The One Take Film Challenge is a filmmaking challenge which takes place in collaboration with the Galway Theatre Festival.
The idea is to test filmmakers to make a film under the restrictions of Theatre. So similar to how in a theatre production, when the actors take to the stage, they have to keep going no matter what happens and roll with the punches. Same in the one take, when you start shooting, the actors have to roll with it and keep going.
With a one take, there’s a chance of the film feeling static if it’s shot on a stationary tripod. And so it’s good to either have a lot of movement in what is being shot, or create movement by either shooting on a gimbal / dolly / slider or shoot with multiple cameras.
Films can be shot on multiple cameras, and can be cut between in the edit, but shots can’t be moved on the timeline. So when editing it, you’re almost treating it like a live transmission, where all the cameras and sound are sync’ed up on the timeline and and you cut between cameras as needed.
Rehearsals are the most important element, so that all actors know where they are supposed to be during the shoot, the camera people know where they need to be and the sound people and others know where to be so they’re not in view of the camera.
Here are some examples of previous One Take Challenge Films
Barry Fahy – Please Forgive Me
Matthew Blayney – Dispatch
Little Cinema – Hostage
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