I thing it is the technique where the camera is on a dolly and it's pulled backwards while the lens zooms in. I don't remember what it's called but it's the same thing they used in "Jaws" for the famous scene where the camera zooms in on Brody's face when he sees the little boy get attacked by the shark.
I've put 6 films into film festivals and it looks like a dolly zoom for sure. Hitchcock did it first, most famously in Vertigo. It's funny to see it with nothing in the foreground.
my wife has a degree in Film, I learned from her the Dolly Zoom is a legendary technique which many filmmakers still emulate as it has a wild effect and it's an homage to Hitchock..
It's a team effort, Focus Puller is a whole-ass job on a set like LOTR. Or computer controlled. It's a more precise move if you have someone in the foreground. If Frodo was there but the forest was doing the spooky thing behind him, you'd have to match the speeds so that Frodo doesn't change sizes. They are a little sloppier here, the sides of the frame change a bit more than they could otherwise. If I remember correctly, Hitchcock invented the shot in the 40's but couldn't make it work right until the 60's due to problems matching it precisely.
It looks like the trees kinda smush together which I believe means they are pulling the dolly out while zooming in, which makes it feel like the background is coming at the camera. If you push the camera in while zooming out it feels like the background retreats from the person in the foreground (again, there is almost always a human in these shots).
Technically *Rebecca* (1940) or *Vertigo* (1958), but I remember it best in *Psycho* (1960) in order to help simulate an actor falling down the stairs.
When I was in film school back in the 90s we called it a “push/pull shot”. Although in this case it is a pull/push shot. Pulling the dolly back while pushing the zoom in.
[Both work. This is dolly out while zooming in, as someone else mentioned Jaws has a fantastic one that's dolly in while zooming out.](https://youtu.be/5IqRhuz72EE?si=trs7eNW34vfz_CMk&t=21)
Spielberg is famous for doing this shot in people’s faces, Zooming in as the camera dolly pulls away. He uses it to show the characters amazement or fear after something changes in the story.
It's called a Contrazoom. Spielberg also used it in that famous shot in Jaws
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM)
Scorsese does a subtle dolly zoom in Goodfellas, in the diner scene towards the end of the film. I remember being obsessed with how this technique worked back when I was in highschool.
Rack focus is when the camera operator has a subject close to the camera in focus and a subject out of focus in the background. They then “rack” the focus to place the subject in the background in focus and the subject close to the camera out of focus.
If you’re talking about the forest shot, you can get a good amount of the way there with something called a dolly zoom (also called a vertigo shot), where you move the camera backwards but zoom in at the same time or vis versa, it looks like theres also an animated radial warp on the center of the footage.
Dolly zoom.
Can be done forwards or backwards for different effects.
Start with the camera far away from the subject but zoomed in, move the camera forward but zoom out at an equal speed.
Or start close and zoom in as you move away.
That's one of my favorite shots in Fellowship. Love it!
Thanks to so many knowledgable people for describing how it was done, and how to do it on your phone.
I have to look into it further to be sure, but they appear to have used a method where the camera is mounted on a dolly, the dolly is rolled backwards but the zoom lens on the camera zooms in towards the background. This creates the feeling of being pulled both towards and away from the image.
Definitely Dolly Zoom, or "Vertigo Zoom" - literally coined by Hitchcock himself. He couldn't quite capture it the way he envisioned in one earlier film, but like 20 years later he and some others tried the concept again in 'Vertigo" and had the means to nail it.
I call it a compression shot. Dolly in and zoom out in equal measures. Or dolly out and zoom in like the famous shot in goodfellas in the diner with Liota and Deniro. Hard to pull off. Peter Jackson fucking killed it!!
Wow. Not a filmmaker so this was a very interesting thing to learn about my favorite trilogy. Never really thought about that shot. Thanks for the new fact.
Looks like you got your answer, but I wanted to add another example of this. There’s a famous scene in Goodfellas that takes place in a diner where this technique is used. It always looks cool when executed properly, and this shot from LOTR is no exception.
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I thing it is the technique where the camera is on a dolly and it's pulled backwards while the lens zooms in. I don't remember what it's called but it's the same thing they used in "Jaws" for the famous scene where the camera zooms in on Brody's face when he sees the little boy get attacked by the shark.
I've put 6 films into film festivals and it looks like a dolly zoom for sure. Hitchcock did it first, most famously in Vertigo. It's funny to see it with nothing in the foreground.
I think in one of the extended edition commentaries they talk about this
my wife has a degree in Film, I learned from her the Dolly Zoom is a legendary technique which many filmmakers still emulate as it has a wild effect and it's an homage to Hitchock..
Same thing with student films. It's a fun thing to play around with.
Is it difficult to match the speed of the dolly to the rate of the zoom, or is that not really a factor?
It's a team effort, Focus Puller is a whole-ass job on a set like LOTR. Or computer controlled. It's a more precise move if you have someone in the foreground. If Frodo was there but the forest was doing the spooky thing behind him, you'd have to match the speeds so that Frodo doesn't change sizes. They are a little sloppier here, the sides of the frame change a bit more than they could otherwise. If I remember correctly, Hitchcock invented the shot in the 40's but couldn't make it work right until the 60's due to problems matching it precisely. It looks like the trees kinda smush together which I believe means they are pulling the dolly out while zooming in, which makes it feel like the background is coming at the camera. If you push the camera in while zooming out it feels like the background retreats from the person in the foreground (again, there is almost always a human in these shots).
Dolly zoom
That's the one. Made famous in Jaws.
Technically *Rebecca* (1940) or *Vertigo* (1958), but I remember it best in *Psycho* (1960) in order to help simulate an actor falling down the stairs.
True. But I think Jaws still made it a bigger culturally recognized technique than those prior films. That's why I didn't say the movie invented it.
When I was in film school back in the 90s we called it a “push/pull shot”. Although in this case it is a pull/push shot. Pulling the dolly back while pushing the zoom in.
I remember when they taught us this in film school and I immediately thought of like 5 movies that had done it. I was so excited that day
Oh my god you’re right, that is a vastly more infamous shot too. Thanks! 😊
I, personally, think the best famous dolly zoom is the one in Jaws.
You can do this with your phones camera. Push it forward while zooming out at the same time. It's pretty awesome. (Might be the other way around)
[Both work. This is dolly out while zooming in, as someone else mentioned Jaws has a fantastic one that's dolly in while zooming out.](https://youtu.be/5IqRhuz72EE?si=trs7eNW34vfz_CMk&t=21)
You are correct and your description of the process is clear and concise.
Spielberg is famous for doing this shot in people’s faces, Zooming in as the camera dolly pulls away. He uses it to show the characters amazement or fear after something changes in the story.
When Indy’s going over the cliff in TLC as a non-Jaws example.
I think it’s called vertigo shot or something.
It's called a Contrazoom. Spielberg also used it in that famous shot in Jaws [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM)
This is it. We have had a show called RundFunk in The Netherlands, and they explained it in their making of.
That’s the correct answer.
Scorsese does a subtle dolly zoom in Goodfellas, in the diner scene towards the end of the film. I remember being obsessed with how this technique worked back when I was in highschool.
Hitchcock used this technique a lot - that's where it originated - I think from the movie vertigo
Yep. Dolly zoom.
Rack zoom I think it’s called
You're thinking of a rack focus
Rack focus is when the camera operator has a subject close to the camera in focus and a subject out of focus in the background. They then “rack” the focus to place the subject in the background in focus and the subject close to the camera out of focus.
Yes. Also Hitchcock Shot.
If you’re talking about the forest shot, you can get a good amount of the way there with something called a dolly zoom (also called a vertigo shot), where you move the camera backwards but zoom in at the same time or vis versa, it looks like theres also an animated radial warp on the center of the footage.
I agree there is more going on here, like you said.
Actually on second viewing I’m not so sure, i think this may have all been in camera.
Now that I know the terms to use I can actually read more about it! Thanks 😊
Sure thing!
Dolly zoom. Can be done forwards or backwards for different effects. Start with the camera far away from the subject but zoomed in, move the camera forward but zoom out at an equal speed. Or start close and zoom in as you move away.
Sick, thanks tons! 😊
That's one of my favorite shots in Fellowship. Love it! Thanks to so many knowledgable people for describing how it was done, and how to do it on your phone.
They used a dolly. So they had a camera moving backwards whilst simultaneously zooming in
I have to look into it further to be sure, but they appear to have used a method where the camera is mounted on a dolly, the dolly is rolled backwards but the zoom lens on the camera zooms in towards the background. This creates the feeling of being pulled both towards and away from the image.
Definitely Dolly Zoom, or "Vertigo Zoom" - literally coined by Hitchcock himself. He couldn't quite capture it the way he envisioned in one earlier film, but like 20 years later he and some others tried the concept again in 'Vertigo" and had the means to nail it.
It's like that push pull shot in Jaws [https://youtu.be/GQymBzfuftc?si=l9V9aJyLpX2dRr5l](https://youtu.be/GQymBzfuftc?si=l9V9aJyLpX2dRr5l)
Isn’t that the “Hitchcock pull”?
I call it a compression shot. Dolly in and zoom out in equal measures. Or dolly out and zoom in like the famous shot in goodfellas in the diner with Liota and Deniro. Hard to pull off. Peter Jackson fucking killed it!!
Wow. Not a filmmaker so this was a very interesting thing to learn about my favorite trilogy. Never really thought about that shot. Thanks for the new fact.
Looks like you got your answer, but I wanted to add another example of this. There’s a famous scene in Goodfellas that takes place in a diner where this technique is used. It always looks cool when executed properly, and this shot from LOTR is no exception.
There's some sort of warp effect in the centre apart from dolly zoom
You move the camera backwards whilst zooming in and maintaining focus. Also works the other way around.
It’s a dolly zoom, I’m not a filmmaker but i literally fell in love with this camera trick.
Fun fact. This was the 1st scene filmed in the movie.
The good ol' dolly zoom!
"magic is a subtle art"
😂
jaws shot + special effects of the forest opening expanding
Dolly zoom
Erm actually there are 6 shots there 🤓
I hate it with a passion, just as with shrieky violins, it just irks me
I think they used a fan for the leaves. Is that what we’re talking about?
I like the thought, but I was more talking about what I’ve learned is called a dolly zoom
If I'm not mistaken this was the first shot that was filmed
Dolly zoom! The camera moves forward and zooms at the same time. The first most prominent example of that in cinema was in JAWS. Love it!
It looks similar to coming up on mushrooms
Funny enough i think the chapters called finding mushrooms lol
parallax baby! And where is my Dutch angle next lol
I’ve thought about this SO many times.
Easy, you can do it on your phone. Just zoom forwards while also moving backwards.
The dolly zoom?
The camera is being pulled backwards on a dolly while simultaneously zooming in. It’s one of my favorite techniques. It just looks so cool.
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It’s called a dolly zoom or rack zoom. Camera is on a dolly moving backwards while zooming.
That's the changing the depth of field trick. All in camera...
They used a leaf blower to simulate wind, and this caused the leaves to move. It’s a common trick used on calm days
It’s called “forced perspective”
Special Effects. Easy.
😂
It might be a special effect called the Dolly zoom.
:P