Entire "Birdman" movie features one continuous shot

Writer: Erny Suzira

Michael Keaton starring "Birdman" will be made up of one continuous long take.

2 Aug – It has been revealed that the upcoming film, "Birdman" helmed by Mexican film director, Alejandro G. Inarritu will be made up of one continuous long take without any edits or cuts. How is that even possible?

Technically, it is impossible, but, "Birdman" cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki has some tricks up his sleeves.

Based on HitFix reports, the film was edited and constructed to look like one long, uninterrupted shot.

Similar to Lubezki previous Academy Award Winning film, "Gravity", a film directed by Alfonso Cuaron, director of "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban", "Gravity" was shot as if it was taken in extended sequences and was manipulated to look as if the shots were uninterrupted and unedited, much.

Lubezki who also worked with Cuaron on the Mexican drama film, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" commented to HitFix about his continuous shots, "From the time where we started doing "Y Tu Mamá También", we started experimenting with these long scenes that have no intercuts. And for some reason we felt very comfortable doing it. It's hard technically, but the payoff is enormous. It allows the audience to get immersed in the movie."

This kind of trick is not something new considering that Alfred Hitchcock did the same magic trick on his 1948 thriller, "Rope" which was also constructed to look like a single shot through the usage of hidden cuts in which reel changes were made on the camera.

Moreover, Alexander Sokurov also used the same trick on his 2002 historical film, "Russian Ark" which only utilised a single shot.

Cuaron who is a close acquaintance of Inarritu teases fans by telling Capture Mag that the film we see will be "a film shot in one continuous sequence-shot and it's a masterpiece."

Wonder if Lubezki who has previously won several awards for Best Cinematography will be able to nail this upcoming film for another one?

"Birdman", a black comedy drama film features Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Merritt Wever.

The film is set to release in U.S. on 17 October 2014 and on 22 January 2015 in Singapore. It is yet to receive a Malaysian release date.