The effect is achieved by using the setting of a zoom lens to adjust the angle of view (often referred to as field of view) while the camera dollies (or moves) towards or away from the subject in such a way as to keep the subject the same size in the frame throughout. In its classic form, the camera is pulled away from a subject whilst the lens zooms in, or vice-versa. Thus, during the zoom, there is a continuous perspective distortion, the most directly noticeable feature being that the background appears to change size relative to the subject.

As the human visual system uses both size and perspective cues to judge the relative sizes of objects, seeing a perspective change without a size change is a highly unsettling effect, and the emotional impact of this effect is greater than the description above can suggest. The visual appearance for the viewer is that either the background suddenly grows in size and detail and overwhelms the foreground, or the foreground becomes immense and dominates its previous setting, depending on which way the dolly zoom is executed.

The effect was first developed by Irmin Roberts, a Paramount second-unit cameraman, and was famously used by Hitchcock in his film Vertigo.

What it represents

The Vertigo Zoom is used to depict a sense of extreme emotion. It represents a sudden rush of adrenalin much like what you feel when you’re bungee jumping or doing heroin. On the same lines as the Dutch Angle, the Vertigo Zoom is a cinematic depiction of a highly psychological feeling. The most common usage of this effect is in Horror/ Slasher films or films about drug abuse.

The perfect example of a film that employs the services of the Vertigo Zoom is Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ (1975). Other films include Event Horizon (1997), Poltergeist (1982), Pulp Fiction (1994), Goodfellas (1990) and The Quick and the Dead (1994).

The execution

For a fancy effect, The Vertigo Zoom is relatively very easy to execute. It is actually a simple scientific trick. There can be two types of the Vertigo Zoom: a feeling of falling away from the backdrop or a falling into it. Both are just reversals of each other.

The camera starts at a distance from the subject with the lens completely zoomed in. This is the start point. From here, when the shot begins, the camera tracks into the subject and at the same time the lens is zoomed out relatively so that the subject in the foreground remains the same size. This causes the backdrop to increase in depth of field as the lens is zoomed out causing a sense of gaining distance between the subject and the backdrop. This is the Track in/ Zoom out method where it feels like the subject is falling away from the backdrop.

The opposite of this is the Zoom in/ Dolly out. In this variation, the camera starts very close to the subject while completely zoomed out. Once the shot begins, the camera starts to dolly out away from the subject while zooming in relatively. This gives a feeling as if the subject is growing closer or falling into the backdrop.

Another less popular and rarely tried variation is with the side tracking shot. The camera moves from Subject A to Subject B while zooming in or out.

From creative to cliché

As with the Dutch Angle, this effect lost its way after its initial crusades in the great cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. After Hitchcock, other great directors did use it in the right amounts to their artistic advantage. Great names like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino have all used The Vertigo Zoom in more than one of their films.

It was once again the B-movie market that ruined the reputation of the Vertigo Zoom as a serious effect. Many exploitation films of the 1970s and 1980s and especially slasher films over-used the effect and turned it into a cheesy little joke. This phenomenon prevailed throughout the direct-to-video market of the 1990s and continues today in several direct-to-DVD and other C-movies.

Vertigo Zoom + Dutch Angle = Suicidal Combination

When combined with the other equally inglorious camera trick: the Dutch Angle, it forms a lethal combination for serious filmmakers much like ground beef and a tall glass of milk for vegans. The Dutch Angle puts forward a sense of psychological imbalance and The Vertigo Zoom builds up a sense of rush. The resulting feeling of this combination can only be left to imagination.

Although Tarantino used this deadly combination to his advantage in Kill Bill volume 1 (2003), it was more of an intended homage to B-movies than a serious depiction of the feeling of the shot. Another filmmaker who used this combination very well in recent times was Terry Gilliam in his film Tideland (2005).

In Zooming out

A valuable lesson that one can learn from the respective ill-fates of both the Dutch Angle and the Vertigo Zoom is that the obvious over-use of any effect will send out a very bad message. Critics and especially the audience have seen one too many of these cheap tricks and when over-used they are quick to brand your film as a cliché. In saying that it does not mean that one should not use these effects. After all, these are the scientific parameters of the camera and as long as you’re using the camera, you will have to work with these parameters.

One valuable suggestion that I’ve been given, which I would like to share with you is, try not to do anything with the camera that the human eye cannot do. But in case of depicting highly unrealistic psychological shots, I don’t see why not. Hell, go with the Vertigo Zoom.