QTVR file are often referred to as movie files, but they are not really movies. They are still pictures where the movement comes from the user panning the view.
There are also can be combinations and variation of the above, as well as combined movies with hotspots.
If you look at the QTVR picture with a normal viewer, it would look very distorted. However, with a QTVR viewer which corrects the prespective, everything looks fine.
All of the above movies can be created via traditional photography, i.e cameras, or by virtual photography using CAD/Design Software that movies a virtual camera around the virtual models.
Digital Cameras are becoming very popular for creating this movies as they cut down the cost and time of having to develop film, scan and scan it in. The only drawback is that the resolution is limited, but usually fine for WWW work.