Tracking shot is a shot in which the camera moves laterally or alongside a subject, often on a wheeled dolly or rail.
A tracking shot moves the camera through space, typically on rails or a wheeled dolly, alongside or with a moving subject. It differs from a pan, which rotates the camera on a fixed point. Early masters of the tracking shot include F. W. Murnau, whose 'The Last Laugh' (1924) used the 'unchained camera' to follow a hotel doorman through revolving doors and crowded streets. Stanley Kubrick became famous for relentless dolly tracks in 'Paths of Glory' (1957) and 'The Shining' (1980), the latter using the newly invented Steadicam to glide behind young Danny on his tricycle through the Overlook's hallways. Martin Scorsese's three-minute Copacabana entrance in 'Goodfellas' (1990) and the cathedral-like opening of Robert Altman's 'The Player' (1992) became reference works for film schools. The tracking shot can be exuberant or oppressive; it asserts that cinema is not just a series of frames but a journey through inhabited space.