5 Technicolor Dream Machines

The most memorable shot in Steven Spielberg's Jaws is not a close-up of a toothy shark or its unfortunate victims. Rather, since Jaws is fundamentally a film about people and their differing reactions to an implacable existential threat, the most affecting shot is a close-up of one of the human protagonists, the local police chief. We see the chief sitting uneasily on a beach chair, scanning the water for the presence of the titular threat, when the director executes a “dolly zoom” on his startled face. This maneuver, one of the most dramatic camera moves in the filmmaker's repertoire, comprises two camera actions that must be executed simultaneously: a “dolly out,” in which the camera is quickly pulled away from its target on a trolley or track, and a “zoom in,” in which the camera lens extends for a simultaneous close-up of the target. The two actions almost cancel each other out, but not quite, for while the target remains resolutely in focus and appears just as prominent on the screen, the background behind the target dramatically falls away. The effect is as unsettling as it is fleeting: just as the chief appears rooted to the spot with fear, the world behind him seems to jump back in terror.