Lady in the Lake 1947 (Mirror Scene)
I came across a question linked here: How do they film the mirror scenes in movies?
I found it interesting that most examples came from popular and from recent films. Here is a clip from Lady in the Lake 1947, the scene shows a man from a POV as he walks through the room (NOTE: the whole film is in first person), the camera turns to the mirror and our hero appears. Now it was probably done with camera angles as it was 1947 but Citizen Kane was 1941 and he implemented techniques beyond his time such as over-lapping shots, blacking out background and foreground and then meshing the shots together.
My question is can anyone find a reliable source explaining how THIS mirror trick was done in the movie?
The mirror trick starts at 2.04 - the clip is only 2.35
Best Answer
There's no actual trick here.
The man is standing directly in front of the mirror (directly in front of her) but she's looking at the camera to make you think he's standing in front of the camera.
The camera is off at a 60 degree (or so) angle from the mirror, so it would never catch itself in the frame.
I've made an overhead view to help clarify it.
Pictures about "Lady in the Lake 1947 (Mirror Scene)"
Why is the lady in the lake a significant film in history?
The murder mystery was an adaptation of the 1943 Raymond Chandler novel The Lady in the Lake. The film was Montgomery's last for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), after eighteen years with the studio....Lady in the LakeBox office$2,657,00016 more rowsWho is Lady in the Lake?
The Lady of the Lake, an enchantress also known as Viviane or Nimu\xeb, appears in many of the tales of King Arthur. According to legend, she lived in a castle beneath a lake surrounding the mystical island of Avalon. She raised Lancelot and gave Arthur the magical sword Excalibur, which he treasured.Where was the lady in the lake?
The Lady of the Lake, also known as Viviane or Nimu\xeb, is an enchantress who lives in a castle beneath a lake surrounding the island of Avalon. According to legend, she is most famous for giving Arthur the magical sword Excalibur, for fostering Sir Lancelot after his father's death and for imprisoning Merlin in a tree.Is Lady in the Lake a Christmas movie?
By Brian Greene. It's a long stretch to call Lady in the Lake\u2014the dark suspense film from 1947 that Robert Montgomery directed and starred in\u2014a Christmas movie.Optical Point Of View in Lady in the Lake (R. Montgomery 1947)
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Answer 2
That was pretty easy. The camera is on an angle to the mirror, probably about 15 feet back. Zoomed in so it looks closer. But you'll notice it's still on an angle to the mirror. The actor steps into frame without any problems, and because the camera is so far back and off to the side you can't see its reflection.
A tougher one is the dressing room scene in Sucker Punch.
This one was actually done with doubles. There's one small place where you can see they're slightly out-of-sync, but most of it was done spot-on.
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