Hedgehog in the Fog

Andrei Tarkovsky and Sven Nykvist while filming The Sacrifice (1986)

The climactic scene at the end of The Sacrifice is a long tracking shot in which the main character - Alexander burns down his house and all his possessions. It was done in a single, six minute, fifty second take (it’s often misstated as Tarkovsky’s longest shot). The shot was very difficult to achieve. Initially, there was only one camera used, despite Sven Nykvist’s protest. While shooting the burning house, the camera jammed, ruining the footage.

The scene had to be re-shot, requiring a quick and very costly reconstruction of the house in two weeks. This time two cameras were set up on tracks, running parallel to each other. The footage in the final version of the film is the second take, which lasts for several minutes and ends abruptly because the camera had run through an entire reel in capturing the single shot. The cast and crew broke down in tears after the take was completed.