Film Contact 1997 - Brilliant Tricky Mirror Shot Explained

Contact visual effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Stephen Rosenbaum explain how this amazing scene was shot.

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All rights belong to Warner Bros. Entertainment and Warner Home Video

[cued]

I still don't get how this was done lol

[jenjerx]

brilliant work NONE THE LESS...you know what give it away?! @0:25 the inner sleeve (orange) doesn't match (Blue), great work actually.

[lilplum]

That's Great. And damn, its from 1997..

[Fleetwootmack]

The explanation was pretty clear. They had one shot with a camera man in front of the girl until she reached out for the cabinet. Then they had another shot facing the ‘mirror’ (a blue screen instead of a mirror) where she actually opened the cabinet. The initial shot was put on the blue screen around the time the girl hit through the door.

[clansman]

It's very simple actually. Instead of mirror there was blue screen on which in postproduction they projected mirrored footage. They also added effect so the ''mirror'' would look older and slightly damaged and they added bevels for it to appear more realistic.
Awesome idea.

[hamantcrown]

ok saying something is "Fake" is not a explanation.

[ConnorLandrum]

If anyone didn't follow. They filmed her running up to the mirror and reaching for it. When she reaches for it, they cut to the over the shoulder shot where she is also reaching forward, they crop the first shot in on the mirror, wherein both shots she is reaching forward with her hand, looking like a reflection. So it looks like it keeps pulling back in one continuous shot.

[bmangetsulm]

You can see in the moment when she opens the mirror her shirt is orange but in the mirror is black.

[jimm]

One of the most brilliant shots I've ever seen. It hit me harder than Neo's bullet times.

[omirahomar]

Bro I came from tiktok and I went here to find this shit and I still can't understand how it's done.

[rogerkincaid]

I remembered seeing this shot, I was really blown away.

[LMike]

The brilliance was that someone thought of this view and then the effect method.

[TheRealHeroDude]

I caught this in the corner of my eye and thought someone had messed and mirrored the scene by accident until she got to the mirror. Great shot.

[itsalongbeachthing]

FYI, they recreated this now-iconic mirror shot almost exactly the same way at the very beginning of Consecration (2023) because it is the same actress, only now she is an adult. It happens at the 4-minute mark!

[whatwhat]

The image in the mirror and the person grabbing the cabinet are 2 different shots. One is inverted. They have a blue screen on the mirror. They zoom out from the blue screen as the first shot is reaching towards the cabinet simultaneously with the second shot

[stevedoubleuB]

Really effective, very clever. Thanks for the explanation, because I wondered just how the heck it was done. Just adds to the greatness of the whole film.

[TonyOnekaNobY]

That was a great shot! Very inspiring! This sort of thing motivates me to get better at editing.

[Jonathan-lruu]

My god😲 and for it being the 90's. Man I love movies

[LaramidiaWX]

This explanation is pretty far fetched.

I think they actually had the camera come through the mirror because mirrors are portals to backward parallel universes.

[melodicchronic]

This is great, A movie (and book) I've always loved. But I want to see all of it for the explanation. All unedited shots with no CGI yet. That would help to understand how it was actually done.