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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
