Moving the background...???

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
In the Movie "UNDERCOVER BROTHER" There is a scene where it appears the camera zooms into Eddie Griffin "Undercover Brother" while the background is pushing backwards. How is that done? I have heard of shooting something so tight that you would have to use your MACRO lens and adjusting the macro you can create the illusion that the background is moving. Not sure if the background could have been green screened or not. But it was shot in a hallway of an office he is was in (in the movie).

I need to watch the scene again but it might be the other way around which would still have me asking the same question! He may have been on some sort of rig that moved him closer to the camera while the background moved backwards away from the camera. An effect seen in Spike Lee movies that has people looking like they are gliding down the sidewalk instead of walking.
 
I haven't seen that movie, but I'm pretty sure it's a dolly shot. If you keep the dolly on the subject, but move it backwards while zooming in, the background gives the illusion of moving. When you're at wide angle, ojects on screen seem to be closer together, but when you're at a full zoom, objects on screen seem to be further away.

J.D.
 
Rich, I just saw your fotoblog. do you just carry a camera everywhere you go? They look great. do you use them to scout future video shots too?
 
Rasquachemedia - i havnt taken a photo in months...been so swamped with work...but yes, usualy i try to get out and take photos as much as i can. hopfully in the next few weeks or so i can get the energy andjump back into it. thanks for checkin it out!

i dont think spike was the first to use that kind of shot...i feel like i have seen that in some 50's/60's films...

jdsmith19 - wikipedia.org is rad!
 
DVX100Shooter said:
...it appears the camera zooms into Eddie Griffin "Undercover Brother" while the background is pushing backwards...
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jdsmith19 said:
...If you keep the dolly on the subject, but move it backwards while zooming in, the background gives the illusion of moving....
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This is just a technicality, but I think the shot DVX100Shooter is describing would be in opposite direction - zooming out while pushing in, allowing background to 'slide away'. Since longer lens compresses space, I think that the classical 'Hitchcock shot' (dolly out, zoom in) creates the illusion of background coming closer.
 
Dubbed the "Zolly" shot = zoom+dolly. Works both ways zoom in-dolly out, zoom out-dolly in. I just wanted to let you know that even though Hitchcock used it in the 50's and 60's The "Zolly" is looked upon as a very amateur or a typical Student Film camera move now a days. They are cool in my book, just use them sparingly and when appropriate for the story.
 
They're also known as Vertigo shots, since the first famous use of them (and maybe the first ever use) was in Hitchcock's Vertigo.
 
ive seen some good examples in road to perdition and in goodfellowes, the shot on that lasted a good amount of time when they were in the diner
 
XCheck said:
This is just a technicality, but I think the shot DVX100Shooter is describing would be in opposite direction - zooming out while pushing in, allowing background to 'slide away'. Since longer lens compresses space, I think that the classical 'Hitchcock shot' (dolly out, zoom in) creates the illusion of background coming closer.
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Acutally man, it's the complete opposite. Hitchcock made the background pull away to make it look like the drop in "Vertigo" was bigger. So you dolly in while zooming out to make the background bigger (but you got the right idea).


Dyrseve989 said:
ive seen some good examples in road to perdition and in goodfellowes, the shot on that lasted a good amount of time when they were in the diner
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Probably the best shot in the movie (Goodfellas). Symbolizing the world coming down on him/engulfing him, the camera dollies back while zooming in. Basically, cut out the middle man and look at the background. If the background is getting bigger, your zooming in, smaller - zoom out. Just do the opposite with your dolly to keep the midground the same.
 
Max Lewis said:
Acutally man, it's the complete opposite. Hitchcock made the background pull away to make it look like the drop in "Vertigo" was bigger. So you dolly in while zooming out to make the background bigger (but you got the right idea).
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Okay - I must admit I've never seen Vertigo (shame on me! :shocked: ) - that was what I got from the descriptions of the shot.

But yes: Background pull away = push in + zoom out.
 
It's ony an amateur camera move if an amateur is using it.

If it fits the story and mood, use it. Peter Jackson used it in Lord of the Rings, and nobody complained.
 
"Peter Jackson used it in Lord of the Rings, and nobody complained."

I remember the theater audience screaming bloody hell when they saw that. About half walked out saying what an amateur move it was and how it ruined the film for them. :)
 
Professionally we call it a trombone shot. Hitchcock did it first. Here is what he said about it:

"I thought about the problem for 15 years. By the time we got to Vertigo, we solved it by using the dolly and zoom simultaneously. I asked how much it would cost, and they told me it would cost $50,000. When I asked why, they said 'Because to put the camera at the top of the stairs we have to have a big apparatus to lift it, counterweight it, and hold it up in space.' I said 'There are no characters in the scene: it's simply a viewpoint. Why can't we make a miniature of the stairway and lay it on its side, then take our shot by pulling away from it? We can use a tracking shot and a zoom flat on the ground.' So that's the way we did it, and it only cost us $19,000."
 
I think a great example of this particular camera movement is in "Jaws".
Vertigo is a great movie by the way! Love that poster, probably my favourite one.
 
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