The Dolly Zoom

It's very useful when you come across reference collections on the Internet that group together similar types of shots from films - something I used to compile myself in the days before finding these types of uploads became commonplace.

Here's a collection of dolly zooms (also known as a reverse tracking shot), whereby the subject in the foreground is kept a consistent size while the background moves, achieved by either moving the camera towards the subject whilst simultaneously zooming out or moving the camera backwards whilst zooming in. It creates a discordant effect used most famously by Hitchcock to give a sense of disorientation to the POV shots in Vertigo (above) and Spielberg to add drama and a sense of unease to the close ups of Brody as he thinks he sees a shark in the water in Jaws.

It's not an easy trick to pull off. I tried it myself once on a short film I made at University and remember it being a nightmare to achieve smooth motion whilst trying to match up the speed of the track with the focus pull.

The Evolution of The Dolly Zoom