• Wondering which camera, gear, computer, or software to buy? Ask in our Gear Guide.

How do I do a shot like this?

Sort by date Sort by votes
Classic "MTV Zoom" Pretty popular in the 70s and used in a lot of music videos.

Either dolly in while zooming out, or dolly back while zooming in.

Can't recall which direction gets that effect, but with things like this you want to experiment to taste. The gist is that you move the camera in one direction while zooming in the opposite direction.

^^^ Not correct, wrong shot ^^^
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
I don't think this has anytinhg to to with zooming. You just have to be sure the background is far away from the actor, then the camera moves to the side (or in part of a circle being the actor in the center of that circle) with the actor centered on frame and the actor itself rotates so that he allways faces the camera.

This or a big zoom will make the backgorund move a lot faster than the actor.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ah, I was talking about the wrong shot then.

Yeah, I was one shot too early (about 0:22, not 0:24).

That just looks like a function of focal length and distance, although it is possible they were moving the actor on a platform to exacerbate the effect.


Mea Cupla. :D
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Kind of stating the obvious - but you are correct. When moving the
camera it's important to keep the actor in the frame. If you just
moved the dolly (and camera) to the left the actor would quickly
be out of frame.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okay thanks. Does the actor have to move the side at all? There it looked like he was completely still, so should I put him on a skateboard or something for him to slide to the side, or is he still, and I just have to rotate the camera in a dolly, while he's still and that's it?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks. Does the actor have to move the side at all? There it looked like he was completely still, so should I put him on a skateboard or something for him to slide to the side, or is he still, and I just have to rotate the camera in a dolly, while he's still and that's it?
Click to expand...

The actor doesn't have to move to get that effect. Just move the camera.
If the actor rotates you will get a more dramatic and exagerated effect.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okay thanks. That shot before actually looked good too. I thought it was just a zoom, but they did dolly the camera back to make the background come forward a little didn't they... I guess I would need a constant aperture lens for that, which can be quite pricey. If I zoom with a lens without a constant aperture, is it easy to fix the aperture with After Effects or will that not look near as good quality, and a constant aperture lens is worth the money for that type of shot? Thanks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Just close the aperture far enough, so it won't close further when zooming in.
6.5 is probably the minimum aperture on maximum zoom? Use 6.5 or higher.
(This is something you should have thought of yourself... Do you really post every question that pops up in your mind?)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okay thanks, but I did think of that myself and tried it a few times, and it still changes. It still gets darker when zooming in. It goes back to just as bright once done zooming but goes darker, during the zoom.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
harmonica44 said:
In the video if fast forward 24 seconds in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRlGbr3NuYc&feature=relmfu

The background behind the guy seems to move at a different speed than he does as he steps sideways. How do they make the background move like that? Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's a pan. With a long lens. The background appears to be "moving" faster because the background is much further away from the camera than the subject. There is nothing tricky going on there.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top