A whip zoom (sometimes referred to as the "snap zoom") is a type of camera shot in which the camera zooms in or out quickly, allowing the viewer to focus on the subject. Another use of the whip zoom is to enable the shot to be edited as a cut from a long shot to a close up, or vice versa.
This technique is used by several directors such as Quentin Tarantino, J. J. Abrams, and Guy Ritchie. Examples can be seen in the movies Kill Bill: Volume 2, Star Trek, and several of the Sherlock Holmes films such as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
References
Whip zoom Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA