Dolly zoom

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Image:Hitchcock zoom KQ DY.gifThe dolly zoom is an unsettling in-camera special effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception in film.

The effect is achieved by using the setting of a zoom lens to adjust the field of view while the camera dollies (or moves) towards or away from the subject in such a way as to keep the subject the same size in the frame throughout. In its classic form, the camera is pulled away from a subject whilst the lens zooms in, or vice-versa. Thus, during the zoom, there is a continuous perspective distortion, the most directly noticeable feature of which is that the background "changes size" relative to the subject.

As the human visual system uses both size and perspective cues to judge the relative sizes of objects, seeing a perspective change without a size change is a highly unsettling effect, and the emotional impact of this effect is greater than the description above can suggest. The visual appearance for the viewer is that either the background suddenly grows in size and detail overwhelming the foreground; or the foreground becomes immense and dominates its previous setting. Which of these two apparent effects predominates depends on which way the dolly zoom occurs.

The effect was invented by Irmin Roberts, a Paramount second-unit cameraman, and was famously used by Alfred Hitchcock in his film Vertigo, although it appeared earlier at the climax to his film Spellbound.

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Alternative names

A dolly zoom is also variously known as:

  • The "Hitchcock zoom" or the "Vertigo effect"
  • A "Jaws shot"
  • A "zido"
  • A "zolly"
  • "Telescoping"
  • A "contra-zoom" or "trombone shot"
  • More technically as forward zoom, reverse tracking or zoom in/dolly out
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Meaning of the effect

The dolly zoom is commonly used by filmmakers to represent the sensation of vertigo, a "falling away from oneself feeling", feeling of unreality, or to suggest that a character is undergoing a realization that causes him to reassess everything he had previously believed. After Hitchcock popularized the effect (he used it again for a climactic revelation in Marnie), the technique was used by many other filmmakers, and eventually became regarded as a gimmick or cliché. This was especially true after director Steven Spielberg repopularized the effect in his highly regarded film Jaws, in a memorable shot when Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) becomes increasingly paranoid whilst guarding a beach. (Spielberg used the technique again in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.)

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Uses in other films

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A number of respected directors have continued to use the technique with success. A notable use of the dolly zoom is in Goodfellas, where director Martin Scorsese uses the dolly zoom in a scene during the climax of the film: Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) are sitting in a restaurant, talking. Henry realizes that Jimmy is setting him up and betraying their lifelong friendship; as this happens, the perspective in the background changes in a slow, gradual manner. Director Sam Raimi uses the dolly zoom in scenes in a number of his movies, most notably in The Quick and the Dead during the face-off in the final quick-draw competition (sections of which can be seen in the trailer). Further examples appear in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies: in the Wooded Road scene in The Fellowship of the Ring and the Shelob's Lair scene in The Return of the King, the effect is used to suggest the presence of terrifying evil forces. Its use in Event Horizon reflects Dr. Weir's paranoia.

The dolly zoom can be combined with computer graphics. One example of this is the Neo flight scene in The Matrix Reloaded.

The effect has also been simulated in animation in The Simpsons, and in The Lion King, by altering the relative sizes of the foreground characters and background art.de:Dolly Zoom fr:Travelling compensé

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