Why has the zoom changed over the decades?

To echo what David Smith is saying to a degree and to interject my own opinion; I think that "the zoom" interwoven in a narrative piece is a lot more difficult then people give it credit for and simultaneously many lack the skill in cinematography to use it effectively. An unmotivated dolly move sure looks cooler then an unmotivated zoom which is why I think dolly shots have replaced a lot of zooms (not to mention smaller cameras over time which are easier to physically move around). A well done zoom (second the suggestion of watching Munich) can be every bit as wonderful and add it's own unique signature to a story element as a dolly shot.
 
Oh okay. I guess I just never minded the zoom. I mean Sergio Leone used it quite a bit and he is considered to be a great director. I was on set for experience, and the DP was moving in and out on a dolly, constantly having to refocus. The sound guy kept saying how the sound of the dolly kept getting picked up when recording dialogue, but if he would have used his zoom lens, then problem solved. He may not have had one, but they had two big cinema cameras with pretty expensive looking lenses attached so it seemed like they could have gotten one if they wanted.
 
A zoom is like any camera movement, if you use it appropriately - no one will ever think the worse of you for it. This is filmmaking, all that matters is that it works - it doesn't matter how you get there.
 
ironpony said:
Oh okay. I guess I just never minded the zoom. I mean Sergio Leone used it quite a bit and he is considered to be a great director. I was on set for experience, and the DP was moving in and out on a dolly, constantly having to refocus. The sound guy kept saying how the sound of the dolly kept getting picked up when recording dialogue, but if he would have used his zoom lens, then problem solved. He may not have had one, but they had two big cinema cameras with pretty expensive looking lenses attached so it seemed like they could have gotten one if they wanted.
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Leone did use the zoom and so did Kubrick, but even they used it sparingly and when they did it was to enhance something only a zoom could do. A dolly and zoom looks very different. It's sort of like asking this: Why use a steadicam when you could just use handheld? They are similar, but still completely different (though zooms and dollies are MUCH more different than handheld and steadicam).
 
I think either a zoom or a dolly can be used effectively when appropriate for the shot needed.

I'll have to say that with the advent of the slider, it's now the new toy for many shooters out there, and totally overused. Much in the same regard as zooming in and out gets to be annoying, entire films of unmotivated slider moves is just as annoying.
 
David W. Jones said:
I think either a zoom or a dolly can be used effectively when appropriate for the shot needed.

I'll have to say that with the advent of the slider, it's now the new toy for many shooters out there, and totally overused. Much in the same regard as zooming in and out gets to be annoying, entire films of unmotivated slider moves is just as annoying.
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I guess that's why the camera operator was using the slider then. New toy. I like the slide better myself I think. Mostly because I don't want to buy a zoom lens right now with a constant aperture, for more money. The slide is good for now, but if I had the zoom lens, I'd just use that but not do it too fast, in order to make it look good.
 
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