Is there a name for the very slow dolly move/zoom in?

N

nyvideo

Active member
Many of the contemporary nighttime television dramas use a technique where they will have a scene with two people. Usually there are medium shots of each person speaking. It seems like the dolly will very slowly move in to the person (to enhance the drama?). It will move so slowly that, unless you're looking for it, it would be easy to not even notice it.

Does this technique have a name?
 
just a slow push in... that's what we call it. I prefer dolly camera moves to any other method of moving the camera. If it's real slow it's usually a dolly but TV production makes really good use of stedicam.... they've got the walk and talk knocked. TV production is really good now, right?
 
Man you are just setting us up for this one.

It's called a Mickey Rooney. Basically a short creep.
 
Thank you for the information. So, does the dolly grip and/or AD have a floor mark for the start and end of the move? Or, is it kind of loose and just eyeballed?
 
DP will talk to the dolly grip and the operator or the 1st and give them starting and ending marks usually using a viewfinder. They'll mark those spots on the floor, lay dance floor or track and then do the move. It's rarely just eyeballed because it involves the camera changing distance to the subject, which means the focus will change and the AC will have to adjust to any deviations from the original marks. The AD's involvement in this process is little to none, the most he will do is run a rehearsal for them to make sure everyone is happy with the move.

If you want to learn more about dolly gripping, I'd suggest checking out this website.

http://www.dollygrippery.net/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top