# The Effect Caused by Increasing Camera Angle While Zooming In **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354 "2006-08-11T21:01:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/1 "2006-08-11T21:01:29Z")
I think that’s how its done. The only example I can think of right now is from Fellowship of the Ring, when the camera is looking down the road as _The Nazgul are Coming_. But I’ve seen it several times, especially in parodies. The effect is to create sort of a spooky, eerie feeling, like “something unsettling is happening but I’m not quite sure what.” My questions are threefold: 1. Am I right that that’s how it’s done? 2. What exactly is happening, visually, on the screen, which signals this effect? What I mean is, what’s changing from frame to frame as this effect proceeds? Without knowing anything about camera angles and zooms and so on, what is it about the images on the screen which makes someone watching them think “something’s happening here?” 3. Related to question 2: How is this effect simulated in cartoons? I saw it on _American Dad_ the other day, and they kept doing the effect for several seconds so I had a little time to try to reflect on what was happening. I scanned around quickly trying to see what was moving in relation to what, and found to my suprise that I could find no elements of the picture to be moving relative to any other elements. But… they _had_ to be. So what was I missing? I had the distinct impression that somehow the effect was being created by just having the foreground and background elements somehow doing something different with respect to each other, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Anyway, thanks for any answers. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/2 "2006-08-11T21:04:47Z")
I think you’re talking about a [Hitchcock Zoom.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchcock_zoom) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/3 "2006-08-11T21:30:22Z")
Ah, the dolly zoom. What I’m wondering is whether anyone has a good example of it being used in the opposite of the normal fashion. That is to say that the dolly/zoom is performed with the specific intention of _keeping the same amount of background in frame_, and making the subject in the foreground grow or shrink into/out of dominance. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/4 "2006-08-11T22:05:05Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > I think you’re talking about a [Hitchcock Zoom.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchcock_zoom) This is more generally referred to as a [post=7009871]trombone zoom[/post] or a zoom & track shot. > [@Mangetout](#): > > What I’m wondering is whether anyone has a good example of it being used in the opposite of the normal fashion. That is to say that the dolly/zoom is performed with the specific intention of _keeping the same amount of background in frame_, and making the subject in the foreground grow or shrink into/out of dominance. I’ll have to watch the movie again but I seem to recall Frankenheimer using this technique in [Seconds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060955/). It’s an easy technique but has limited application in general cinematography, mostly for doing f/x work, I think. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/5 "2006-08-12T00:00:29Z")
Sam Raimi is fond of the effect and uses it extensively in his western _The Quick and the Dead_. The [trailer](http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/trailer.html?v_id=132303) includes examples. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/6 "2006-08-12T00:30:22Z")
I remember a great shot in The Road to Perdition with Jude Law walking towards the camera under an elevated train. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/7 "2006-08-12T02:59:28Z")
First time I saw this was in _Jaws_, I think when Roy Scheider first hears cries of “Shark!” on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-effect-caused-by-increasing-camera-angle-while-zooming-in/368354/8 "2006-08-12T11:10:17Z")
The horror movie _Uzumaki_ makes interesting use of the effect by doing it verrrry slooowly, back and forth, as two characters are trying to piece together what’s happening. It’s too slow to see exactly what’s happening, but it’s enough to make you feel like there’s something very wrong with the scene. If I hadn’t seen it at high speed while rewinding, I never would have noticed what was going on.