An Inspirational Idea

Dolly Zoom?

While filming, myself and James attempted to recreate the dramatic camera technique - The Dolly Zoom.

I came up with an inspiring idea while filming which could/would replace a close up of the "murderer's" face. Instead, we'll have a Dolly Zoom onto the "victim's" face to show his response because he looked at the "murderer" who is about to hit and make the victim unconscious.

Because of this change, it'll create an enigma similar to the Shark used in "Jaws (1975)" - to use the imagination of the audience to create their own interpretation of how the "murderer's" face looks like, instead of showing it which we where originally going to do. By using the audience's imagination, the whole opening and scene becomes far more threatening and personal to the viewer as they could possibly imagine a figure from one of their nightmares.

The Dolly Zoom attempts to undermine normal visual perception. It is achieved when the camera moves towards an object, while zooming out at the same rate and time, and also vise-versa.

This technique was firstly seen in "Alfred Hitchcock's" psychological thriller film "Vertigo". However, the first appearance of a Dolly Zoom onto a character's face to portray emotion such as shock was purely unique to "Jaws".

We've chosen to try and include this shot as it's very effective to show a character's facial expressions and emotions, whereas other shots are not dramatically effective.

The most recognized example of this wonderful shot is from "Jaws (1975)". It's used to show the lifeguard's (actor: Roy Scheider's) emotion and fright when he sees the shark attack. The shot adds dramatic tension for the audience and scene. 

Many thanks to group member James Kent who filmed the following shots. I tried myself, but overall, he had the best results.

Patrice Shot:

Actual Shot: