Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock invented a new type of shot for the opening scene of Vertigo, one which has been taken up by other master filmmakers and used to ...

[Martin Scorsese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StcvV1pZXz4), who has spoken highly of ["Vertigo"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqIOQK1L6QE) many times, used a slower-paced dolly zoom in "Goodfellas." Scorsese and DP Michael Ballhaus start with a center-framed medium-wide shot of the two men sitting on opposite ends of the booth, then slowly zoom in as the dolly tracks out inch by inch, creating a subtle "Vertigo effect" that lasts over 30 seconds. ](https://www.slashfilm.com/900783/the-10-greatest-jaws-moments/) Here, it comes during the second shark attack of the movie, when young Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees) is killed a few yards from shore. While this camera trick is most accurately called a "dolly zoom," it's also sometimes called the "Vertigo effect" in a nod to its origin. When Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) sees the attack, the scene cuts to a medium close-up of him sitting down. Why can't we make a miniature of the stairway and lay it on its side, then take our shot by pulling away from it? That doesn't mean the shot wasn't easy to create; it took some creative thinking and a pretty penny to pull off the Vertigo effect. ](https://www.slashfilm.com/761251/how-alfred-hitchcock-subtly-makes-you-feel-uneasy-in-rebecca/) As [Hitchcock](https://www.slashfilm.com/587316/alfred-hitchcocks-15-best-films-ranked/) explained: As a result, the subject of the shot remained in focus while the background of the frame distorts. When I asked why, they said, 'Because to put the camera at the top of the stairs we have to have a big apparatus to lift it, counterweight it, and hold it up in space.' I said, 'There are no characters in this scene; it's simply a viewpoint. I always remember one night at the Chelsea Arts Ball at Albert Hall in London when I got terribly drunk and I had the sensation that everything was going far away from me. The effect was achieved by mounting a camera on a dolly track and then zooming in on the lens while moving the dolly backward.