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Help, please! Mirrors!

G

gorillaonabike

Will be doing a multi-camera fundraiser (someone wants to put something on Kickstarter). A dance sequence will be shot in a studio and one wall is covered in mirrors. To make my life easier, the director wants the whole thing shot with the dancers backs to the mirrors. At the moment, my plan is to shoot around this using:



i) I can work a little magic in post for certain shots (bit of masking etc...)
ii) Greenscreen. A small number of shots will need to involve greenscreen.
iii) A few shots will not be greenscreened but we will use the dancers to cover this.
iv) We are using multiple cameras so will be shooting from different angles and cutting heavily
v) We will show the occasional camera in shot but cut quickly so this will not be too visible.

In your experience of shooting into mirrors (why do all my shoots seem to involve mirrors...), these are all tricks which will work.

What is your experience of mirrors and how have you worked around them to avoid showing cameras, particularly when there is a huge series of mirrors to shoot into?
 
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MileCreations said:
Rarely had the experience but I just frame the shot to accommodate it. However I would push to masking and greenscreening if the need arose
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My current short involves shooting inside a mirrored sculpture with over 50 mirrors all pointing in different directions.

My latest music vid also involves this plus other mirrors.

The current vid will involve shooting face-on into a dancer with a mirror behind her. Rotoscoping would be extremely painful, I can't shoot her separately and put her into the shot because the camera will still be there and greenscreening will clearly be the best option as I will be able to sort out the background, remove the camera and then greenscreen her over the top.

I will, however, need to play with the shadows.

This is all I can think of. Does anyone else have any experience?
 
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Other than framing really well, try to keep your shots tight. As you originally said using other dancers to block yourself would work well. I actually think green screening and/or masking will be a real pain in post so try your best to avoid having to resort to it. IMO anyway.

Oh and if your masking isn't working for a particular shot very well then you are much better off having the camera in shot then having a tacky mask
 
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gorillaonabike said:
i) I can work a little magic in post for certain shots (bit of masking etc...)
Click to expand...

Be careful how much post work you set yourself up for. The first few things I shot, I kept thinking we could easily fix it up in post, and we did, but it was a lot of work. I figure for every hour we'd spent being more careful to get things right in camera, we'd have saved at least 4-6 hours in post. I swore that anyone who says "we'll just fix it in post" I'd punch in the face. So far I've given myself 2 black eyes, a broken nose and lost 3 teeth... =)

Seriously though, shooting anywhere that you can get a reflection is tough, take as much care as possible in getting it framed right in camera.

Also, if you can control the lights, try having the side of the room you're on as dark as possible, and the dancers lit as well as possible and hopefully you'll be underexposed enough that you won't be that visible. Also, make sure you turn off any tally lights, they're kind of a dead giveaway.

gorillaonabike said:
To make my life easier, the director wants the whole thing shot with the dancers backs to the mirrors.
Click to expand...

Not sure about this statement... If he's willing to make it easier, then surely getting rid of the mirrors entirely would be far, far easier?

CraigL
 
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How much detail of the wall behind cameras can you make out in the mirror? If you are fortunate enough that the mirror is reflecting a dark space, and the camera is going in that space, you can sometimes use black duvetyn in front of the camera, with only the lens exposed to hide it in the part of the reflected image that is already shadowed.

Barring that you're left using camera angle (incidence == reflection) and possibly talent to do the rest.

Make sure your operators are wearing black on the day as well. I've had to hide under my own jacket in many shots to avoid reflections in car doors and the like.
 
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I've actually shot a lot of dance stuff in a mirrored room. One of my main clients brings me out there a lot.

My advice, don't put the dancers' backs to the mirror. If the face the mirror, then you can either put your back into it missing it completely, OR, shoot into the mirror. It increases your distance to the subject and if you shoot an any type of an angle you'll miss your camera reflection entirely. It allows for some fun shots too, like a shot of them at a distance in the mirror then they walk into frame and you rack focus closer to them.

Sure, your scene is backwards, but if it's a big deal you can fix it in post. ;)
 
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Also, if it's a dance studio consider having some practical studio lights. If the background is dark and you're using the "studio light" to light the floor (like a lot of studios do) you can hide a camera next to it and the brightness of the light will probably hide it entirely and if not, the operator could look like a stage hand.
 
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David.rhsc said:
...talent to do the rest.
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Talent? I have no chance then...

Thanks to everyone so far - some great ideas. D'oh - get the dancers to face the mirrors... why didn't I think about that??? I'm such an idiot. Dark clothing - that's a great idea.

Rack focusing - walking into shot is nice.

And disguising the cameras maybe just behind a light... that's interesting.
 
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