# What is called in a movie when...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592 "2005-06-02T18:56:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/21 "2005-06-03T02:12:31Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Ooh! I have another one! > > What’s it called in a movie when the camera appears steady, focused on a character mid-frame, and suddenly all the background stuff appears to be moving further away or (sometimes) moving closer to the camera? It’s generally used in “sudden realization” sequences, but of course I can’t think of an example right now. > > Furthermore, how do they do it? I assume all the trees and whatnot in the background aren’t actually moving… I’ve heard this referred to as a “double zoom,” but I don’t think that’s what it’s really called. If you want to see a movie that uses the effect really well, see “Event Horizon.” I used it in a short film I made in high school, though it looked a bit amateur-ish because we were using a hand-held camera… It works like this: When you use the zoom control on the camera, everything is scaled uniformly relative to the 2-dimensional image, i.e. the image just gets bigger. But when you physically move the camera forward, the objects in the foreground get bigger at a faster rate than the objects in the background. So, to pull off a “double zoom” effect, one must started zoomed in on the subject, then move the camera forward while zooming out, at just the right speed so that the foreground gets bigger and the background gets smaller. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/22 "2005-06-03T02:15:29Z")
OK, I think I got it now. “_Reverse_ zoom/_forward_ tracking” shot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Arhat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Arhat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arhat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/23 "2005-06-03T02:18:50Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > …although “/reverse tracking” sounds so much more, oh, professional. Do I at least get partial credit for using the word _vertiginous_, albeit without nailing the **Vertigo** reference? :wally That’s alright. I originally meant to post more info about how the effect worked, but I couldn’t figure out a word that meant the opposite of “recede.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/24 "2005-06-03T06:16:46Z")
Thanks! A thousand points for everyone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/25 "2005-06-03T07:48:18Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > Ooh, I know this too! It’s a combination forwards zoom/backwards tracking shot. You set up the tracks, affix camera and operator, and have crew pull him backwards as he zooms in with the lens. It produces an odd, vertiginous, disorienting effect allright, as the backround kind of falls away. > > It’s become quite the trendy director’s trick of late. And right now I can’t think of a single bleeping example of it. Aaargh! This technique is used twice in the LOTR movies, once in “Fellowship” as Frodo looks back along the road and senses the approach of the Ringwraith (“Get off the road!”), and once in “Return of the King,” as Frodo enters Shelob’s lair. The technique is also used for the hyperlight jumps in Battlestar Galactica. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/26 "2005-06-03T09:21:09Z")
Okay, folks, what about this one then? It was parodied in Terry Pratchett’s novel _Mort_ > [@](#): > > ‘You’re a wizard. I think there’s something you ought to know,’ said the princess. > > THERE is? said Death. > > (That was a cinematic trick adapted for print. Death wasn’t talking to the princess. He was actually in his study, talking to Mort. But it was quite effective, wasn’t it? It’s probably called a fast dissolve, or a crosscut/zoom. Or something. An industry where a senior technician is called a Best Boy might call it anything.) What’s it really called? ---
**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:** [June 3, 2005, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/27 "2005-06-03T10:06:48Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > OK, I think I got it now. “_Reverse_ zoom/_forward_ tracking” shot. > > 😃 It’s called a dolly zoom. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/28 "2005-06-03T11:31:58Z")
A famous example of the zoom/dolly shot I;m certain everyone here has seen at least once is actress Ola Ray’s reaction seeing a zombified Michael Jackson for the first time ever in THRILLER. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/29 "2005-06-03T16:18:24Z")
Another example is in _Goodfellas_ during a converstion in a restaurant booth between Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro as Liotta’s character begins to realize how well and truly screwed he is. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/30 "2005-06-03T17:13:46Z")
Spike Lee uses the “trombone shot” all the time. It happens in _Malcom X_, when the title character is walking to the auditorium where he will be assasinated. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/31 "2005-06-03T17:27:48Z")
Always end with a star wipe. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/32 "2005-06-03T17:50:43Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#): > > The technique is also used for the hyperlight jumps in Battlestar Galactica. Eh? Do they even have a cameraman for those shots? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/33 "2005-06-03T21:58:13Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Spike Lee uses the “trombone shot” all the time. It happens in _Malcom X_, when the title character is walking to the auditorium where he will be assasinated. Actually, no. Spike uses the dolly shot all the time, where the camera and actor are pulled along at the same time. In the trombone shot the camera would move backwards while the lens moves forward while the actr stays in one place. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/34 "2005-06-03T22:12:20Z")
Whew! I’m not touching this topic again – not even with a twelve-foot boom mike! 😉 ---
**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:** [June 4, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/35 "2005-06-04T01:27:50Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Eh? Do they even have a cameraman for those shots? Yes. He’s holding his breath the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592/36 "2005-06-04T04:52:10Z")
The zoom/dolly shot in _Vertigo_ was not used the way it has been described here, keeping a person in the foreground while the background “drops away.” It was just looking down a stairwell, to give a sense of vertigo (duh!). I could be wrong, but I believe the first time it was used to convey an emotional reaction in a character was by Steven Spielberg in _Jaws_: Roy Scheider is sitting on the beach and realizes that the shark has attacked. I don’t think it’s ever been used better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-called-in-a-movie-when/306592.md?page=1)