Tracking Shot
A shot where the camera moves through the scene, often following a subject.
In depth
It creates a sense of immersion, as if the audience is walking alongside the character. It requires complex choreography between the actors and the camera crew.
Example
“The long take in 'Goodfellas' where Henry Hill enters the Copacabana club.”
Origin and history
The tracking shot is named for the dolly tracks — literal rails laid on the floor — that early camera operators used to roll smoothly through space. Stabilizing technology evolved through cranes, Steadicam (introduced in 1976), drones, and now camera robotics, but the storytelling intent has never changed: take the audience with the character. Touchstone tracking shots include sequences in 'Touch of Evil,' 'The Player,' 'Children of Men,' and 'Birdman.'
Why filmmakers use it
A tracking shot puts the audience inside the geography of a scene. Done well, it dissolves the cut entirely, replacing montage rhythm with sustained presence. The discipline is brutal: actors and crew must hit dozens of marks in sequence, often live, with no chance to fix mistakes in editing. The reward is a kind of immersion that no edited sequence can match — the viewer feels like they are walking through the world rather than watching it from outside.
More examples in cinema
- Alfonso Cuarón's 'Children of Men' contains multiple sustained tracking shots that thrust the audience into the chaos of refugee combat.
- The opening of Robert Altman's 'The Player' is a multi-minute tracking shot that itself jokes about Hollywood's love of tracking shots.
Common confusion
A tracking shot is not the same as a zoom. A tracking shot moves the camera through space; a zoom changes the lens's focal length without physically moving.