AI Dolly Zoom Generator
The Vertigo Shot From One Photo

A dolly zoom is a shot where the camera physically moves one way while the lens zooms the opposite way. The subject stays the same size in frame while the background stretches or compresses around them. It was created for Hitchcock's Vertigo in 1958, which is why it's also called the Vertigo effect, the Hitchcock zoom, or a “zolly”.

No. A crash zoom is a fast lens zoom with no camera movement — it snaps toward the subject and the perspective never changes. A dolly zoom moves the camera and the lens against each other, so the subject holds its size and the background warps. Both are in Camera Movements as separate presets.

Just a photo. Workroom turns a single still into a dolly-zoom video — no footage, no camera, no dolly track.

One plain-English sentence describing what is in the frame: who or what's there, where it is, and what it looks like. Describe the scene, not the motion — words like “zooming” or “pulling back” fight the preset, because the camera move is already handled for you. For example, “a woman in a red coat stands at the end of a long hospital corridor, fluorescent lights overhead.” No camera jargon needed.

The same one as the photo you upload — vertical stays vertical, widescreen stays wide. There's no format setting to pick, so choose your source still in the shape your project needs.

Each generation is a 5-second clip. Use it as it is or drop it into a longer edit.

The move lives on depth, because the background is what stretches. A still with real distance behind the subject — a corridor, a street, a room with a far wall — gives the effect something to work with. A flat backdrop leaves less to move.

Yes. It lands a story beat in a short film the same way it stops a scroll in Reels, TikTok clips, or a music video.