You can see it a few times in the Sherlock Holmes clip, the first one, at the 1:37 and 1:50 – 1:54 marks, and also some parts during the fighting scenes after that. It seems the same effect is used in the second video below, from Elysium, but to a much milder degree, from 0:35 – 0:42—right after Good Will Hunting blows Chappie up a few times.
It’s like the focus of the camera is trained onto one spot or area at the center, and the movement kind of warps around it.
I have no practical reason for figuring out the name. Just sheer curiosity. It’s hard to Google anything accurate when I barely know any basic terminology.
2 Comments
The first instance you cited appears to me at least partly a fish-eye effect from using a very small lens. However, there’s no telling how it was actually done with the fancy cameras available today.
I’m guessing it’s a mix of camera work and post editing. Watch it called “tracking” or some unexciting and obvious term.