Moviewise | The Camera and the Mirror, A Love Story @Moviewise | Uploaded April 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Out of the filmmaker's toolkit, one of the most underrated devices is the mirror. The camera and the mirror are likely the most perfect and enduring couple in the history of cinema.
Mirrors and reflective surfaces can help spies, voyeurs and demons. Mirrors are perfect for comedy, drama, romance and thrillers. Reflections are the stuff of greatly composed frames. Mirrors can give you one or more frame within the frame, maybe even a frame within the frame within the frame.
They are tools for self reflection, they make two characters face each other without facing each other, they put two characters facing each other side by side for the audience. Because they can be confused with reality, mirrors can block your way or save you from being seen by an enemy. They can also scare you (remember the mirror scare cliché?).
Mirrors make the invisible visible, they access inaccessible parts of the set, they remove the need to cut or to pan the camera, they create unusual images, they give room for creative experimentation and they just damn look good!
This video essay goes through the endless possibilities of mirrors in the movie screen. Enjoy!
#videoessay #film #cinema #mirror
Out of the filmmaker's toolkit, one of the most underrated devices is the mirror. The camera and the mirror are likely the most perfect and enduring couple in the history of cinema.
Mirrors and reflective surfaces can help spies, voyeurs and demons. Mirrors are perfect for comedy, drama, romance and thrillers. Reflections are the stuff of greatly composed frames. Mirrors can give you one or more frame within the frame, maybe even a frame within the frame within the frame.
They are tools for self reflection, they make two characters face each other without facing each other, they put two characters facing each other side by side for the audience. Because they can be confused with reality, mirrors can block your way or save you from being seen by an enemy. They can also scare you (remember the mirror scare cliché?).
Mirrors make the invisible visible, they access inaccessible parts of the set, they remove the need to cut or to pan the camera, they create unusual images, they give room for creative experimentation and they just damn look good!
This video essay goes through the endless possibilities of mirrors in the movie screen. Enjoy!
#videoessay #film #cinema #mirror
