The Dolly Zoom or Vertigo effect has been around for many years, and it’s still one of the most iconic cinematic techniques ever invented in cinema history. Best of all, it continues to evolve as for the time being there are multiple methods that allow you to effortlessly replicate the effect not only on set but also in post.
Some time ago, we’ve covered Lewis McGreggor’s workflow that shows off how you can easily emulate the Dolly Zoom in Premiere Pro CC. The following video tutorial produced by TK tv takes the genuine technique a step further as it reveals how you can produce a Vertigo Zoom Stretch transition in a few easy steps.
Even though this workflow uses the same concept of the practical effect and creates the visual illusion of stretching the foreground/background of the image by manipulating the scaling and speed of your clip depending on the direction of the camera movement, the technique applied here is used for producing a creative transition. Overall, the effect looks pretty cool when you want to make your videos look more professional by switching between different shots as it adds some extra kinetic energy once being applied thus changing the overall aesthetics of the entire edit.
To make this actually work, you’ll need a steady shot with some smooth motion taking place in the frame. The notion behind this concept is quite simple – if the camera moves forward, you should descale the image or if it moves backward, you should scale in the opposite direction. You can do so by tweaking the scaling of your clip as it’s quite obvious that if you want to get the best results, it’s better to use high-resolution footage so that when you perform scaling, you’ll be able to retain the image quality as well.
The best part is that you can do this trick in every NLE as long as it allows you to scale in and scale out. Apparently, you can not only use the technique for any of your edits, but you can also incorporate it in multiple creative projects to enhance their visuals by transforming the vertigo effect into a creative transition as well. Of course, make sure that you don’t overuse it and always try to find the perfect timing as well as the right motivation to get the best results.
[source: TK tv]
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