Glossary
Camera dolly
Also called: Dolly shot, Dolly in, Push in
Definition
A camera dolly is a move where the camera physically travels toward, away from or alongside a subject, as opposed to a zoom, which changes the lens’s focal length while the camera stays in place.
What “camera dolly” means
The term comes from film sets, where the camera sits on a wheeled cart, the dolly, often on tracks. A dolly in (or push in) moves closer to the subject, a dolly out pulls back, and a truck moves sideways. The key difference with a zoom is perspective: when the camera actually moves, near and far objects shift relative to each other, creating parallax. A zoom just enlarges the image.
In 3D and 2.5D animation, there is no physical cart, but the virtual camera works the same way. Motion designers use dollies to reveal, to emphasize and to transition between areas of a scene.
Why it matters for short explainer videos
A slow push in tells the viewer “this matters”, without a single word on screen. A pull back reveals context: the one data point turns out to be part of a larger chart. In short explainers, these moves let a single scene carry two beats, the detail and the big picture.
Camera moves should serve the explanation. Moving the camera when the viewer needs to read a dense label is counterproductive; moving it between two ideas helps.
Example
Scene: a dashboard mock-up with many widgets. Narration: “Out of all these numbers, only one tells you if you’re growing.” The camera dollies in toward the retention widget while the others fade slightly. On “growing”, the widget’s line chart animates upward. The move does the pointing.
In Motiongist
How Motiongist handles it
In 3D mode, Motiongist uses camera moves (push ins, pull backs and lateral moves through a perspective space) as part of how scenes are staged and timed to the voice. In 2D mode, the frame is flat and there is no camera travel.
Camera moves are generated by the engine; there is no camera path editor. You can steer emphasis through the script and storyboard notes, for example by naming what must be shown in a scene.