Film nerds love extend takes or long takes. Do you know what I’m talking about? If you’re a film geek you do but for the rest of you we’re talking about a single shot in, apparently, one take. These days 15 seconds between cuts in an edit feels interminably long. We’re used to cuts of 2 or 3 seconds or less. So why do filmmakers love long takes so much? For one thing we appreciate how much work went into that apparently effortless video or part of a film. It might look effortless and free-form but the choreography involved both of the action and the camera, especially if the camera is moving, is just mind-blowing. What happens if you get to minute 4 of a 5 minute take and someone screws up? On a normal shoot and edit you can just cut around it but on a single take everyone and everything has to go back to ‘mark’ and you start again.

Case in point is this video, “Go All Day” which is a collaboration between Gatorade and The Berrics  and starring professional skateboarder and Gatorade athlete Chaz Ortiz. The risk of the single take is that you impress you filmmaking friends but no one else. This video transcends that restriction and you really feel like you’ve gone on a journey and seen a complete story. Mucho kudos to the filmmakers and here’s another way a mainstream company can get their name out in an unconventional way so props to Gatorade too.