"Do you want to go to the toilet, Albert?"

[–] PsychoDingo 13 years ago

Good calls. The shot of Boris on the staircase is particularly amazing.

Another part that stands out in my mind, while not just a single shot, is the spectacular scene with Veronika running to the train station.

Baseball lies to us seductively, and we know we're being seduced, and we don't complain.

[–] Bob_Brooker 10 years ago

Nothing tops the funeral tracking shot in Soy Cuba

https://youtu.be/sYFXv6bDIY8?t=1m51s

__________
Last movie watched: The Cranes Are Flying (8/10)

[–] Sproketer 10 years ago

That was pretty amazing! I would like to seek out this film. My grandparents would travel to Cuba once a year in the late 1920's right through the Thirties, and they took along a 16mm film camera, and I have the film they shot, I had it transferred to DVD last year, and Soy Cuba has a bit of the flavor and vice versa.

[–] Bob_Brooker 10 years ago

Nice.

Btw, consider yourself immortalized, see quote on http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EpicTrackingShot under section "Film - Live Action". 

__________
Last movie watched: The Cranes Are Flying (8/10)

[–] Sproketer 10 years ago

Tanks, uh, I mean THANKS!

[–] samoanjoes (57624) 8 years ago

It's a memorable shot.

[–] MoviesSuck (964) 4 years ago

Yes, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I honestly can’t think of another film with such beautiful and creative (not to mention symbolic) camerawork. It really is breathtaking stuff.