dolly (shot)

A dolly shot refers to a moving shot in which the perspective of the subject and background is changed. The dolly shot is taken from a camera that is mounted on a simple tripod, or on a hydraulically-powered wheeled camera platform (sometimes referred to as a truck or dolly), pushed on rails (special tracks or dolly tracks), and moved smoothly and noiselessly during filming while the camera is running. The dolly carries the camera equipment and often some of the camera crew and occasionally the director. A pull-back shot (or dolly out) is the moving back ("tracking back") of the camera from a scene to reveal a character or object that was previously out of the frame. "Dolly" in is when the camera moves closer ("tracking in") towards the subject, and dollying along with (or "tracking within") refers to the camera moving beside the subject. Also known as tracking shot, trucking shot, follow shot, or traveling shot. In contrast to "zoom shots."