tracking shot

American  

noun

Movies, Television.

1. dolly shot.

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tracking shot British  

noun

1. a camera shot in which the cameraman follows a specific person or event in the action

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Etymology

Origin of tracking shot

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

One person’s humiliating nadir comes during a painful tracking shot at an outdoor party where they’re shunned like they have the plague.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2025

When Jack Delroy does it, we’re just admiring how cinematographer Matthew Temple captures his breakdown in a marvelous tracking shot.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2024

He models his methods of creating suspense on the work of Brian De Palma, and cites Martin Scorsese’s famous tracking shot at the Copacabana in “Goodfellas” as his inspiration for the Díaz bullpen moment.

From New York Times • Aug. 16, 2022

When the film is buoyant, it is through its blending of diegetic music and traditional scoring to create the auditory equivalent of a tracking shot.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2022

Megan is not a mystery to be solved, she is not a figure who wanders into the tracking shot at the beginning of a film, beautiful, ethereal, insubstantial.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins