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This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

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One-Take Wonder

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"You know the other great thing about that story? First draft. Fuck you, Hemingway!"
— Randy Feltface, "Randy Writes a Novel"

When rehearsing and performing a scene or sequence it is often done multiple times in case there is a blooper in the first good take or trying to figure out the right tone by playing with multiple options, often referred to as the "safety" take. However, when a performance is so phenomenal or so genuine that another take would be deemed superfluous (or there is logistical issues where there isn't enough money to blow up another building in the background), it becomes famous for getting it right on the first try.

Compare All or Nothing, Throw It In!, and One-Scene Wonder. May overlap with The Oner if the take is sufficiently long.

Many, if not all, spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Anime & Manga 
  • The Italian dub of Death Note has Light's Evil Laugh from the last episode (widely regarded as one of the best versions!) done in one take by Flavio Aquilone.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Golden Wind: In Giorno's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown towards Cioccolata, the former lets out his Kiai for 30 straight seconds. Cioccolata's English actor, Bill Butts, revealed that Giorno's English actor Phillip Reich performed that entire scene in one take.
    • Stone Ocean: Yong Yea, Pucci's English voice actor, confirmed in a YouTube video that he was able to record his death scene in one take. He even showed a behind-the-scenes video of him voicing the scene, including a bit where he pauses to drink some water due to feeling light-headed.
  • Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure: The final scene of episode 48, where main characters Hikaru and Lala bid each other a tearful farewell, was performed by actresses Eimi Naruse and Konomi Kohara in a single take. Their strained performances were genuine, not only because of the raw emotion of the scene itself, but also due to their realization that the show was almost over and they wouldn't be meeting up regularly to record anymore.
  • When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace: In Episode 7 of the anime adaptation, not only was Hatoko's infamous rant towards Andou done entirely in one take, her voice actor Saori Hayami pulled it off on the very first take. Given the toll it took on her voice, she had to go home to rest afterward.

    Film — Animated 
  • Beauty and the Beast:
    • The eponymous song was originally conceived as a more up-tempo rock song; it was eventually retooled into a romantic ballad to better fit the scene. Angela Lansbury, who portrayed Mrs. Potts, was initially reluctant to provide the vocals, thinking herself a poor fit for the style of song. At the directors' request, the actress recorded one take as a backup, in case no other options were found. Lansbury reportedly brought the entire studio to tears with her performance.
    • Tony Jay recorded all of Monsieur D'Arque's dialogue as part of his audition. The directors decided that his delivery was perfect and that there was no point bringing him back to record the same lines again, so they sent his paycheck and used the audition recording exactly as it was.
  • Finding Nemo: Ellen DeGeneres did the "I look at you, and I'm home" speech in one take, and wasn't able to get through the second because she was so caught up in the emotion of the scene. They used the first.
  • The Rescuers: According to Madame Medusa's animator Milt Kahl, Geraldine Page nailed every single one of the character's lines in one take.
  • Steven Universe: The Movie: Sarah Stiles spontaneously decided to sing all of "Other Friends" in one take (previously it was done in pieces), and most of the final version comes from that take.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Natalie Wood was known for getting all her lines right on the first take. She was nicknamed 'One-Take Natalie' as a result.
  • As a filmmaker, Clint Eastwood is known for working fast and for being one of the few to bring in his movies under budget and under schedule, rarely necessitating multiple takes. Eastwood has expressed that he finds the process of doing dozens of takes a useless exercise, and that if the actors felt they got it in a particular take, even the first one, it's good enough for him (plus it helps him get to the golf course).
  • Alien: The iconic chestbuster scene needed one take, and the story behind it is interesting: The actors had seen the script, so they knew what was going to happen, but no one really expected John Hurt to act like he was having a heart attack or to see blood exploding from his chest, so their reaction was genuine. As Sigourney Weaver said, they thought John Hurt really was dying right there.
  • Amistad: Anthony Hopkins astounded the crew by delivering the entire seven-page courtroom speech in a single take. Steven Spielberg was in such awe that he couldn't bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.
  • Batman Returns: Michelle Pfeiffer got so good at using a whip that she was able to do the scene where Catwoman knocks the heads off a row of mannequins in one take. The crew gave her a round of applause for it, and she improvised using the whip as a jump rope to celebrate.
  • Being John Malkovich: The "Hey Malkovich, think fast!" scene almost didn't make it into the movie, as it was getting late and Spike Jonze feared the drive-by beer can to the head would be hard to pull off. Yet the guy who volunteered to do so, an assistant of John Cusack, nailed it on the first try!
  • Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), by nature as an entire film done in one take, had to nail each sequence on the first try or set the production back significantly. Apparently, Zach Galifianakis was particularly talented at this—though he did mess up occasionally, he was able to save messed up takes through improvisation.
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai had only one chance to destroy the eponymous bridge due to how long it took to build it and how expensive the set was (it featured an actual train being destroyed for real as it crossed a collapsing bridge). If they messed it up, the film was ruined. But they got it right.
  • Citizen Kane: When Kane's wife leaves him, he completely destroys her bedroom. Given the destruction Orson Welles caused to the set, the first take of this infamous scene was, understandably, the only take.
  • The Dark Knight:
    • The hospital scene, where the Joker totters out of Gotham General with the hospital exploding around him. The explosion stops for several seconds, causing the Joker to fiddle with the detonator, before the explosions suddenly continue. Heath Ledger does not break character (with rumors about how it was a mistake by the effects team abounding, though it turns out it was entirely intentional), nor does he even turn to watch the explosion even when he gets on the bus. Everything is executed perfectly, resulting in one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.
    • In the DVD extras, it's mentioned that they only purchased two Lamborghinis for the scene where Bruce Wayne blocks the truck driver's attempt at running over Coleman Reese. It wasn't the end of the world if they got it wrong on both takes, but splashing a million dollars on two cars is not exactly the optimal scenario. However, everything went right on the first try.
  • Dead Poets Society: The scene outside in the snow after Neil's suicide was done in one take — because it was actually snowing in real life.
  • Dr. Who and the Daleks: As an incentive, Roberta Tovey (who was 11 at the time of production) was paid a shilling (5p) by director Gordon Flemyng every time she did a scene in one take. She made so much money, Flemyng didn't offer her the same deal for the sequel.
  • The climactic scene of Duel was filmed in one take due to budget restrictions, since it shows the tanker truck driving off a cliff. A mechanical malfunction during filming caused an unintended addition to the scene: the truck door hanging open from where the stunt driver had to jump out at the last second, which some viewers mistook for a hint that the Serial Killer driver character escaped the crash.
  • In Elf, the elaborate Christmasland display that Buddy makes for his first day at Gimbel's Department Store took hours to set up. As such, the hilarious room-trashing fight between Buddy and the Mall Santa was done in only one take, as the producers didn't have time to recreate the set.
  • The scene in The Exorcist where Regan projectile vomits at Father Karras only required one take. The vomit was intended to hit Jason Miller in the chest, but the plastic tubing misfired, hitting him in the face. His reaction of shock and disgust while wiping away the vomit is genuine, and Miller admitted in an interview that he was very angered by this mistake.
  • The scene in Extreme Prejudice where Powers Boothe picks up a scorpion, then crushes it with his bare hand, was done in one take.
  • Five Easy Pieces: Bobby's scene with his father only required one take.
  • The Fugitive: The train wreck scene was shot in a single take with a real train whose engine was removed.
  • The General: The climax of the movie features a train on a collapsing bridge, which the filmmakers naturally had only one chance to get right. They did.
  • Get Carter: The racetrack scene was done in one take.
  • The Godfather: Sonny's death scene was the most expensive in the movie to set up and film, costing over one hundred thousand dollars in total. It was finished in just one take from four or five different camera angles.
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Eli Wallach refused to do another take of the train scene after almost getting decapitated. Thankfully, it only required one.
  • Hard Boiled: Because of the shooting schedule, the crew only had one chance to perform The Oner hospital shootout.
  • High and Tight: Kaireht Yovera was given free reign to improvise during Becky's Confession Cam segment. What she improvised was significantly better than what had been written for her. They did two more takes, however, because the loud rain outside was affecting the sound.
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Stephen Hunter (Bombur) caught the egg thrown into his mouth on the first take, but was unable to catch it on subsequent takes. Therefore, the take used was the first one.
  • In Home Alone, Daniel Stern had a live tarantula put on his face for one take only because the prop one wasn't working.
  • James Bond: Many of the series' more complex stunts were done exactly once, such as the full corkscrew in a car in The Man with the Golden Gun and the ski jump from The Spy Who Loved Me.
  • Jonathan Frakes is known on sets as "Two-Takes Frakes" due to the efficiency of his directorial style
  • Judgment at Nuremberg: Spencer Tracy's eleven-minute closing speech was filmed in one take.
  • Jurassic Park (1993): Jeff Goldblum claimed that his reaction to seeing a Brachiosaurus for the first time was captured in one take ("you crazy son of a bitch, you did it!"), with Steven Spielberg dictating to him off-camera what expression he wanted.
  • The Last Picture Show: Cloris Leachman's last scene was printed on the first take without any previous rehearsals. She wanted to rehearse, but director Peter Bogdanovich thought it would ruin the scene. After she completed the take, she said to him, "I can do better." He replied, "No, you can't - you just won the Oscar." Prophetic, as Leachman did indeed win the Academy Award for her performance.
  • The scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Gandalf calls for his horse and Shadowfax comes galloping across the fields and straight up to his master was achieved on the first take.
  • The Master: Joaquin Phoenix's unhinged performance as an alcohol-addled cult follower is on full display in a largely improvised scene. Phoenix went absolutely berserk, and his first take at the scene was the one Paul Thomas Anderson chose to use in the final cut.
  • The Mummy (1999): The falling bookcase gag was done in one take.
  • Network: According to Sidney Lumet, the "I'm as mad as hell" speech was filmed in one and a half takes. Midway through the second take, Peter Finch abruptly stopped in exhaustion. Lumet was unaware of Finch's failing heart at the time, but in any case, did not ask for a third take. What's in the completed film is the second take for the first half of the speech, and the second half from the first take.
  • Phone Booth: The shooter demands that Stu come clean to his wife about his marital infidelities, resulting in an emotional scene that Colin Farrell managed to nail down on the first take. The entire film itself was shot in just 12 days.
  • The Pit and the Pendulum:The climactic scene of Nicholas strangling Elizabeth was all done in one take.
  • Police Story: The climactic mall pole slide sequence was filmed in one take, without any rehearsals or use of wires.
  • In Poolhall Junkies, there's a scene where Christopher Walken is called upon to make a trick shot. He was supposed to take a practice run of the scene before filming, but he asked for the practice run to be filmed in case he actually made the shot on the first try, which he did.
  • "Your Crowning Glory" from The Princess Diaries 2 was the first time Julie Andrews had sung in public, or on-screen, since she had throat surgery in 1997. She reportedly nailed the song on the first take, and brought tears to the eyes of the crew present.
  • Psycho: The psychiatrist's speech at the end was considered an extremely important part of the film, since it provided the detailed Exposition needed to understand everything that had happened up to that point. But since the speech was so long and full of nuance, by all expectations it should have been a struggle to film. Instead, actor Simon Oakland did it perfectly on the first take, leading Alfred Hitchcock to stand up, shake his hand, and say "Thank you very much, Mr. Oakland. You've just saved my picture."
  • Rabbit-Proof Fence: There was only one take of the abduction scene filmed because it was so traumatic to the child actors.
  • During the production for Rocky, with the film running behind schedule, Sylvester Stallone was allowed only one shot at Rocky's most vulnerable moment, confessing his insecurities to his girlfriend, Adrian. Thankfully, that was all he needed, and the character's pivotal moment was kept.
  • Romeo and Juliet (1968): Olivia Hussey's first scene to be filmed was where Juliet hurries to see Friar Laurence and bumps into Paris. She imagined that Juliet would have ran all the way there and so would be all agitated and out of breath, so she did laps all around the set to get herself in the mood. She then told Franco Zeffirelli he didn't need to direct her and went straight into the scene. Once cut was called, there was a moment of silence before the director chimed in "One-Take Hussey, I think we'll call her now."
  • Run Lola Run has a scene where Lola plays roulette, bets everything she has on Red 20, and wins. They filmed the croupier spinning the roulette wheel and dropping the ball, intending to later film a prepared shot of the ball landing on the correct spot, and edit the two shots together. But the ball actually landed on Red 20 on the first take, so no editing was needed.
  • Some Like It Hot: Marilyn Monroe was notorious about insisting on multiple takes (the "where's that bourbon?" line took 81 takes before she was happy). But for the upper berth bed scene, they did the whole thing in one take, and at the end Marilyn said "I loved it too" — shocking everyone.
  • Sophie's Choice: Meryl Streep did the final scene in one take and refused to do it again, saying that as a mother, she found it too painful and emotionally draining.
  • 10 Things I Hate About You: The then-17-year-old Julia Stiles slowly broke down into tears while reading the poem on the very first take, an acting cue that was not in the film's script. First-time director Gil Junger was so moved, he called a wrap to the shoot after that.
  • Titanic (1997): The scene where the Grand Staircase floods had to be shot in one take, because the whole set would have suffered too much water damage for a second. The water destroyed the period-accurate materials to the point where wood blocks and even an actual part of the staircase became dislodged while filming.
  • To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch's closing statement, in which Finch demands the jury "do their duty", was originally planned to take several days. But Gregory Peck somehow managed to nail the speech in only one take—that alone was enough to guarantee Peck's only Best Actor Oscar.
  • Trading Places: Don Ameche, who played Mortimer Duke, abhorred swearing, so he agreed to film only one take of Mortimer yelling "Fuck him!" in his Villainous Breakdown at the end and apologized afterwards.
  • Many scenes in Trainspotting had to be done in one take due to the low budget.
  • Tusk (2014): According to Kevin Smith, Johnny Depp never learned his opening monologue because a misprint in his script gave him the impression he'd be delivering that monologue off-screen (meaning they could just ADR it in later). Undeterred, Depp grabbed the script and memorized the scene in five minutes flat. He ended up nailing the monologue in one take.
  • V for Vendetta: For obvious reasons, they had only one take to shave Natalie Portman's head.
  • ''The Wolf of Wall Street': Martin Scorsese claimed that the scene where Jordan attempts to get in his car while stoned out of his gourd on Lemmons was improvised on the day of filming, and that it was Leonardo DiCaprio's idea to open the car door with his foot. DiCaprio threw out his back during the scene and was only able to perform the stunt once.
  • The Way West: Robert Mitchum's speech in the Lakota language was shot right after his teacher read it to him just two times out loud! Mitchum only needed one take to do it flawlessly, and his teacher said that it was the best Lakota accent he had ever heard. (Mitchum was famous for his phenomenal memory.)

    Live-Action TV 
  • Alas Smith and Jones, Griff Rhys-Jones has said that the main thing that stopped them corpsing in the head-to-head sketches was the knowledge that a retake wouldn't work because the audience wouldn't react the same way. If they did mess one up, they'd abandon it and refilm it with a new audience the following week.
  • Boy Meets World: The final scene of the series finale, set in Mr. Feeny's old classroom at John Adams High, was completed on the first take because the cast was far too distraught to try for another one. Even in the take they got, both Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong are in tears and choking up as they deliver their lines. Even William Daniels, a consummate professional, seems to have difficulty with his (and the show's) final line.
  • Breaking Bad:
    • In "Caballo Sin Nombre", the famous "pizza tossing" scene, where Walt angrily throws a pizza on the roof of his house, was shot in one take. The crew tried to reshoot it, but Bryan Cranston never managed to have the pizza land on the roof again after the first take.
    • According to Dean Norris, Hank's death scene was done in one take.
  • Broadchurch did this as part of the Enforced Method Acting. actors were deliberately given little time to prepare and no rehearsal, and though they filmed retakes, they actually used the first take for the vast majority of scenes.
  • Connections: In one episode, host James Burke pulls off a feat of timing a monologue on a rocket launch to coincide with an actual rocket launch in 1978. It was the launch of Voyager 2, which would visit all the planets of the Outer Solar System. Burke had only one chance to time this shot, as it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the rocket's launch; if he messed up the timing even slightly, the shot would have been ruined, with no way to fix it (since such techniques didn't exist at the time). However, despite having only one try to get it right, the shot was captured perfectly.
  • Doctor Who:
    • The circus tent explosion in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" was supposed to be mostly special effects, but the crew brought the wrong equipment and had to do it with real pyrotechnics. The explosion ended up way bigger than it was supposed to be, but Sylvester McCoy maintained his Unflinching Walk despite some of his clothes being on fire, because he knew they weren't going to get another shot.
    • In "The End of Time", the TARDIS console room exploding during the Doctor's regeneration was done in one take because of the coral pillars being really expensive to redo, so multiple takes weren't in the cards.
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The infamous ending to "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse" includes only the first take, despite Will's baseball cap falling off after Uncle Phil hugs him and Karyn Parsons (Hilary) audibly crying backstage. The cast and crew were too emotional to do another take.
  • Hannibal: At one point, Hannibal Lecter is seen performing an elaborate cooking trick where he throws an egg in the air, cracks it over the narrow edge of a spatula as it falls, and catches the yolk inside a small bowl. The crew were convinced the trick was too difficult for Mads Mikkelsen to pull off and prepared several dozen eggs as well as three chefs to act as hand doubles. Mikkelsen performed the trick perfectly on the first take with no rehearsals. Turns out, he was a juggler in his youth, which he credited for being able to pull off the trick.
  • In the How I Met Your Mother episode "Bad News", Lily steps out of a cab and tells Marshall his father is dead. This prompts an emotional reaction from Marshall, with him embracing Lily and crying "I'm not ready for this." Marshall's actor, Jason Segel, didn't know about the twist before Lily said the the words, and the scene was done in only one take.
  • I Love Lucy: The second-season episode "Lucy is Enceinte" climaxes in a scene where Lucy, failing to find the opportunity to tell her husband Ricky she is pregnant, attends his nightclub show and submits an anonymous request for a song to celebrate her pregnancy. Ricky silently asks the women in the audience if they submitted it until he gets to Lucy, jokingly asks, and receives confirmation. He is overcome with emotion and performs another song-and-dance number with her. Ricky's actor Desi Arnaz happened to make a minor flub to the lyrics in that take, but the emotion and chemistry from his real-life marriage to Lucille Ball at the time made the scene so powerful that crew and audience members loudly protested when a second take to correct the lyrics was suggested. The flawed but powerful first take was used.
  • Newhart: The Reveal scene at the end of the Grand Finale was shot in the only take, without rehearsal, because the live Studio Audience's initial reaction would not have been replicated on subsequent takes.
  • The crew of The Office (US) gave Brian Baumgartner this actual nickname. as many of his scenes as Kevin were shot using only a single take of filming (including the famous scene of Kevin dumping his chili on the floor).
  • Only Fools and Horses: The "chandelier scene" from the episode "A Touch of Glass", in which the Trotter brothers prepare to remove a priceless chandelier for cleaning, only for their grandfather to unscrew the wrong one, which crashes to the ground behind them, had to be done in a single take as they could only afford one chandelier for the gag. David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst were under strict instructions to stand completely still and silent for 30 seconds after the chandelier dropped, as the scene was originally supposed to be the final shot of the episode. Lyndhurst later claimed the director told him he would be fired if he made a mistake or started laughing.
  • Seinfeld: George's climactic monologue in "The Marine Biologist" was shot on the first take, and without rehearsal, as the scene had only been rewritten the night before.
  • Sesame Street: After Mr. Hooper's actor died, the character was killed off, and an episode was produced explaining his death in-universe as well. The cast was so emotional, they barely made it through the first take, and were utterly unable to do a second one without breaking down completely.
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Spock's emotional breakdown in "The Naked Time" was shot in one take, as they didn't have time for a second one — though contrary to urban legend, it was not improvised.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Sarek", the scene where Picard struggles with Sarek's emotions after their mind meld was shot in a single take.
  • Zoom: An interstitial for the Arthur episode "The Last of Mary Moo Cow" reveals the "Zoom Znack" segment for fruit pizza was shot in a single take.

    Music 
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic:
  • Céline Dion's Award-Bait Song "My Heart Will Go On" for Titanic (1997) was recorded in one take from her demo.
  • Bad Company's self-titled song's vocals were done this way, with the added bonus of recording in an open field at midnight for added atmosphere.
  • The Beatles:
    • Their cover of "Twist and Shout". John Lennon had a cold during the recording session, so the song was saved for the end of the session to preserve his voice. The band recorded it in one take, with John's voice sounding raspy and raw. They tried doing a second take, but John had "nothing left" according to the band mates. The first take was released on the Please Please Me album, and the rest is history.
    • The Beatles were able to record "Long Tall Sally" in one take due to the sheer number of times they played it live beforehand.
  • The Cherry Poppin' Daddies' sole hit, "Zoot Suit Riot," had its vocals done this way due to No Budget. There's a cheeky lampshade on the end, where singer Steve Perry tells the engineer "I think I'm about ready to sing this!" right before the song ends.
  • Eddie Hazel's solo on Funkadelic's Maggot Brain was done in one take and made up on the fly.
  • Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn recorded the vocals for their cover of Roger Miller's "Husbands and Wives" in only one take.
  • "The Mariner's Revenge Song", by The Decemberists, was recorded on a single take using a single microphone at a church.
  • Freddie Mercury was very ill when Queen were to record "The Show Must Go On." When Brian May expressed concern that he might not be well enough to sing the part Mercury responded by throwing back a shot of vodka, declaring "I'll fucking do it, darling!" and nailing the vocals in one take.
  • Josh Gracin didn't think that he would be able to record Marcel's "Nothin' to Lose" due to its incredibly fast-paced lyrics... only to nail the song on the first take.
  • Whitney Houston recorded the incredibly demanding lead vocal line for her hit "I'm Your Baby Tonight" in one take... because she wanted to leave the recording session early enough to shop at the mall before it closed that day.
  • Kathy Mattea's "455 Rocket" had several takes recorded, but the first one was kept because, according to Mattea, none of the musicians were aware that they were being recorded at the time. As a result, the recording has a "looser" feel, and the drummer can be heard dropping his drumsticks and laughing at the end.
  • LeAnn Rimes's "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)" was recorded entirely in one take. What makes this all the more impressive is that she was only 14 when she cut the song.
  • According to the booklet, the vocals to Manowar's song "Hatred" was recorded in one take, with singer Eric Adams looking at the recording studio's manager who was screwing the band over.
  • Michael Stipe's performance on R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" is all the more impressive for the fact that the vocal track was recorded in a single take. The band later described the whole process of creating the song as feeling like they had tapped into a base archetype, as the rest of the composition and recording went nearly as cleanly.
  • Gordon Lightfoot and his backing team recorded "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on the first take...having never played it together before.
  • Steve Wariner does this frequently, most notably the entirety of his Burnin' the Roadhouse Down album.
  • The debut album by Country Music band The Tractors was recorded in this fashion.
  • Lita Roza recorded just one take of her hit single "How Much is That Doggy In the Window"... because she absolutely loathed the song and only agreed to one take to placate her producer. It became a massive Black Sheep Hit, but she refused to ever sing it again. As far as anyone knows, the take on the record is the only time she performed it in her life.
  • The Kingsmen's cover of "Louie Louie" was recorded in one take; they thought it was a warm-up and didn't realize the tape was rolling. This, along with the primitive conditions of the recording studio, led to the infamous slurred quality of the vocals and also led to a couple of mistakes ending up on the finished recording: the drummer can be faintly heard cursing after a fumble about a minute in, and the singer comes in too soon after the guitar solo and quickly stops to let the band catch up.
  • Lera Yaskevich recorded her song "Sebye Pomoch" in one take because, in her own words, "how to perfect something that tears your soul and blows up your brain is not thought about in this situation."
  • Jay-Z has a reputation as "One Take Hov", recording many of his songs and guest verses in one go, including one four minute verse on "God Did" with DJ Khaled.
  • Lil Wayne records many of his mixtape freestyles by just freestyling stream of consciousness over a beat.
  • A slight inversion: Tina Turner recorded the vocals to her smash comeback hit "What's Love Got to Do With It" in a grand total of two takes.

    Video Games 
  • Death Stranding: Tommy Earl Jenkins' anguished performance as Die-Hardman in his final scene was done in one take.
  • Kingdom Hearts II: Due to his busy schedule, Sir Christopher Lee told the voice directors that he would go to the studio, read out his lines for Ansem the Wise exactly once, and then walk out.
  • Persona 3 Reload: According to Aleks Le, the protagonist's scream when summoning his Persona for the first time was done in one take.
  • Red Dead Redemption: Due to technological restraints of the time, each of the game's cutscenes were recorded in one long take.
  • The voice recording team of Skylanders: SWAP Force were running short on time, and the NPC Snagglescale had a couple of long lines left. Instead of the team cutting them, his voice actor Mitch Urban did all of them together in one take.
  • Spec Ops: The Line reportedly had every single voice-line recorded during the same day. By the end, the voice actors were just as tired and weary as the characters they were portraying — which was wholly intentional.

    Web Original 
  • Aaron: Thomas Fitzgerald did the close-up shot of Adam revealing that his girlfriend miscarried in just one take.
  • Chuggaaconroy stated on Twitter that the speedy capture equation reading from Episode 1 of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 was recorded in a single take. He was expecting to mess it up and having to edit it in post, but he didn't need to.
  • In Epic Rap Battles of History, Epic Lloyd as Genghis Khan draws his sword and cuts an Easter egg in half in just one take while filming "Genghis Khan vs. The Easter Bunny".
  • Gold Standard: The scene of Fergal smashing Tom's head in with the shovel was done by Bobby Calloway in one take — including an ad-lib of Fergal pausing to check if he was still dead before smashing him once more.
  • Red vs. Blue: A Season 1 episode has a shot of a Warthog being blasted by a tank from the ground to the top of Red Base, landing perfectly upright. They thought this would be really tough to film, but to their astonishment it happened in one take. In the commentary, Burns muses that, in retrospect, they were for once doing something in the series that Halo's engine was actually meant to do.
  • RWBY: Jen Taylor nailed the narration from the first episode in the first take, making the producers a bit uneasy ("Dude, we have her for an hour and she got it in the first two minutes, what do we do?").
  • Tom Scott is very well known for doing this; making long speeches to camera. He very rarely cuts away for anything more than to show supplementary footage (or if his explanation necessitates him moving about).

    Western Animation 

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