The difference between a dolly and a zoom shot. Right of the top you need to recognize that (zoom) is a two dimensional move that is simply magnifying the image. On the other hand, a (dolly) move is a three dimensional move that displaces objects in the frame. In essence it gives a three dimensional feeling even though your audience is watching images on a two dimensional space. In layman's language we could say that the dolly move just looks real.

The dolly shot generally applies to moving in or out from the subject. When we move left to right across the subject we call this "trucking" or a truck shot. One of the most inportant things to remember when doing a dolly shot is that your composition at the beginning and end of the dolly is strong. (this also applies to the zoom shot). Professional dollies that you will see on a movie set have names like PeeWee, Panther, Spider, Elmack, Fisher and many others.

These units will not only move in and out but will also "boom" which refers to moving the camera up or down at the same time or separately from the dolly move. The person pushing this wheeled platform is known as "the dolly grip" (grip is similar to a "stage hand" in theatre.

You will often see metal track in exterior shots that is layed down for the dolly to roll on. One of the simplest dollies that I have personally used many times on promotional/corporate videos that I have shot is known as a "tube dolly". You can make of of these yourself quite easily. All you need is two pieces of PVC pipe, (the pipes I use are 10 feet in length) along with a 4 foot square piece of 3/4" plywood, a push bar attached to the plywood and a couple of sets of skateboard wheels attached underneath the plywood that run on the PVC track.

Get lots more hands on tips and techniques from my book "Marketing with Film & Video". Just go to www.speakfilm.com and click on the book.

Here's to good shooting
Barry Casson c.s.c.
bcasson@speakfilm.comI tend to disagree-- Dolly's are cool, but zooms are too. Film school students are told never to use zooms. But why not?