Monday, January 09, 2006

Broad zoom?

Things are advancing slowly but pleasingly here at ScIn. For one case I've gotten two responsa to my inscitia from real live people in the past week or so, and for a second case, was able to dispel my inscitia with a little googling.

Now, having just read some cinematic analysis, I've got a film question. Calling all film students and movie buffs!

INSCITIA:

How do they do that zoom in which the person stays stationery at center and gets closer and tighter, while the (unfocused) background widens and moves around him? (This effect is commonly seen at moments of surprise or panic, to highlight the character's sense of vertigo and isolation.)

COGITATIO:

I think I once deduced or heard this effect is achieved by keeping a tight lens-focus on the person while physically moving the camera in towards him. The lens-focus stays tight, clean and immobile while the background moves into greater unclarity. That sounds legit, I guess, but still doesn't help me understand how a camera can register such disjunctive perspectives. (If this is right, I only thought of it in a burst of covering my arse, where trying to look knowledgeable may have flushed me into a cinematographic epiphany.)

RESPONSUM:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I often wonder how that's done aswell... to support your point from what little I know of optics, I think it's credible to posit that the sphereical aberations inherent in the camera lens combined with moving the camera while keeping the subject in focus are to blame for this effect.

-e.b.