It's all done with mirrors.

100 !

This is my 100th published blog for the Production Diaries. In this space.
That's quite a few qualifiers.  I'm not sure if I did a production diary blog anywhere else, but I run two other blogs here.  Combined I don't think I have 100 between those other two.

This being my 100th post here I thought it should be somewhat special.  Not necessarily groundbreaking and certainly not "a look back", but not just one to make the numbers either, which is why it's been so long since the last post.  I wanted to wait until I had something fairly significant to share.  Significant besides, "Yay, I wrote 100 blogs!"

As for the "look back", that's what a diary is for.  If you want to look back at my old blogs, have fun.  There are 99 of them dating back a few years.

It's all done with mirrors.

Well, not all of it.  Not even a large percentage, really, but you've heard that phrase before and it seems to make sense here.

I'm not talking about magic.  Not in the traditional sense.  I am talking about the trick of fitting multiple cast members in a scene within a small space and not just showing the backs of heads half the time.  We used the method enough times and it seems like something indies can make use of, so I thought I'd share my recent experiences.

Jennifer Wenger and Michelle Prenez in Jack vs Lanterns

In this scene from Jack vs Lanterns, for example, I had started out with an upper angle on the floor with both Michelle and Jenn in a two shot. It was a neat enough angle, but they were either in profile or one of them would turn a bit and all the camera would see is the back of her head.  Plus, from Michelle's side I couldn't see that cool logo on her shirt. ;)

What would the British do?

If you watch as much TV from the UK as I do, you'll notice that they often use a mirror shot to create a mood, keep both characters on camera or just make things more interesting than a standard over the shoulder conversation shot.  With that in mind, I've learned to make use of reflective surfaces when I can.

Watch out for yourself.

And I mean this literally.  If you, like me, run your camera, watch out for your own reflection.  Not just in mirrors, but windows, well polished cars and chrome or reflective surfaces in bathrooms.  Nothing breaks the mood like a sudden appearance of a camera and operator in a car door.

With small monitors, like when  you're shooting guerilla style and using just what's on the camera, it can sometimes be hard to spot your reflection, so, when in doubt, give a little wave and see if you spot the movement.  Position cast and props accordingly.  Choose your angle, but run the blocking to make sure you don't suddenly pop up when someone steps away from that car's mirrored finish.

Back to why these are useful.

We have several short scenes in Jack vs Lanterns.  Usually these are bits of exposition, which I try to interrupt with either humor, suspense or action.  So, I tried to keep conversations short.  That also means that cutting from character to character for each line can make for a furious pace.  Now, quick paced can be good, but too quick can be jarring, especially when it's unnatural or obvious that you're doing to it to keep the speaking character on screen.

So, for these scenes where two or three of us where speaking to each other, but the only location that worked for the camera was behind someone, we used a mirror.  Like, in my bathroom. (There are three scenes in the movie that take place in bathrooms.  I had to borrow a bathroom as a set.)

All three of us had lines in this shot and there were reactions to those lines.  I did use some close ups here as well, but for a 32 second scene too many cuts would have been jarring.  Also, small room or not, an establishing shot is always useful to help the audience picture what's going on.

We had to rewrite and improvise here a bit and the results were, in my opinion, hilarious.  Hopefully audiences will agree.