7 Most Amazing One-Take Video Clips

What is it about one-take video clips that capture our imaginations? Perhaps it's because we've become so cynical about video editings that the pure, raw form of a single, uninterrupted shot truly stands out.

Well, whatever the reason, one-take video clips sure take the Interweb by storm. Here is Neatorama's list of the 7 Most Amazing One-Take Video Clips:

1. I Gotta Feeling Lip Dub

[YouTube Clip]

Let's start with one that's making the rounds on the Internet: a lip dub by the students of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In this video clip, co-directed by Luc-Olivier Cloutier and Marie-Eve Hebert, 172 communications students lib-synched the song I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. The whole thing was shot in a little more than 2 hours.

In an interview with Canada AM, Cloutier gave a little background:

Cloutier says it was difficult to coordinate 172 students in one take. "The problem was we didn't know before how many people should be there for the dub so we cannot plan," he said.

Cloutier said the video was eventually shot in two takes. Despite some minor glitches, the pair is proud of the final product. "We decided to keep this take because (of) the vibe," said Cloutier.

2. Flagpole Sitta Lip Dub

[Vimeo Clip]

If you like that, here's a clip done after work one day by the people of Connected Ventures (they're the bunch of geniuses behind College Humor, Busted Tees and Vimeo). Looks like a fun place to work! Oh, the song is Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger.

3. Nyle's Let The Beat Build

[Vimeo Clip]

A lot of these one-take videos are music videos - and for good reason: one-take videos are hard to shoot, so those synchronized with music has got to be made by people with mad skillz.

This music video Let The Beat Build by rapper Nyle, directed by Chadd Harbold and produced by Last Pictures and 194 Recordings, even did one better: they recorded the audio simultaneously with the film. Mind = blown.

4. Daft Hands - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

[YouTube Clip]

Austin Hall of Frecklestudios probably has the most watched hands ever. Since its debut two years ago, his YouTube clip Daft Hands has been watched over 33 million times!

In that video, Hall played Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger entirely with his two hands. Maybe it's easier for you to watch the clip above than for me to explain in words how he did t. (Previously on Neatorama here)

Since then, the song has spawned countless imitations, including Daft Bodies and the Daft Parodies (Erhm, the last one is kind of rude. You've been warned).

5. Forrest Gump in One Minute, in One Take

[CollegeHumor Video Clip]

Let's take a break from music video clips. Last February, Joe Burgess, Rocco Sulkin and Will Tribble from the University Of York Filmmaking Society got friends to act out Forrest Gump in one minute, filming the whole thing in one take. (Previously on Neatorama here.)

From an interview with NewTeeVee Station:

The one-take angle would make you assume that there was a lot of rehearsal and coordination involved, but that wasn’t the case — according to Tribble, most of it was ab-libbed. “I didn’t know until the last minute that I was going to be in [Gump],” Tribble said, “but then they said, ‘OK, you’re Lieutenant Dan’ and there I was.”

Since then, the trio have sweded other films including Kill Bill, Star Wars, and their latest, 28 Days Later.

6. Here It Goes Again by OK Go

[CollegeHumor Video]

What's even better than a one-take music video? How about a one-take music video with treadmills! Here's the astounding clip Here It Goes Again from Ok Go, directed by Trish Sie of BigBadTrish.

7. Cog

[YouTube Video]

Last on the list is the grand-daddy of all one-take videos. Titled Cog, the two-minute long Rube Goldbergian commercial for Honda Accord was produced by the London office of Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency and directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan back in 2003. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this may just be the best commercial of all time.

To the horrors of Honda engineers, Bardou-Jacquet took apart the seventh-generation Honda Accord, of which there were only 5 hand-assembled models in the world (at that time), and made an astonishing commercial out of its parts.

It took 606 takes to shoot Cog and when it was completed, the video clip was shown to the bigwigs at Honda who remarked that it was a very nice computer generated imagery. When they were told everything was real, they were floored - and if you see it, you would be, too.

More about Cog at Wikipedia