The Dolly Zoom Technique with a Drone

This is also called the Vertigo Effect and has been used for many years in film making. Traditionally it's made by pulling the camera back away from the subject and zooming in at the same time or pushing the camera towards the subject and zooming out. Your subject roughly stays in the same place while the background gets closer or further away.

The above video was made using a drone that shoots in 2.7k (2704 x 1520) resolution and the "zoom" was replicated in post production by scaling the picture down gradually. If you have a drone that shoots in a higher resolution such as 4k then an even longer "zoom" can be created without dropping the resolution too low.

Here is one of the most famous dolly zoom shots in the movie Jaws (1975)

Here's the setup for creating the shot. You can see the wood on top of the sand that the camera rolls on.

Here's one from Goodfellas (1990). You can imagine that they cleared everything out behind the camera in the restaurant so it could roll backwards.

Here is an incredible shot that was made using a 2000mm lens in the movie Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (2011). The plane lands and comes to a stop right next to the two people talking in this one shot all while appearing the same size.

Here's another from the series Halt and Catch Fire

Here's one from the classic movie Raging Bull (1980).

This is not a difficult shot to create. You can do this today by simply walking towards something and zooming out at the same time. Look for somewhere that will have an interesting background that is pretty far away. Review the shot after you have recorded it and you will be able to fine tune your technique by seeing what went right and what went wrong and doing the shot over again. The longer the zoom, the more dramatic the shot.

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