Neat video on the progress of “Vertigo” effect. Also called “backwards dolly” or “reverse tracking” shot. Obviously made popular by Hitchcock, but since many filmmakers use this well. Technically speaking, it’s not the easiest to pull off. From what i understand,The effect is achieved by zooming a zoom lens to adjust your field of view while the camera dollies toward or away from the subject in such a way as to keep the subject the same size in the frame throughout. In its classic form, the camera angle is pulled away from a subject while the lens zooms in, or vice versa. Thus, during the zoom, there is a continuous perspective distortion, the most directly noticeable feature being that the background appears to change size relative to the subject.
Anyways, enough with the technical stuff.. enjoy the video!
*ddileo 