Reflections...

[DVX100Shooter]

Just watched the first few scenes of the movie FIREWALL and there is a scene where the camera is just outside of a meeting room where Harrison Ford walks into for a meeting with all glass windows. You can see other people in the office in the reflection of the glass however you do not see the camera or crew and am wondering how that is done. I have seen scenes where someone was talking inside of a phone booth and you cant see the camera or crew in the reflection either. Is the camera positioned pretty far back and then using a zoom lens, get in tight to the action?

 

[j]

Yes.

Sometimes you can drape yourself with duvateen to hide yourself.

 

[DVX100Shooter]

hmmm...interesting! I am to lazy to put up curtains in my basement/home theater and I have a big piece of Duvateen covering a window and that stuff makes my room completely dark! That is some good material to have in your stash!

 

[In Over My Head]

Just watched the first few scenes of the movie FIREWALL and there is a scene where the camera is just outside of a meeting room where Harrison Ford walks into for a meeting with all glass windows. You can see other people in the office in the reflection of the glass however you do not see the camera or crew and am wondering how that is done. I have seen scenes where someone was talking inside of a phone booth and you cant see the camera or crew in the reflection either. Is the camera positioned pretty far back and then using a zoom lens, get in tight to the action?

Using a zoom lens to get in close from far off, would only make the reflection smaller, not eliminate it. (assuming it would be there with the camera close if on the same line). I have not seen the scene you are talking about, but I would guess that it is simple geometry. The good ole, "angle of incidence = angle of reflection." I do it all the time in still photography, work around windows and mirrors without getting in the picture. Of course, it is FAR easier for still photographers to do so than cinematographers.

 

[novelt]

maybe it's hidden in something...just a thought, but in the movie "les pacte des loups" - "brotherhood of the wolf" there is a fight scene at the beginning. there were multiple cameras to capture various angles...the set up was a circle so the cameras were going to be in the shot. they hid the cameras in fake people...granted they had hoods, but you can see it in the featurettes.

this might not have happened in "firewall", but the camera could be in a water fountain, part of a picture on a wall, some object that you can clearly see in the reflection, but not know it's the camera...then again some hard working CG artist could've erased it.