Moving from features to documentaries, from big budget studio pictures to Kickstarter-fueled indies, Spike Lee is not a filmmaker you want to try and pin down. If you expect him to zig one way, he’ll zag in another direction, but one constant through his features has been his use of dolly shots.
Richard Cruz has put together a three-minute supercut of Lee’s favorite technique, involving strapping an actor to a rig with a fixed camera while the ground underneath remains in motion, with the effect almost like they’re floating on air. Sometimes, it’s employed to heighten the atmosphere or emotion of a scene, and in others, it’s utilized to help add some visual pizzazz to a monologue or dialogue sequence. Either way, no one does ’em quite like Lee, so take a look below. (Yes, this is a couple years old, so sorry, nothing from “Oldboy” in here). [Reddit]