History Main / LeaveTheCameraRunning

* Most of [[Creator/JeanLucGodard Jean-Luc Godard's]] film ''Film/{{Weekend}}'' could be said to be this, but especially the ''11-minute'' tracking shot of a traffic jam. This sequence also has the added effect of [[{{Troll}} driving the viewer nuts]]. Which, to be fair, was Godard's point, he wanted to showcase [[IdleRich the excess of the rich.]] It also creates a very effective MoodWhiplash as the audience shares the various drivers' boredom and aggravation at the pointlessness of all this... until we finally see that the traffic jam was caused by [[spoiler:a horrific car accident.]]

** ''Film/{{Elephant}}'' features lots of unnervingly voyeuristic shots of the schoolkids walking down hallways (and walking...and walking...). For most of the film it's very tedious, until the scene where Benny sneaks throught the corridors to stop the shooting and it turns quite suspenseful.

* The soon-to-be-released experimental film ''Ambiance'' takes this to [[UpToEleven its logical apotheosis]]. The film is ''30 days'' (yes, '''days''') long, and was supposedly done in one take. Even the trailer released is ''7 hours long'' and is nothing but the two actors in the entire film doing cryptic stuff as the camera stays in one spot.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', the password to get into Belch's base is... waiting three minutes. No, you don't SAY "waiting three minutes." When the guy asks you the password, you just stand there. And probably go and get a sandwich and drink.

* Series/EscapeAtDannemora'' features several instances of extremely lengthy close-ups of a character's face. One early scene fixates on Sweat's face as he listens to rock music on his headphones while lying in bed. Episode 6 has one on Tilly's face as she looks at Lyle amorously.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Leisure Hive" opens with a notorious scene of the camera panning along a row of abandoned deckchairs and huts on a dingy winter beach for a whole minute and a half before revealing the TARDIS.

* A hidden track repeat happens at the end of Music/DavidBowie's album ''Music/DiamondDogs'', where one second of the song "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" keeps looping; this was the result of a ThrowItIn moment ([[http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Albums/DD/COTECSF.html the tape got stuck]]).

* A hidden track repeat happens at the end of Music/DavidBowie's album ''Music/DiamondDogs''; this was the result of a ThrowItIn moment ([[http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Albums/DD/COTECSF.html the tape got stuck]]).
* The final track on the album ''The Beginning Stages of The Polyphonic Spree'' is called ''A Long Day''. It lasts about 40 minutes. It mostly sounds like the CD got stuck, but the chords change occasionally. Strangely hypnotic.

** ''Film/FireMaidensFromOuterSpace'' features lengthy shot of, just to name a few: An airplane landing; a car driving out of town to a distant observatory; people standing around staring at a clock, awaiting a rocket launch; one scene leaves the camera running for so long after the dialog stops that the actors all look expectantly at the camera!

* The video and DVD releases of the sketch "comedy" film ''Film/LooseShoes'' tack on over 20 minutes of blank tape to the end of the film to stretch the running time.

It was made to protest censorship in that people would have to watch the entire thing to make sure there was nothing obscene in it.

* A 2016 experimental film [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Paint Drying"]] which goes on for ''ten hours'', even longer than Andy Warhol's "Empire". It was made to protest censorship in that people would have to watch the entire thing to make sure there was nothing obscene in it.

* In ''VideoGame/HaloReach'''s post-credits epilogue, the camera on Noble Six's discarded broken helmet shows his final moments from third person. No, you don't get to see his face.

** ''Film/InvasionOfTheNeptuneMen'' shows about a minute of nothing but radio signals causing Crow to say that few movies can do this and still be good and that this...isn't one of them.

* ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' has several. Before the main credits, it opens with the "overture," which consists of music and stars (white dots) flying by on a black backdrop for three minutes.[[note]] The stars were added for the 2001 "Director's Edition". The overture was meant to be played with the theater curtains closed, as in older "roadshow" presentations.[[/note]] There is also a several-minute cruise James Kirk takes around the remodelled ''Enterprise'' in a shuttlepod to show off the redesign (although as it was the first look at ''Enterprise'' on the big screen, many viewers acknowledged it was WorthIt). The infamous one is the V'Ger encounter, which goes on and on. The special edition DVD actually makes it ''longer'' by including CGI shots that are from shots that were planned or incomplete in the original film. The film was [[FanNickname nicknamed]] ''Star Trek: The Motionless Picture'' because of this trope.

* Parodied in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' where Strong Sad proudly (or at least as proud sounding as he can get) says his film school minor was "Holding on wide shots for too long". And then there's a good 5-second break until the scene cuts.

* Neko Case's ''Middle Cyclone'' ends with "Marais la Nuit" - that's GratuitousFrench for "marsh at night", and appropriately enough, the track consists of half an hour of frogs croaking, as recorded outside of the farm she owns. On the vinyl version, it's edited down to half that length, but still takes up the entirety of side four of a double album. At least it's kind of relaxing.

* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'' at one point leaves the camera to point at an empty hallway, and nothing happens for about 10 seconds until one of the main characters walks in. However, the entire film is filmed and edited to look like it's [[TheOner filmed in one take]], and this was used to switch the focus to an another character without cutting away.

* ''Anime/ExcelSaga''s unaired final episode contains a few unnecessarily dragged out shots with little happening in them for comedy. There's one where Excel, who has switched bodies with Hyatt, spends a long time staring at her reflection as she realizes what has happened. There another one where Excel and Hyatt have fused together into one body and Hyatt starts repeating "How exciting" like a BrokenRecord for quite a while before they realize they don't know how to un-fuse. These moments also help to deliberately pad out the episode's runtime to be too long for a regular time slot.

* Creator/SofiaCoppola uses this trope in her films. ''Film/LostInTranslation'' has an uninterrupted scene of Bob playing golf in between press events. ''Film/TheBlingRing'' has a minute-long scene of Marc smoking and dancing while webcamming, a recreation of the original online video. ''Film/{{Somewhere}}'' starts with several minutes of watching a sports car doing laps from a fixed position, while ''Film/MarieAntoinette'' ends with a shot of the titular character’s ransacked bedroom.

* Creator/SofiaCoppola uses this trope in her films. ''Film/{{LostInTranslation}}'' has an uninterrupted scene of Bob playing golf in between press events. ''Film/TheBlingRing'' has a minute-long scene of Marc smoking and dancing while webcamming, a recreation of the original online video. ''Film/{{Somewhere}}'' starts with several minutes of watching a sports car doing laps from a fixed position. ''Film/MarieAntoinette'' ends with a shot of the titular character’s ransacked bedroom.

* Creator/SofiaCoppola's ''Film/{{Somewhere}}'' starts with several minutes of watching a sports car doing laps from a fixed position.

[[folder:Film]]