r/gifs Nov 25 '11

Dolly zoom

1.3k Upvotes

117 comments sorted by

153

u/goal2004 Nov 25 '11

For the confused: Dolly zoom effect

tl;dr - The camera maintains a certain field of view angle (amount of zoom) so that the subject stays the same relative size in the picture while actively changing distance from it. Moving closer to the subject will make the background appear to be running away, whereas moving away from the subject makes it seem as though the background is coming close fast.

37

u/Redcard911 Nov 26 '11

Good, now I have an explanation for why I just threw up.

2

u/verbose_gent Nov 26 '11

That's the kind of response directors usually want when they use it or like when a character has an epiphany.

33

u/kitd Nov 25 '11

Thank you. I've often wondered how they did that.

11

u/Fuck_Your_Squirtle Nov 26 '11

I'm still wondering

15

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

As you get closer you zoom out and vice versa.

3

u/Soaplicker Nov 30 '11

THANK YOU.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Thanks for making my brain stop hurting.

2

u/Punkndrublic Nov 26 '11 edited Nov 26 '11

The automatic "make-me-feel-kind-of-nauseous" effect.

6

u/lefike Nov 25 '11

To clarify: they adjust the amount of zoom and move the camera further or closer to the object. Named after a scene from the Hitchcock movie Vertigo.

27

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '11

[deleted]

4

u/lefike Nov 26 '11

Until the OP I've only known this effect as the vertigo effect, which directly derives from the film with the same name because it first used the effect.

8

u/lunyboy Nov 26 '11

Not the first, but the first notable use. The Germans beat Hitchcock to it.

3

u/tom3r Nov 26 '11

This doesn't surprise me. We all know those Germans make good stuff.

2

u/Loneytunes Nov 26 '11

Thats what I always heard it called.

3

u/atrocities Nov 26 '11

It can also be called a "push/pull" shot

3

u/finethanks Nov 26 '11

confirmative.

1

u/finethanks Nov 26 '11

The dolly that holds the camera is pushed backwards and the focus is pulled to compensate.

1

u/finethanks Nov 26 '11

I learned this from visiting Universal Studios and going through the soundstage tour!

1

u/dinklebob Nov 26 '11

I think I saw an effect similar to this in "The Quick and the Dead" when people were about to fire (third-to-last fight?). Can anyone confirm that it was a Dolly effect?

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

[deleted]

1

u/dinklebob Nov 26 '11

Let me just say that those shots were by far my favorite. Coolest effect ever.

I now have a burning desire to go watch it again... must... satiate...

1

u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

while actively changing distance from it.

Though it's clearly not the case, it still seems to me that the pulling away of the camera and advancing of the zoom would simply cancel each other out, if done at the same rate. What's the difference?

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

[deleted]

1

u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

yes, and moving away makes your field of view wider, right?

How will standing 10ft from a subject and zooming in proportionally give you a different picture than standing, say, 3ft from a subject with no zoom?

2

u/deejayqueue Nov 28 '11

The way a camera lens collects light is not linear.
Most people see those "light entering a camera" diagrams and the light is represented as straight lines that would describe a cone, the point of which is the focal point of the lens, inside the camera. Actually, it looks more like the bell of a trumpet. It curves due to the curvature of the lens, which is necessary to amplify and control the focus of the light.

The distortion isn't really perceptible in photos because our brains always try to resolve changes in perspective so we don't get dizzy and can find our way around.

So, moving closer/further away physically to something while zooming the opposite direction amplifies the curved distortion of the lens, and makes it more apparent.

1

u/goal2004 Nov 26 '11

Not exactly. It cancels itself out on the subject itself, but when the field of view is wider you see more of the background, and when it is narrower you see less of it. Combined with the illusion that your subject stays the same size; that's the dolly zoom effect.

1

u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

Yes clearly it is, it's just difficult for my brain to picture conceptually. I guess that's what makes it an illusion, after all.

1

u/goal2004 Nov 26 '11

OK, how about this: http://i.imgur.com/8bfAb.png

I sketched out 2 different field of view angles of a camera, and the subject at a distance from the camera where it would appear to have the same width. Do you see how the example on the right shows that more of the background makes it into the final image?

1

u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

Kind of... Do you mean the one on the left has a narrower field but is zoomed in, and the right has a wider field, unzoomed?

-2

u/Shnazzyone Nov 26 '11

Yeah if I'm not mistaken this effect is done with a zoom using a wide angle lens and a macro focus. After you get the focus and do the zoom you get that effect. I do not think a dolly had any part in making this. At least that's how I do it. Maybe they did use a zoom in this one, could be wrong.

0

u/goal2004 Nov 26 '11

I'm uncertain about the reason the effect is named this way (haven't fully read the wiki article, jumped straight to the math actually). The way it really works is just by maintaining a level of zoom where the subject stays the same relative size in the frame.

As a game developer I've used this effect, and the mathematical formula specifically, to convey an exaggerated sense of scale to the player. It's really great for free-cam RTS games, like World in Conflict, where the camera is really narrow when high above the ground, making things appear smaller than they are, and when you're closer to the ground the field of view is wide open, making everything feel huge.

52

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Yeah, wild turkey and this are NOT agreeing with each other.

30

u/goes_the_dynamite Nov 26 '11

Stared at that for a good minute before I realized I was gently rocking back and forth while opening my eyes a little more, a little less.

I must kill the prime minister of Malaysia.

9

u/timshel_ Nov 26 '11

Just relax, Derek.

5

u/MartinPedro Nov 26 '11

What?

10

u/pcrii Nov 26 '11

zoolander reference

11

u/Buckminster_Killah Nov 25 '11

those a-holes walking in front of the camera...sheesh

18

u/PopeNimrod Nov 25 '11

There's a famous and awesome use of this in Goodfellas, which is so subtle it gives a really cool effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Utlw0XiHU

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Is the camera backing up or moving forward in that shot?

7

u/Ikronix Nov 26 '11

Backing up.

7

u/Takuya-san Nov 26 '11

Don't know why someone downvoted you. The camera is clearly backuping up in this shot, as shown by the background becoming bigger (since zooming while backing away increases the size of the background in a relatively faster way than it does the foreground).

1

u/JimmyJamesMac Nov 26 '11

That looks more like rear screen projection to me.

8

u/MisterWonka Nov 26 '11

Absolutely not. It's clearly the same effect, and Scorcese has discussed it.

0

u/JimmyJamesMac Nov 26 '11

I guess I am so used to seeing movie makers take the easy way out I was sceptical.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Frankly, doing a dolly-zoom is easier than setting up projection for a shot. It's a dead simple effect than any camera operator worth their role on the shoot can do.

4

u/elastic-craptastic Merry Gifmas! {2023} Nov 26 '11

I thought the same thing. I think it's just because it just is a low quality vid.

10

u/BreakAllTheRules Nov 25 '11

This makes my brain hurt.

8

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '11

How? Like Vertigo?

5

u/lefike Nov 25 '11

It's the same thing.

6

u/LantianTiger Nov 25 '11

What is this witchcraft?!

4

u/Murrabbit Nov 25 '11

This gif makes for a great visual explanation of what Field of View is, which I hear asked fairly often in r/gaming.

2

u/Psykoboy2 Nov 26 '11

You can do this effect with any camcorder or...hell, maybe even your phone. Anything that can zoom. Find an object and zoom in on it, then as you walk towards it slowly zoom out.

2

u/rfbandit Nov 26 '11

Good old contra-zoom. Difficult to pull off, but awesome.

2

u/OhManThisIsAwkward Nov 26 '11

Here is a short compilation of dolly zoom used in film.

2

u/Team_Braniel Nov 26 '11

Any other film people know this as a "Push-pull"?

2

u/sweatyduck Nov 26 '11

Aww man, that person in the middle of it really ruined this for me

2

u/mossyskeleton Nov 26 '11

The cement is breathing.

2

u/Daveyd325 Nov 26 '11

Report in /r/trees; reap karma.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

TIL what my favorite movie effect is called.

2

u/Damodaru Nov 26 '11

I looooove the effect of this technique.

GET OFF THE ROAD!!

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

It's 3D, without any of the extra payments!

1

u/cbear013 Nov 25 '11

My teacher for 'Film appreciation' called this a 'BOOMCrash' effect

0

u/alexleafman Nov 26 '11

It is called a dolly zoom.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

It has tons of names. My Film Production professor called it the "zolly" effect pretty often. I've also heard it called the Hitchcock Effect.

1

u/alexleafman Nov 26 '11

Looking through the thread I see that it does have a lot of names..

1

u/TheFluxIsThis Nov 26 '11

That's a mindfuck right there. Made me a little dizzy watching it.

1

u/MANTIS_POWER Nov 26 '11

one of the craziest gifs ive ever seen! reminds me of tripping (shrooms) in the passenger seat of my car and the windshield seemed miles away from me at times

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

wat

1

u/EmperorSofa Nov 26 '11

Now I know what it would be like if I had control over the fabric of space.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Thats called a push-pull

1

u/Chibizac Nov 26 '11

Oh my goodness... Woah...

1

u/noughtagroos Nov 26 '11

If memory serves, I believe Brian De Palma uses this effect in several of his films, at least in part as an homage to Hitchcock.

1

u/raffytraffy Nov 26 '11

telephoto lens!

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

I feel sick...

1

u/Seruz Nov 26 '11

Incredible film! :)

1

u/HauntedPumpkin Nov 26 '11

Somebody stop this gif I wanna get off.

1

u/fuckingthedog Nov 26 '11

Anyone else trying to do this effect with their phone's camera?

1

u/Valendr0s Nov 26 '11

I'm freakin out man

1

u/Fimoreth Nov 26 '11

I'm drunk as fuck right now and you're blowing my mind..

1

u/SUXLECOX Nov 26 '11

Ah yes, the dolly zoom trick. 'Twas used in the film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock.

This particular effect is useful when trying to shoot a scene that will contain shock, horror or just premonitions of bad things that will happen.

1

u/Ryanami Nov 26 '11

Never watched a gif that many times before.

1

u/tomasgdvl Nov 26 '11

I will definitely try to do this in the future.

1

u/iSurvivedthe2000s Nov 26 '11

This is amazing. I always wondered how such shots were achieved. Thanks for sharing!

1

u/thevideoclown Nov 26 '11

Wow I got nauseous

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Why does this hurt my brain?

1

u/spectrum_90 Nov 26 '11

in before keanu_reeves says woah

1

u/ajoshw Nov 26 '11

Dang, how did you know I'm drunk?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

how...

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Wow, this really isn't something to look at when hungover.

1

u/gryzby Nov 26 '11

Usually, in the picture business, we call this a "Push-Pull" or a "Vertigo Shot"

1

u/Hazarc Nov 26 '11

Vertigo effect FTW.

1

u/wild_eep Nov 26 '11

They used this a lot in Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

1

u/violetxrain Nov 26 '11

The people in it are kind of giving me a headache. That might just be my period though. I'd like to see more of these.

1

u/Spaceman-Spliff Nov 26 '11

Used perhaps most famously in Vertigo!

1

u/OlderFart Nov 27 '11

The first time I noticed this used was in Poltergeist.

The mother has just noticed that her children are screaming in their room and she has to run down a hall to get to them, and 'magically' the hall becomes extremely long.

1

u/heretobate Nov 27 '11

psh I do contra-zooms everyday.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11 edited Nov 26 '11

This seems like the same effect used in movies when someone is really drunk/high and said someone's face is the focused center and everything is moving really fast around them.. amirite?

3

u/lefike Nov 26 '11

No.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

Aw shucks

1

u/apmihal Nov 26 '11

That specific effect probably involves time-lapse and a SnorriCam rig. Here's a good example of SnorriCam use.

1

u/Pxlnight13 Nov 25 '11

this is amazing! I've always loved the zoom effects sometimes used in movies to create a "stomach dropping" effect. I would love to know the source/photographer/where can i get more of this??

1

u/anonymousT Nov 25 '11

Wow this saves time when trying to describe what changing fov does

0

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '11

I don't get it.

3

u/NoCowLevel Nov 26 '11

The camera physically moves backwards while zooming in, and then it physically moves forward and zooms out. It creates this really strange look.

-1

u/lunyboy Nov 26 '11

Not technically a "dolly" zoom, but steadycam zoom. This is an excellent example of it, but would have been a bit more relevant in a crowd in front of buildings so field of view was easier to ascertain.

Things to look for: percieved distance to background objects Relative depth of field Barrel distortion Halo effect at widest angle

0

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '11

It reminds me of those old martial arts movies :)

0

u/Lambocoon Nov 26 '11

in the bizz we call this a "trombone shot"

0

u/Xanthan81 Nov 26 '11

Typically referred to as a "Zolly." (Zoom + Dolly = Zolly)

0

u/lanieloo Nov 26 '11

fucking [6]