General Question

troubleinharlem's avatar

How do film directors film shots where the person is looking into a mirror, but the camera is not shown?

Asked by troubleinharlem (7999points) September 27th, 2010

I’ve always wondered about this.
How is it that I can’t see the camera when it is a mirror only shot?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

7 Answers

iamthemob's avatar

It’s at an angle to the side.

troubleinharlem's avatar

@iamthemob : Even when its a direct shot where the person is looking straight into the mirror?

lillycoyote's avatar

Yes, shooting the shot at an angle is the simplest way.

Angle of Incidence

lillycoyote's avatar

They can also use a lot of CGI tricks.

jrpowell's avatar

And with computers and a stationary background it is super easy to delete the camera. Take a picture and plop it in as a background replacing where the camera was.

Austinlad's avatar

When I was a young kid I could never understand why, if you looked in a mirror in the TV screen, you couldn’t see your own reflection.

rexpresso's avatar

Maybe what they’re filming is not a mirror but a transparent glass or even just a frame with everything happening behind without even a glass?

I think I saw the making-of of an advert of a camera that did exactly that. Well, not exactly that. But it seemed like the person filming itself on the mirror, was holding a transparent camera on its reflection. Actually, it was someone else, on the other side of a frame (no wall behind the frame, of course)

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