ZoomZoom Skytrain movie # 7

My zoom-dolly shots, à la Alfred Hitchcock's much-imitated Vertigo technique.

from siggraph.org:

"A Zoom lens has a variable focal length and so camera "moves" can be made without actually moving the camera. Professional cinematographers use the zoom very sparingly and generally prefer to move the camera. Amateurs love the zoom and can create some very nauseating motion by combining zooms and rapid pans. A zoom changes the angle of display so spatial relationships also change.

In the movie "Vertigo", Alfred Hitchcock took advantage of this feature to create a what is now known as the vertigo shot. This involves synchronizing the movement of the subject with the zoom so that the subject is always the same size, but the background changes."

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/cameras/trad...

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• skytrain
• zoom
• vertigo

[saidhunter]

fabolous !

[ecphonehome]

The metro/train noise adds a very nice surreal and sensory effect!

[klepto69]

excellent description and depiction of this shot. its also known as the contra dolly, or contra zoom (as it is the opposite of both of those). Obviously because of the focal length of your lens you had to stop at a certain point when you had zoomed completely in, but in a movie such as vertigo it would not be done with such a scale. this is my fav shot, and was used in many movies including Lord of the Rings I (ringwraith scene in the forest)

[livardo]

holy shit, don't watch this while under the influence .. of anything!

[Thosedamnhippies]

Awesome. I do remember this great effect being used in Vertigo.  Good post.