With this Strange Days post, 10 years on and to the minute, we begin closing the curtains on our "Single Take Titles" series. If one of your favorites wasn't featured, please let us know what we missed.

In the comments readers have mentioned Goodfellas and Russian Ark. For the purposes of this series the latter film qualifies as its opening is uncut, though its actual titles fall on black before the shot begins. However, this beginning is quickly overshadowed by the incredible achievement of the entire film being shot as a single 96-minute Steadicam take.

There is something about the power of single take shots, Steadicam or otherwise, wherever they fall in a movie's timeline. In fact, we do intend to feature the single take scene that inspired this feature and it is not an opening sequence (but it is connected with one Martin Scorsese).

“The Steadicam is a combination of several large pieces of equipment, worn on the operator’s body that support the camera. The design of the equipment allows for the operator to walk and move about, without translating his or her footsteps or other vibrations into the lens, and subsequently the shot.” —Steadishots.org

A jitter-free alternative to expensive and laborious tracking platforms, the Steadicam “revolutionizes the ways films are shot” (Stanley Kubrick). The apparatus’ XYZ axis of motion is an easily rotated flotation device for the director’s vision. It is reliant upon the camera operator’s athletic grace and sense of composition. It is a visual language.

Our thanks to Afton Grant, a Steadicam owner and operator from New York, who’s excellent Steadishots website was an invaluable resource in the creation of Single Take Titles, Part 3, and who’s commentary highlights each film here.