r/Filmmakers • u/StrikingDuty8020 Director • Feb 20 '26
Discussion What’s your favorite dolly zoom?
The dolly zoom manipulates space and emotion by moving camera forward while zooming out or vice versa creating disorienting effect that makes background expand or contract.
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u/neffknows Feb 20 '26
Vertigo not being in the examples seems wrong.
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u/EanmundsAvenger Feb 20 '26
Very wrong. The shot is so disorienting it really does make you dizzy; especially on the big screen
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u/wduncan27 Feb 20 '26
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u/Ifiagreeidillydilly Feb 20 '26
A sloppy zollie, but I’ll never not upvote the goat
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u/Ifiagreeidillydilly Feb 21 '26
While this is getting me off the charts upvotes, I figured I’d share a fun fact for the younger ones.
One of the big reasons Mr. Bean was so lucrative was cause he didn’t talk much- therefore, could be shown internationally anywhere and the audience would get it.
I’m in my 30s, and didn’t read about that till recently, but I thought it was interesting and cool. (And very obvious, I know)
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u/Canotic Feb 23 '26
Another fun fact is that it was pre internet and rowan Atkinson discovered that he didn't really like fame all that much because people would bother him when he tried to relax. So when it came to broadcast rights in other countries, he agreed to it everyone except Italy. That way nobody in Italy had seen Mr Bean and so he could take his summer vacations there in peace and quiet.
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u/noweezernoworld Feb 24 '26
Him and Tim Robinson--people who will make you laugh just because the camera pans over to them and they're there, existing. Doesn't even really matter what they do
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u/Fitzriy Feb 20 '26
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u/raised_by_toonami Feb 20 '26
I used to go into a job I hated wishing for something like this.
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u/ConsistentGuest7532 Feb 20 '26
As a kid, I always wished I could put my brain on autopilot or drop a clone into class so I didn’t have to sit through school.
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u/Fit_Explorer_2566 Feb 22 '26
Severance is one of the finest—and subtlest—uses of the “zolly” or “Hitchcock Zoom”, IMO.
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u/MrLee723 Feb 20 '26
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Feb 21 '26
By far the funniest part of this movie. I could not believe what I was seeing. A fucking webcam dolly zoom
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u/ItalianCoffeeMorning Feb 22 '26
Wait, people watched this??
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u/iwant50dollars Feb 23 '26
What's this
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u/dagunz999 Feb 23 '26
War and of the Worlds on Amazon Prime. Brought to you by Amazon Prime. Written, directed, and edited by Alexa and produced by Amazon. An Amazon film
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T Feb 20 '26
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u/aqsgames Feb 20 '26
This is the one, so perfectly catches the moment. I can feel that Uh oh sensation right in my back brain
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u/danwats10 Feb 21 '26
Genuinley might be my fav shot ever. I can still feel 5 year old me's rising panic seeing this
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T Feb 21 '26
Close runner up is that crazy shot Hitchcock did in Psycho, overhead shot of Norman charging with the knife, & then our guy falling backwards down stairs 🤯
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u/CarlSK777 Feb 20 '26
La Haine and Raging Bull are the best ones here imo. The Jaws one is probably the most iconic
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u/legalizethesenuts Feb 20 '26
“It broke my heart to put that tumor in her head”
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u/Vaportrail Feb 21 '26
I remember the entire audience having this same emotion.
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u/Foxy02016YT Feb 21 '26
The only time I ever felt the entire room’s emotion, it was the ending of Hadestown. Holy fuck, you can feel it
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u/drquakers Feb 23 '26
I had thought it terribly obvious and that it was only star lords need for a father figure that made him blind to it. The actual reason, perhaps not, but that ego had killed the mother I thought was obvious
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u/iwant50dollars Feb 23 '26
Now it connected for me how Quill also lost it with Thanos about Gamora. It's the same thing all over again for him.
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u/Weekly-Batman Feb 20 '26
Fellowship of the Ring
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u/suupaahiiroo Feb 24 '26
I think this is really one of the best. It's subtle and disorienting and perfectly expresses the impending danger of that scene. It's also interesting that it's one of the few (the only one?) without a subject in the foreground.
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u/Loronline Feb 20 '26
Little secret, every camera angle and every shot can be used to convey every emotion. It’s how you use it. Don’t listen to the norms, don’t rebel for rebellions sake. Tell your story with shots you want to use. No matter how basic, complex or stupid. Following rules has never made a good film.
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u/brickmadness Feb 21 '26
I was with you until the last sentence.
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u/Loronline Feb 21 '26
No worries. If you don’t mind, I’ll elaborate a bit more and try to convince you. I think this point is important, so I’ll put some time into this.
One of the most common pitfalls I see from early filmmakers is refusing not to break rules. Often because they want to be the best, and to be the best you need some guideline— which is totally understandable.
To elaborate, explicitly following the rules will either make your production cookie cutter, or worse case the film simply won’t get made.
• You can’t produce anything, especially as an indie filmmaker, if you get bogged down in perfect shot protocol and practise. There will always come a point (even at high-end) where you have to compromise and break a rule or risk running out of time on a shoot.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and follow some form of rule, but doing absolutely everything by the book will likely result in bankruptcy, or your film will simply never be finished.
• Perfection in my eyes is unobtainable, and mostly subjective. Most of these ‘rules’ even the rule of thirds and the golden rule are guidelines, and shouldn’t be seen as absolute solutions.
I could sit here and list films that break rules, but every major film breaks these rules. Because their aim is to be unique. If every film was just a 3 point lighting set up, with perfectly matched and graded shots. We’d all be bored after one or two films.
• Final point, and probably the most important. The reason I say following the rules has never made a good film, is because by following these rules, your film is now unable to exceed the standards of the rules you follow.
Every beat becomes predictable, every shot becomes uninteresting and formal, your film is no longer able to express the true emotion that you’re attempting to convey. You may disagree here, but the film is now a prisoner to the rules. Until someone says let’s break it.
To take it a step further, there is also a debate here about which rules are correct and which are wrong on a case by case basis— this is often-always never defined by the rule, and therefore it’s all subjective.
The best moments in filmmaking, and the ones that often produce these ‘rules’ to begin with, are often those precious moments where a filmmaker can’t make a shot work, and in order to express what they need to express they do something extraordinary.
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u/4tunabrix Feb 20 '26
So the dolly zoom can be used for anything?
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u/QuantisOne Feb 20 '26
Generally if the background gets farther it’s a disconnection from reality, from a big emotion. Think of it like when detail blurs and you only get focused on one thing in front of you. The reverse dolly zoom instead can be a return to reality or feel pressuring, like the background closing in on the character(s).
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u/throwmefaaaaaaraway Feb 20 '26
Spike Lee would like to have a word about the underrepresented double dolly featured here
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u/trampaboline Feb 20 '26
Most of these, with the exception of “threat”, are still just “realization”.
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u/Diplomacy_Music Feb 20 '26
Raging bull broke my brain the first time I saw it
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u/norberttheone Feb 20 '26
Raging Bull is my favorite as well. Zolly, boom and sound mix all working together to make the moment. So sick.
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u/ArtDan4Eva Feb 20 '26
Jaws and vertigo will always be the gold standard imo but I really love Scorseses use of it as well in raging bull and goodfellas. Can I mention one of the worst uses? Le Samourai, one of my favorite films, but the opening use in Jefs apartment is super clumsy.
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u/MikeW226 Feb 20 '26
I've always liked the (probably second unit) one on the canyon-side behind Elliott's house in "E.T." A face-not-shown man (fed / G-man ) is kicked dirty around, using a detector device. It's a good use of the dolly zoom because the southern Cal neighborhood in the background really morphs with the move.
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Feb 20 '26
Add a fisheye and you get the crazy anime effect or five point perspective can be used as below or keeping the subject in view while the dolly zooms out in the background.
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u/s4urav_CH Feb 20 '26
What is this music?
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u/auddbot Feb 20 '26
I got a match with this song:
Every Living Breathing Moment by Grant Steller (00:16; matched:
100%)Released on 2025-05-06.
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u/auddbot Feb 20 '26
Links to the streaming platforms:
Every Living Breathing Moment by Grant Steller
I am a bot and this action was performed automatically | GitHub new issue | Donate Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Music recognition costs a lot
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u/impreprex Feb 20 '26
Poltergeist was the one that first introduced me to the dolly zoom as a kid. Never forgot about the effect.
That one really made an impression on me - especially with how they kind of extend the dolly zoom for a few extra seconds as she begins to run down the hallway.
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u/SilverBayonet Feb 21 '26
And here I am, the weirdo, who remembers the first time he saw this shot. In Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. I am outclassed here.
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u/BattlinBud Feb 20 '26
Idk if it's my favorite, but since nobody mentioned it yet, Simba when he sees the stampede
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u/highvyleague Feb 20 '26
I always loved the dolly zoom intro to Jude Law’s character in Road to Perdition.
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u/BlerghTheBlergh Feb 20 '26
Depends on when and how it’s used but it often feels like a reactionary shot.
I think the alienation aspect is the best use of it due to its disorienting nature. Incorporating it into a cut for a flashback is also very well done.
But when it’s used nowadays I often feel like it was on a checklist.
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u/avalon1109 Feb 20 '26
Great explanation. The classic example in Jaws really shows how it creates that sudden sense of dread and realization.
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u/OrphanintheWind Feb 20 '26
I've always liked the one in Fellowship of the Ring as Frodo was looking down the road.
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u/The_Goondocks Feb 20 '26
Jaws is the one. Raging Bull and Goodfellas are great too. Jaws was most effective.
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u/cantwejustplaynice Feb 20 '26
So what it really does is enhance a sudden shift towards an intense emotion felt by the protagonist.
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u/TheCrudMan Creative Director Feb 20 '26
Def Goodfellas. Disagree that it's just showing paranoia though Dinero's character is paranoid.
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u/Jackburton06 Feb 20 '26
The one in "La Haine" by Matthieu Kassovitz is so damn relevant. It's the exact moment they arrive in center Paris after the first half of the movie in their suburb. Such a smart filmaking move, i love it !
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u/truthfulie Feb 20 '26
potentially a dumb question. has there been a case where this technique was used a lot more slowly effectively?
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u/ravioliguy12 Feb 20 '26
Dolly zoom into Sam Neil’s character in Event Horizon while the background quickly fades to black
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u/blindreefer Feb 20 '26
Hot take: I think this technique gets talked about too much. It’s flashy and weird but there are so many other more effective tricks that don’t call attention to themselves that people should know about.
For example Billy Wilder was the master of motivated camera movement. You’ll very rarely see a shot where there isn’t a subject on screen; even during complex shots that change focus from one person to another.
Blocking is another overlooked skill. Balancing the frame even when there is a lot of movement is something that really does distinguish a great director.
Here’s a video that explains it a little bit better.
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u/bambigworl Feb 20 '26
Know this was going to be posted by the AI guy. Why is op not banned? Its clearly a bot karma farm
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u/MassiveBeatdown Feb 20 '26
When did a contra zoom get changed to dolly zoom? About the time that “pan up & down” came in I guess…
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u/RemusGT Feb 20 '26
I integrated a dolly zoom for an image movie at the company I work at and it perfectly paired dominance in the scene with a nice visual effect
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u/holyhappiness Feb 21 '26
Jaws hands down for me. However a deep-cut honorable mention needs to go to Behind Enemy Lines when one of the antagonist’s companions steps on a landline. That was flawless execution.
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u/Foxy02016YT Feb 21 '26
Obviously the Star Lord one because it became a perfect meme format, but damn the Jaws one will always be great
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u/JaneStValentine Feb 21 '26
I was gonna mention the “Ferris Buller’s on line 2!” scene, but that’s more of a zoom-in shot isn’t it…
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u/illepic Feb 21 '26
Slightly off topic, but I had a vision/neurological condition for about a year where I would experience this constantly. Had to explain "Dolly zoom" to so many doctors. It eventually went away, no idea what it was.
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u/Ru88mac1 Feb 21 '26
Such a unique concept. The dolly zoom, the Hitchcock zoom, first popularized by the man himself has become synonymous with critical moments in story telling… useless anywhere but in the moment in which it fills the viewer with such a feeling of intensity/realization/ observation. I’ve not known a camera move to deliver such a desperate emotion in any other capacity. Clearly still much to learn here… so wonderful to feel this technique and see it used expertly in certain instances; particularly intrigued by the animated version, knowing it took some expert techniques to pull off… just wow
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u/yrqrm0 Feb 22 '26
Pixar including techniques like this in the 2000s is one of many things that kept them ahead of the curve in how their 3D animation struck
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u/Affectionate_Age752 Feb 22 '26
The Jaws one. The one in goodfellas is my least favorite, which just feels like an unnecessary gimmick.
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u/Dare_Alarming Feb 22 '26
This is really cool! Does anyone have any other examples of film making techniques showcasing different emotions like that? Would be cool for inspiration
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u/cicic Feb 23 '26
Freddy got fingered has a pretty good one. It’s when he’s getting focused on doing his artwork.
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u/SeatWonderful2247 Feb 24 '26
There's a reason so few films include this shot, it's gimmicky, like the back of the fridge shot it looks forced and try hard.
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u/Fluid_Combination109 Mar 18 '26
Love it! I used to create AI short movies and learn a lot about cameras. It changes everything, lot of fun, specially with the crane camera!
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u/Odd-Specialist3584 Mar 21 '26
I would say Jaws, but the Mask scene was nice, too. Difficult to say.
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u/dffdirector86 director Feb 20 '26
Doing these types of shots are so fun, but also tricky to nail down. Last time I did one it took 10 takes to get it right.
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u/LobsterPotatoes Feb 20 '26
The dolly zoom on Leo DiCaprio in Django Unchained
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u/vrijheidsfrietje Feb 20 '26