how to shoot a POV in a mirror?

rstorm

rstorm

Active member
i was wondering if anyone would have any tricks as to how to shoot a characters POV in a mirror besides having the camera behind the mirror? i do not want to have the camera just behind the character looking in the mirror because it is crucial that the audience sees the characters POV while looking at them self in the mirror.

any suggestions are appreciated.
 
rstorm said:
i was wondering if anyone would have any tricks as to how to shoot a characters POV in a mirror besides having the camera behind the mirror? i do not want to have the camera just behind the character looking in the mirror because it is crucial that the audience sees the characters POV while looking at them self in the mirror.

any suggestions are appreciated.
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Well, there's no way to get the mirror POV other than puting the camera in the place of the mirror.

However, one could setup the following. Greenscreen the mirror area in the frame. Then take the shot from the 'mirror POV', then drop that shot into the greenscreen mirror area.

If the shot does not involve moving the camera during the 'mirror POV', then you could use a garbage mask to chop out the 'real' mirror from the mirror frame, and replace it using the clip from the mirror POV.

This would be doable in either AfterEffects or FCP (and others, but those are the ones I'm familiar with.

To do it via 'mirrors' you'd have to have a portable mirror, and position the mirror, camera (over the shoulder type shot of the mirror), and the actor in such a way as to 1) not show the camera in the 'background' of the mirror reflection, 2) minimize distorted view angle because you are not on an axis perpendicular to the plane of the mirror.

Alternatively, take two shots on each side of the actor, again angling the camera and mirror to minimize distortions or equipment showing, and then use AE or FCP to meld the two shots such that the 'background' is clean of any equipment or distortion.
 
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Yes, this effect is achieved in post rather than in camera. If you go to the tutorials at videoco-pilot.net, they have a tutorial which shows how they put a windscreen into footage digitally usinf AE. You could use the same concepts to simulate a mirror.

Best example would be in CONTACT when the young Jodi Foster character runs to the mirror to get the medicine for her dad. AWESOME.
 
dvxhutch said:
Yes, this effect is achieved in post rather than in camera. If you go to the tutorials at videoco-pilot.net, they have a tutorial which shows how they put a windscreen into footage digitally usinf AE. You could use the same concepts to simulate a mirror.

Best example would be in CONTACT when the young Jodi Foster character runs to the mirror to get the medicine for her dad. AWESOME.
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cool, thanks for the tip! i will have to try and check out CONTACT again to see that mirror scene!

i could not find that 'windscreen' tutorial you were mentioning?
 
Another example that I've always wondered how it was done was in "Strange Days".

We are in the recorded POV of a characters memories, and at one point he looks in the mirror.
 
yeehaanow said:
Another example that I've always wondered how it was done was in "Strange Days".

We are in the recorded POV of a characters memories, and at one point he looks in the mirror.
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Are you absolutely positive there was a mirror there? It may just be the actor on the other side of a reversed sink. Instead of a mirror, it's just a hole in the wall. In theory, that should work, right?
 
The old-school way is to tilt the mirror slightly away from the camera, then place the camera beside the actor, and have the actor stare into the lens. Crop the frame so you don't see the camera.
 
pmark23 said:
The old-school way is to tilt the mirror slightly away from the camera, then place the camera beside the actor, and have the actor stare into the lens. Crop the frame so you don't see the camera.
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we have a winna! that also sounds like the easiest and something i can test immediately to see a result. thanks, gonna try it.
 
What the ......... ?

Just put the camera in front of the actor and have the talent look directly into the lens.


Yall think too much about this stuff.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
What the ......... ?

Just put the camera in front of the actor and have the talent look directly into the lens.


Yall think too much about this stuff.
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Some how I got the impression that the original question was how to set up a shot, such that the POV was from person standing in front of the mirror, and included more of the mirror frame, wall, if it was a bathroom mirror, the sink as seen from the person's POV.

Hence just a shot of the person cropped, whatever, would only show the 'background', but none of the veiw surrounding the mirror.

Hence, yeah, shoot the person from the 'mirror POV', then reverse and drop into a shot taken from where the person is standing in front of the mirror, to get that 'view', then composite the two shots together.

The problem of course is say, in a bathroom shot... well, getting rid of the wall where the mirror is to shoot the actor standing in front of the mirror. Hence, 'off axis' mirror shots and some sort of compositing/transforming to get the impression of having a set that is built for such a shot...

In a 'bedroom' dresser mirror, one could get the shot of the mirror as seen from the actor, then move the furniture around to get the camera in place of the mirror for the shot back into the room from the 'mirror POV'.

And obviously, I think along lines of not having a studio available where a set is build with these sorts of considerations in mind where walls are movable, to get cameras in places where 'ordinary rooms' have physical limitations.

Another sort of 'setup' is the opening shot of the dead man in the pool of "Sunset Boulevard"(1950), were a mirror was used on the bottom of the pool to get a shot 'looking up to the dead guy floating' (ok William Holden...). According to the Wiki on the film a box affair, lowered into the pool, was tried but the results were not satisfying...
 
j1clark, you understood the question i was originally asking. yes, i need to include the room surroundings and not just the mirror glass. guess i should have been more specific.

many thanks to everyone nonetheless, it really helps me a lot!!
 
In the La Haine there is a mirror shot that the director describes in the director's narration. Basically it was dollying in over the should of a body double to showing the character looking straight into the camera from another room (i.e. the other side of the looking glass). A nice small touch he mentions is the shopping bag in the background that they had the name printed on in reverse.

Might not be to your needs, but interesting shots in that movie anyway.
 
Or watch Chris Milk's "All Falls Down" video for Kanye West. In the bathroom he raps to the mirror. They shot the camera from the POV of the mirror, then from behind with a green screen over the mirror.

They took it a step further and shot his hands synced with the previous movement.

Find it at ChrisMilk.com
 
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