What is a Dolly Shot? Definition, Types & Film Examples

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Published: June 3, 2024 | Last Updated: October 28, 2025

Types of Dolly Shots

There are many types of dolly shots, as dollying can be combined in several ways and includes other camera motions like panning and tilting.

To keep it simple, I’ve divided them into five main types: dolly in, dolly out, sideways (trucking), compound (combined), and double.

You can also see a movie example of each with a brief analysis of what the dolly shot does to the scene.

Dolly In

The dolly in shot involves moving the camera closer to the subject. This can create a sense of intimacy or highlight important details.

Example: In Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), George Lucas uses a dolly in the shot to zoom in on Indiana Jones’ face as he wonders how he can safely grab the golden idol. This foreshadows that it might be booby-trapped and helps establish Professor Jones is an experienced archeologist who knows a thing or two about traps.

Dolly Out

Conversely, a dolly out shot moves the camera away from the subject, often used to reveal context or to create a sense of isolation.

Example: In Amélie (2001), director Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses a dolly out to signify the physical and emotional distance between her and her father. We start with a close-up of a young Amélie, who looks longingly at her father, with whom she only has physical contact during her annual medical exam.

The shot slowly reveals that even this physical contact is very pragmatic, but still, Amélie takes what she can from the physical interaction, leaving her heart to race and leading her father to conclude that she has heart disease. It’s heartbreakingly funny.

Trucking (Lateral/Sideways Dolly)

A lateral dolly, aka trucking shot, moves the camera sideways, parallel to the subject. This is often used to follow a character’s movement or to reveal new elements in the scene.

Example: In this scene from the musical The Music Man (1962), a lateral dolly shot gradually reveals the queue of townsfolk who eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon (which brought mail and wares).

Compound Dolly

A compound dolly shot combines movement in multiple directions, such as moving in while also panning or tilting. It can also be that the tracks have been laid with a curve or even a full circle around the point of focus and change direction (as I suspect is the case in the scene below):

Example: In Death Proof (2007), Quentin Tarantino uses a compound arc dolly shot (with subtle tilts and pans) to let us be part of the round-table dinner between Abernathy, Kim, Lee, and Zoë. This gives us an idea that the group is close friends. We also understand that Zoë is one badass stuntwoman.

Double Dolly

In a double dolly shot, the camera and the object or actor in focus are placed on a dolly. This gives us a feeling of floating through the world – no matter how chaotic that may be, something Spike Lee is famous for:

The effect is often calming and disorienting at the same time.

What you need for a Dolly shot

The primary equipment for a dolly shot includes:

• Dolly: A wheeled platform that holds the camera.
• Tracks: Rails on which the dolly moves, ensuring smooth motion.
• Camera: Mounted on the dolly, often with a stabilizing mechanism to minimize vibrations.

Laying tracks is still used in large productions, but due to cost and time constraints, they have slowly been replaced by gimbals and even drones in small-scale productions.

Read more on the different types equipment you can use to create a dolly shot.

Setup and Execution

Determine the purpose of the shot and plan the movement path. This involves careful storyboard planning and rehearsals. Then lay down the tracks according to the planned movement. Ensure the tracks are level to avoid unwanted jerks.

You also need a dolly grip, who is the person controlling the dolly movements.

On large productions, a skilled dolly grip is part of the below-the-line production team and the one who operates the dolly, coordinating with the camera operator to ensure smooth movement and perfect timing.

In a low-budget film, you can rent a wheelchair and have one from your crew push around in it while you operate the camera.

Summing Up

Dolly movements in film include dolly in (camera moves closer to the subject), dolly out (camera moves away), dolly left/right (camera moves sideways), and dolly zoom (camera zooms in/out while dolly moves opposite, altering perspective) – or a compound of these.

Dollying is a great way to create dynamic and interesting shots while keeping the camera moving smoothly through the scene and letting us focus on the action or dialogue.