Invisible Cameras

September 23, 2024 1:22 PM

Mirrors in Movies: How Filmmakers Make Cameras Disappear. When a camera takes a shot full-on of a character facing a mirror, you don't see the camera in the reflection. How do they do that? An entertaining look at the tricky techniques.

Part 2

posted by storybored (27 comments total)

I have to imagine the paint-out technique is now a lot easier with the generative fill features in tools like Photoshop. Just erase out the camera rig and dolly frame by frame, and then fill in the background. Have post clean up any rough spots in one or another frame.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:41 PM on September 23

OMG THANK YOU.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:49 PM on September 23

Way more complicated than my student film days of wedging a ball of gaffers tape behind the mirror!
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:49 PM on September 23 [3 favorites]

Just caught a Sunday matinee of The Substance over the weekend and there's a TON of mirror shots, including one that seemingly morphs from the Demi Moore/Margaret Qualley character's direct POV looking at herself to a full-length behind-the-back shot and back again with nary a trace of a camera or any other objects in the frame. Clearly computerized techniques are involved, but I'd still be very curious to see a breakdown of all the parts and how they planned it and brought it all together.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:55 PM on September 23

You mean we don't wrap them in tin foil anymore?
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:16 PM on September 23 [6 favorites]

Excellent. The high point for me is when he points out the doubling of Jena Malone
posted by chavenet at 2:16 PM on September 23

Yes, that was weird and funny!
posted by storybored at 2:25 PM on September 23

Of all of these, I think I'm the most impressed with the one from Contact, not because it's the most technically dazzling, but because of all of them it probably calls the least attention to itself. But the tiny little props making up the doubled set in Sucker Punch are super impressive as well.
posted by Navelgazer at 2:38 PM on September 23 [4 favorites]

As soon as I saw the title of the post, I immediately thought of that shot from Force Majeure. Because I saw it at the Chicago Film Festival, with the director there for Q&A. I remember really noticing the shot, and then afterwards someone asked him how it was done.
posted by dnash at 2:38 PM on September 23

Can't wait to watch these later. It's one of those things that you don't notice ideally, but as soon as you have seen the work that goes into one of these, you never stop thinking about it the moment a mirror is in frame. There was a big mirror setup in Once Upon A Time In America, which I was skimming through last night, and I was thinking how, with Leone's camera movements, he could keep that huge apparatus out of sight. I looked for the barest hint of a mistake but that was childish. In a movie like that, expecting such a rookie error is absurd.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:55 PM on September 23

Another nice example of this is in the music video Across the Universe by Fiona Apple, at the 29 second mark you can see a background actor slightly out of sync in the mirror. So the scene must have been shot twice, once with a green screen and again with the camera placed behind the (removed) mirror.
posted by Lanark at 3:11 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]

No need for tricky stuff... just hire vampire camera operators using vampire cameras.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 3:42 PM on September 23 [10 favorites]

No need for tricky stuff... just hire vampire camera operators using vampire cameras.

This is also the easiest way to get aerial shots without having to get drone permits. Nighttime aerials, anyway.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:58 PM on September 23 [8 favorites]

Making an deal with an undead evil just to avoid permits seems the wrong way around.
posted by axiom at 4:14 PM on September 23 [5 favorites]

Well if you'd rather deal with the Orlando City Council while the whole crew is twiddling their thumbs back at the hotel, be my guest!
posted by Navelgazer at 4:18 PM on September 23 [12 favorites]

I'm glad they included that awesome shot from the extended version of Terminator 2 with Linda Hamilton and her identical twin. That one was always amazing to me, not just because of the mirror aspect, but because it let them seem to cut into the T-1000/Arnold's skull and brain pan while he was speaking.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:33 PM on September 23 [6 favorites]

I was just about to post a link to the full Terminator 2 scene.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:45 PM on September 23

No need for tricky stuff... just hire vampire camera operators using vampire cameras.

So the reason nobody used to do this (before digital) is because in order to pull it off, camera viewfinders need mirrors, which.... So they'd have to do it VERY old school, where the viewfinder wasn't actually using the lens. And that's great if you don't mind getting shots close to right, but unless you're a Kubrick von Helsing, it's not clear what the shots will look like until the dailies.
posted by nushustu at 5:06 PM on September 23 [3 favorites]

How can they possibly not have included the best mirror scene of all?
posted by gottabefunky at 5:35 PM on September 23 [13 favorites]

Making an deal with an undead evil just to avoid permits seems the wrong way around.

But its the film industry, if the army of undead evil is not overtly illegal and cheaper than the alternative, the producers are going for it.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 6:06 PM on September 23 [3 favorites]

The videos were really interesting and I don’t know anything about the creator so maybe I’m overreacting, but it seems kind of sus how he goes out of his way not to say Elliot Page’s first name in part II.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:23 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]

I noticed that as well. My assumption (perhaps naively) was to avoid getting a ton of pro/anti dead naming comments.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:05 PM on September 23

In one of the Bourne films (I think #2) Jason walks into an undergroubd bathrokm to wash his hands of blood after another killing and stares at himself in the mirror (a deep, introspective scene, just water sounds and reflection). The making of that scene is really worth tracking down as it's a difficult thing to capture, it's a perfect pause in the film too
posted by unearthed at 12:19 AM on September 24

The videos were really interesting and I don’t know anything about the creator so maybe I’m overreacting, but it seems kind of sus how he goes out of his way not to say Elliot Page’s first name in part II.

I also noticed how he heaped a bunch of praise on the Harry Potter movie without denouncing Rowling.

I noticed that as well. My assumption (perhaps naively) was to avoid getting a ton of pro/anti dead naming comments.

This would be, at best, cowardice. The correct answer is to not deadname people. Trying to "avoid the controversy" instead of standing up for trans people puts a person on the side of the oppressors.
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 5:51 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]

There was a big mirror setup in Once Upon A Time In America

It's pretty great.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 AM on September 24

How can they possibly not have included the best mirror scene of all ?

Or the sequel?
posted by kirkaracha at 10:04 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]

oohh. I did not know about the sequel! Thank you kirkaracha! Beautiful execution, except at 2:40 where both of them have their right hands on the horn.
posted by techSupp0rt at 12:28 PM on September 24