In the 1958 film Vertigo, Director Alfred Hitchcock introduced dolly zoom as a cinematography technique. In the film, it can be seen that when the character experiencing vertigo glances down, the director stretched out staircases using the effect. A dolly zoom thus is one of the most fascinating techniques used in film to convey various emotions.
The technique is frequently employed in popular films and has even entered animation. This shot is commonly referred to as a Hitchcock shot, Vertigo shot, Jaws effect or Zolly shot or a vertigo effect, it can be used to create tension or suspenseful moments. Usually, tracks are used by cinematographers to create smooth dolly in and out movements. The camera is moved towards or away from the subject while the cinematographer is seated on a cart. Dolly zooming is the result of combining zooming and dolly movement.
If you have the right tools, making a dolly zoom is pretty easy. A camera with a wide variety of focal lengths is required. This determines how much background or landscape you can capture. Focusing, moving towards the subject, and zooming are the three techniques used to create the Dolly Zoom effect.
The difficulty here is executing all of these rather straightforward approaches at once. You need to adjust your aperture to get a consistent appearance across images taken with various lenses and focal lengths. The entire move has to be smooth and stable, otherwise, it ruins the shot. Throughout the shot, you should keep your focus on your subject. Your point of focus will undoubtedly move with the camera as you approach or distance yourself from your subject.
The technique has been used in several films. The use of this approach has both advantages and disadvantages, which you should take into account when determining whether it is appropriate for your film production needs.
Films with the Dolly Zoom technique
The Fellowship of the Ring
To depict the threat from the forest in a scene from The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), the director uses a dolly zoom. The illusion of the forest opening up is created by the camera dollying out and zooming in.
Jaws
In the movie Jaws, as Roy Scheider, who plays Police Chief Martin Brody, watches in fear as the shark takes his lunch you can see the background distort behind him.
The Lion King
Simba panics when he notices a herd approaching him in The Lion King (1994). To portray the feeling, the director employed an animated dolly zoom shot. It captures the character’s fear.
The Lord of the Rings
The dolly zoom in The Lord of the Rings creates a sense of danger as the gap between the trees appears to be becoming closer and wider.
Hugo
The movie’s first dream sequence is where the vertigo effect happened. Hugo was lying on the train tracks throughout this scene. The only thing that was visible to the viewer was Hugo’s fear as he prayed that he could stop whatever was coming towards him, not the train that was approaching him.
Squid game
In Squid Game (2021), you can see how the filmmaker uses a dolly zoom to indicate the actor realising he is in serious trouble. It perfectly expresses what the character is going through and also adds some humour to it.