History Main / AstronomicZoom

Subtrope of EpicTrackingShot and {{Zoom}}. Can happen in a PanFromTheSkyBeginning. Contrast FlyawayShot and PanUpToTheSkyEnding.

* While this trope is averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which instead starts out underwater and panning up to the surface revealing a prehistoric landscape. this trope is played straight in some sequels, like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIITheGreatDayoftheFlyers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIVJourneyoftheBrave'', which do this with the Universal globe turning into Pangaea as a LogoJoke.

* While this trope is averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which instead starts out underwater and panning up to the surface revealing a prehistoric landscape. this trope is played straight in some sequels, like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIITheGreatDayoftheFlyers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIVJourneyoftheBrave''.

* While this trope is averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which instead starts out underwater and panning up to the surface revealing a prehistoric landscape. this trope is played straight in some sequels, like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIITheGreadDayoftheFlyers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIVJourneyoftheBrave''.

* While this trope is averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which instead starts out underwater and panning up to the surface revealing a prehistoric landscape. this trope is played straight in some sequels, like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIITheGreadDayoftheFliers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIVJourneyoftheBrave''.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', which instead starts out underwater and panning up to the surface revealing a prehistoric landscape. In fact, the film was originally going to have its opening credits be shown in outer space (a concept that later resurfaced in ''Rock-A-Doodle'', mentioned below), slowly moving toward a newly-formed Earth, and centering on its surface as it gradually changes from a volcanic landscape of the Precambrian era, to an endless ocean of the Paleozoic era, and finally a prehistoric swamp of the Mesozoic era, but this was changed to the final version as mentioned earlier because the writers thought it looked too much like the first part of the ''Rite of Spring'' segment from ''Fantasia'', again mentioned above.

An Establishing Shot that includes a wild planet-scale or even galaxy-scale zoom — for example, showing Earth from space and then zooming in through the atmosphere to a single room/street, or zooming through galaxies to Earth.

Subtrope of EpicTrackingShot. Can happen in a PanFromTheSkyBeginning. Contrast FlyawayShot and PanUpToTheSkyEnding.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}''.

* Several minigames in the ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' series use this as a way of obscuring the visuals and forcing the player to rely on sound. A notable example would be the climax of Flockstep, where the camera zooms out to show the earth in space, and then zooms out again to show that the earth was inside one of the birds' eyes. [[WidgetSeries Don't ask.]]

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700&page=27
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* A Guinness commercial in which the transition from cosmic back to everyday scale is achieved by a galaxy turning into a swirl of froth on a glass of Guinness.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2zps0pzrxk This]] ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' commercial starts with crowds of kids in solid-color outfits, then zooms out from them to reveal Mario's face covering much of North America.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/HaruhiChan''
** The beginning of each episode combines this with CameraAbuse to hilarious effect: the camera in orbit over Earth zooms down through the atmosphere and straight into Haruhi's unsuspecting face, knocking her out and breaking the lens.
** Episode 19 does an inversion of the trope; when Haruhi thinks she's finally encountered Santa Claus (who is really just Taniguchi in a Santa costume), her excited shout of "Santa!" causes a zoom out from earth through the solar system and all the way out from the Milky Way.
* A less extreme version occurs in the first episode of ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess'': after the opening credits, the viewer sees an upside-down physical map [[spoiler: of east Asia]], then zooms in on [[spoiler: Korea]].
* In the intro to ''Anime/TamagotchiHappiestStoryInTheUniverse'', the shot cuts from an outer space view Tamagotchi Planet to Tamagotchi School and the camera moves backwards as the narrator introduces a bunch of Tamagotchis before zooming out, back to an outer space view of the planet.
* An inversion happens in ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'' when Kuranosuke says something inconceivable to our heroine: "Because I wanted to see you, Tsukimi." Those words echo in Tsukimi's mind as the camera gradually zooms out from the building, to the city, to the globe, to the whole solar system, showing just how mind-blowing that is for her.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Film/MenInBlack'' ends with a Zoom Out, revealing that our entire galaxy is contained in a marble played by really, ''really'' humongous creatures.

* ''Film/{{Crank}}'' combined this with the Google Maps logo in the bottom corner.
* The last episode of ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' ended by zooming out from a museum in London into outer space.

* Music/{{Disturbed}}'s {{Rockumentary}} ''Decade of Disturbed'' starts like this, interwoven with the band's hits fading in and out.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife'' features a zoom out from Tokyo and a rolling BigBlackout as the T-virus envelops the world, followed by a zoom in...to Tokyo, but after the ZombieApocalypse.
* ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'' opens with one of these, starting from space and zooming into a close-up of Harold's wristwatch.
* ''Film/JohnCarter'' opens with space, followed by a zoom-in to Mars (or Barsoom, as the characters call it) to set up the main plot. [[Creator/PixarRegulars Andrew Stanton]] seems to love this trope (see Films- Animated above).
* ''Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath'' opens with space, followed by a zoom-in to a battered UsefulNotes/{{W|orldWarII}}W2 bomber.

* ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'' has zoom outs to the surveillance satellites in orbit.
* Opening sequence of ''Film/PhoneBooth''.
* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'' has one that in function is also a ProgressiveEraMontage. The camera zooms out (starting from the place where the time machine, transversing the 20th and 21st century, is standing), and first we see skyscrapers being erected in fast forward. Then a series of progressively sophisticated airplanes are flying across the picture, then satellites and the ISS, and finally there is a futuristic space shuttle and a colony on the moon.
* The opening shot of ''Film/TheGreatWall'' is a zoom in on the Great Wall of China... from outer space.
* ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' starts in space before zooming in on Romulus and going into the Senate building.
* This trope has been used to significant {{Worldbuilding}} effect in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** The first notable usage is in the CreativeClosingCredits of ''{{Film/Thor}}'', coupled with an initial PanUpToTheSkyEnding shot that takes viewer to a trip of the cosmos (through wormholes and nebulae, representing the Nine Realms), before culminating at the highest peaks of Asgard.
** The CreativeClosingCredits of ''Film/AntMan1'' features such a zoom (although we only see bright red 3D outlines) starting from low Earth orbit, zooming toward San Francisco, reaching the ground, going to various microscopic levels, and finally ending sub-atomic.
** This trope tends to pop up whenever the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy are in transit within space, notably used in their arrival at Knowhere in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 their debut film]], as well as their first scene in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
** In turn, the Season 1 finale of ''Series/Loki2021'', "[[Recap/LokiEpisode6ForAllTimeAlways For All Time. Always.]]" turns this up a notch by one-upping the one from ''{{Film/Thor}}'', opening from the shot of a galaxy and going through more space, wormholes, nebulae and presumed time tunnels (while overlaid with dialogue of people throughout the history of the MCU and even RealLife people), culminating on a fortress in a barren rock at the end of time, surrounded by the light of the Sacred Timeline.
* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheLastJedi'' opens with a shot of the Resistance fleet orbiting D'Qar before zooming down to the base being evacuated.

* Creator/TerryPratchett used this device as a convention in the early ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. A typical opening paragraph might start with a hypothetical observer looking at the Discworld's planetary system from outside and then zooming down through the various levels to the exact point on the Disc where the action begins.

[[folder: Puppet Shows]]
* The opening credits of ''Series/FraggleRockBackToTheRock'' opens with a spinning globe, before zooming down to Doc's workshop window, into the workshop, following Gobo into the Fraggle hole, and down to the Rock.
[[/folder]]

* The FourX RealTimeStrategy game ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'' take this to a rather awe-inspiring level. You can zoom in to a single fighter frigate or zoom out to see entire solar systems. There comes a certain point when the scout ships you've sent out has explored the entire game map and you zoom out to witness your own empire and those of your enemies locked in conflict. And at some point you'll realize that you're playing a "Small Random Map" and that the "Huge Random Map" is ''seven times bigger''. And playing that "small" map will take ''hours''. The Gamespot [[http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sinsofasolarempire/review.html review of the game]] makes a point to warn the reader of playing for hours on end.
* ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness'' begins this way with a cosmic zoom to Earth and a narrator giving a speech about the universe. This ends abruptly right as it zooms into a building to see Andy being scared awake by his EvilTeacher and the narration was actually his astronomy lecture in his class.

* The seven worlds of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' are actually all based on this trope. The first world in the game takes place in Earth orbit, the second near the inner Solar System, the third inside a nebula, the fourth outside the Milky Way, the fifth between several galaxies, the sixth near a black hole, and the seventh in orbit around a bizarre planet with star-shaped continents. Inside what appears to be in an alternate universe.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}''.

* ''Universe Sandbox'' and ''Universe Sandbox[[superscript:2]]'' allows you to do this to varying levels depending on how good your CPU and/or GPU is. If you're playing the game in [[VirtualRealityIndex VR]] then you can perform a stretching or crushing gesture with your controllers while holding both grip buttons to scale the universe relative to you. You really have to see the effect for yourself when you can go from a (simplified) Sol system the size of a baseball all the way down to floating next to a 1:1 scale Earth.

* One ''The Adventures of John and Dave'' strip shows us that our galaxy is on a wrestler's codpiece. A more distant and even more confusing variant has the camera zoom into John's moustache until it arrives in Mordor.

* The many Website/YouTube videos involving zoom out to display comparative planetary and stellar body sizes. They form an unusual case because they often have to use side pans in conjunction with a pan out in order to fit things in.

* ''Animation/TheMindsEye'' does this in its first segment, starting with what is implied to the the Big Bang, panning through a set of galaxies until locking onto the Milky Way in the center, then zooming all the way to Earth, rounding past the Moon as the music builds up. The film also [[BookEnds inverts this trope at the end]]

* A variant of this is often used in ''LightNovel/StarshipOperators'' when panning from one ship to another - appropriate, as most space battles take place beyond visual range.

* A less extreme version occurs in the first episode of ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'': after the opening credits, the viewer sees an upside-down physical map [[spoiler: of east Asia]], then zooms in on [[spoiler: Korea]].

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' did a zoom-out to accompany Sheldon's literal ShoutOut to TheKhan. Also done in the season 5 finale, when the guys have Howard's wedding on the roof of their building so that it gets photographed by the Google Earth satellite.

* Some TV stations have used variations of this as station identifications. One created for CBLT (a Creator/{{CBC}} affiliate) in Toronto in the 1980s features a zoom-in from space on the city of Toronto as the streets of the downtown area dissolve into a shot of the city skyline, particularly the CN Tower.
** The reverse has also been used. [[Creator/FujiTelevision Fuji TV's]] sign-off sequence used in the early 1970s features a zoom out from a replica of the Fuji TV building[[note]]the original one in Kawada[[/note]] to the surface of the moon in a recreation of the famous "Earthrise" photo taken from Apollo 8.

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' did an astronomic zoom out, shortly before the EarthShatteringKaboom. It does this with camera jumps with every "beat" of the music. All [[OverlyLongGag fifty-five]].

* Creator/TerryPratchett used this device as a convention in the early Literature/{{Discworld}} novels. A typical opening paragraph might start with a hypothetical observer looking at the Discworld's planetary system from outside and then zooming down through the various levels to the exact point on the Disc where the action begins.