The Dolly Zoom: More Than A Cheap Trick

The Dolly Zoom is one of the

most disorienting and flashy
camera techniques of all time.

And it shows up in some of the most
beloved scenes in cinematic history.

It's famous for its bizarre look,
but the shot also teaches us a lot

about filmmaking.

It shows the different kind of lenses
and how to use them.

It enhances the emotion of a scene,

and it can be used in subtle places
you may not have even noticed.

Let's see how.

The Dolly Zoom,
or sometimes called the Vertigo

Effect started in Hitchcock's
film Vertigo in 1958.

You need a smooth track

and steady zoom to pull it off nicely,
which is why it wasn't developed sooner.

The shot is essentially an optical
illusion caused by zooming in

or out on the camera lens while
tracking the camera forward or backward.

The result is the foreground stays
in the same position while the background

appears to squeeze or stretch,
depending on which direction you go.

It actually teaches an important
principle of filming.

Camera Lens:

If you ever wanted to see the difference
between wide

angle and telephoto lenses, a simplified
example would be to observe a dolly zoom.

Compare how it begins to how it ends.

The dolly zoom
shot can start like a telephoto lens

where the camera is far away
and the focal length is bigger.

There's less background in sight

because the lens concentrates
on a smaller portion of it.

But when you change focal lengths
by zooming out while

also pushing the camera forward,
you can observe more of the background

while keeping the foreground
in the same place.

The result is filming the same thing,

but the camera expands
to see more of the background.

The change in focal length
takes in a wider area,

so you go from a telephoto shot
to a wide angle shot.

You generally use telephoto in close ups
to keep attention on the foreground.

When you move the camera around
while using a telephoto lens,

the background,

which is quickly behind the foreground,

because the camera takes
in less of the background.

It makes for some pretty cool shots.

People
also tend to look better in telephoto

because their faces aren't
stretched by the wider lens.

Wide angle
takes in more of the background,

so it's better for outdoor shots
when you want to capture the landscape.

So each lens is a tradeoff.

The Dolly Zoom captures the transition
from one kind of lens shot to the other,

and it leads to different
emotional responses for the viewer.

Vertigo uses the dolly zoom
to give a sense of height.

This increase in height perfectly embodies
how the telephoto has a more narrow

view of the background.

So we go from capturing a lot of the
background to capturing very little.

The result is a dizzying optical illusion.

The shot is unsettling, even a little bit
nauseating for some, because it's

physically impossible to experience
without some kind of lens alteration.

In Goodfellas,

the diner scene becomes
all the more confusing

as the landscape shifts
around them in impossible ways.

Just as Henry's world is crushing
and his paranoia grows,

the impossible movement of the diner shows
just how disoriented he feels.

The zoom makes the world literally
closing around him as getting caught

seems almost inevitable.

As I mentioned before, the wide angle lens
makes people look a bit off.

With the famous dolly zoom in Jaws,
the shot shifts to a wide angle look,

which makes his face

look just a bit more stretched
and unnatural,

and it unconsciously adds
to the rest of the trickiness of the shot.

Those three examples Vertigo, Jaws

and Goodfellas are the go to examples
whenever anybody mentions the dolly zoom.

The problem is
that when teaching the shot,

the examples usually stop there,
which is a shame because it makes the shot

seem like a one off effect
for legendary movies,

but it's actually a lot more versatile
and common than that.

It's out of this world visual
look makes it

commonly used for the supernatural
or the feeling of a drug trip.

I particularly enjoy its use
in The Lord of the Rings

because the widening of the holes
in the trees

gives the visual feeling that the forest
is opening up a portal for the enemy

to come.

It's almost always used at a movie's
climactic, epic moment.

So if your hero fails,
it adds to the punchline.

The shot has even found its way
into animation.

Brad Bird uses it extensively in his films.

The food critic flashback gets enhanced
with a dolly zoom effect

to simulate the transportation
from one world to another.

Animation, particularly computer
generated, has a distinct opportunity

to use the photo

in interesting ways because of animations
complete control of object placement.

As Remy relates to Chef Gusteau

the dolly zoom is no longer used
to disorient the viewer, but to show them

get physically closer together, indicating
a relationship is born.

The Incredibles has a seemingly impossible
dolly zoom as Mrs.

Incredible gets closer to the temptation.

Both instances are nondisruptive,
but also draw our attention

to certain parts of the shot
with its trademark squeezing effect.

The dolly zoom is certainly a fantastical
shot at the disposal of the filmmaker,

but remember, it's more than just a cheap
trick.

Alfred Hitchcock used it for depth.

Scorsese He used it to show paranoia,
and Brad Bird used it for visual cues.

So be on the lookout
for it. Thanks for watching.