That's not what it's called: The Oner

"The Oner", presumably a pun on the word "one", is a trope about a really long continuous shot. As the page itself points out, the real-world term for this is Long Take, which is presently a redirect.

This is a pretty common trope, but it has a pretty low wick count (174) and inbounds (52); arguably this is caused by using a weird term like this. I don't think we should be using meaningless made-up words for things that have a clear established term in regular English, so I propose to swap this with the redirect.

According to Google and Urban Dictionary, "Oner" is (1) a triple marathon run, (2) a radio transmitter, or (3) a 100-pound note. None of that is related to the trope.

edited 10th Jan '12 9:28:34 AM by Spark9

I think it's supposed to be a play off of "The Loner" actually, but that's neither here nor there.

I support a rename, mostly because it's an unintuitive name that is easy to forget.

edited 10th Jan '12 9:16:40 AM by 32_Footsteps

I support the rename. Especially if there's a preexisting term for this thing.

In my opinion, if The Oner is a pun, it doesn't really work.

"Long Take" should be the default name for the trope.

What is the difference between Long Take and Epic Tracking Shot? Or Long Take and Leave the Camera Running? It seems like this:

Long Take/The Oner: A really long shot in which the camera might move, or might not move.

Leave The Camera Running: A really long shot in which the camera definitely doesn't move.

Epic Tracking Shot: A really long shot in which the camera definitely moves.

Do we need these fine distinctions in meaning?

edited 10th Jan '12 11:07:49 AM by Vidor

Leave the Camera Running is when there's a long shot of not much going on. It's usually done as Padding, because it's cheap and easy to do, but can be considered "artsy".

Long Take is when there's a single, uncut shot of a normal scene. Rarely done because it's expensive and difficult to accomplish (if one thing goes wrong you have to redo the entire take).

Epic Tracking Shot is when the camera tracks through several locations is what seems like a Long Take, but isn't, because it'd be physically impossible (eg, zooming in on the Milky Way, then the solar system, then Earth, then North America, then New York City, then a specific building, then a specific apartment, then a specific room).

The defining trope-ish characteristic of Long Take appears to be "we got all this action in one continuous shot without screwing up". Here is Know Your Meme's analysis in terms of Web Original stuff.

Epic Tracking Shot seems to be a sometimes-subtrope involving that particular style of camera work.

Leave the Camera Running Needs A Better Description but I think it may not be directly related. It seems partially defined by a lack of action, and/or ignoring The Law of Conservation of Detail to produce a certain effect.

As for The Oner, I seem to remember people defending it as a pre-existing term, but I may be remembering wrongly: in any case Wikipedia and the link counts don't appear to bear that out. I'd prefer Long Take, One Take or One Long Take.

I support a rename to Long Take.

^^^Epic Tracking Shot includes several examples that are already cataloged on The Oner (Touch Of Evil, The Player, and Children Of Men, in particular).

edited 10th Jan '12 3:53:57 PM by SeanMurrayI

The Woo! (jk)

It is called a oner.

There was a call to reopen this one. Practically speaking, it's not gonna happen. Joss Whedon used this term in the Serenity DVD commentary. Fast Eddie's a browncoat. Do the math.