Glossary · Cinematography

Dolly zoom

Also called vertigo effect

Moving the camera toward or away from a subject while zooming the opposite way, so the background appears to stretch or compress.

Moving the camera toward or away from a subject while zooming the opposite way, so the background appears to stretch or compress.

The effect is strongly associated with Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), where it conveys the character's fear of heights.

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