Gordon Willis in Stardust Memories

Andres Moret · August 8, 2009

Hello everyone!

I'm new in this Forum and I've been reading some of the posts, and I think I will be a regular visitor!

I'm a filmmaking student in L.A and we were discussing in class one of the shots of Stardust Memories in which Gordon Willis was D.P:

The shot is at the begining of the film (min. 5) and it's a conversation between Woody Allen (in a car) and his secretary. She is sitting in an office with a very big picture of W.A.'s face behind her. Well, while watching it we realized that the image in the wall was a mix of shadows and reflections, in fact her silloutte is in shadow and the desk has a reflection.

Does anyone know how this was done? What did they use? Tinted glass?

Well, I hope any of you could give us a hand on this.

Thanks a lot,

Andres

Edited August 8, 2009 by Andres Moret

Chris Keth · August 8, 2009

Could you post a still? I don't have a copy of the movie handy.

Andres Moret · August 8, 2009

Sure! I should have thought about that, sorry!

Hal Smith · August 8, 2009

I'll email Doug Hart (1st AC on "Stardust") and see if he remembers the shot.

Patrick Neary · August 8, 2009

Hi-

It will be interesting to hear how they did it- It looks like an impossible shadow, maybe a stand-in (in silhouette) was mimicking the actress?

Andres Moret · August 8, 2009

It's a very interesting shot, right?

Mr. Smith, yesterday while I was surfing cinematography.com I saw that Mr. Hart was a member and I emailed him too, the only thing I forgot to send him was the picture.

About the mimicking, seems very difficult, because the movements match perfectly.

If you don't have the movie, you can watch the clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkhFfv-tkGE

Let's see if we get an answer for this mystery!

Thanks to you all!

Chris Keth · August 8, 2009

After seeing the still and the clip, here is my idea of what's going on there.

That wall is dark colored and shiny like glass and the woman's "shadow" is really a reflection. They lit a wall, a silk, something white so you're seeing the lit surface in the reflection on that wall. That would cause the woman's reflection to go into silhouette (and look like a shadow, so long as the side of her toward the shiny wall was not lit too brightly) but that same lit white surface would glare off of the top of the polished wood desk and it would appear lit a little bit. You notice how only the desk appears lit in the reflection and not the phone or the notebook, which are still in silhouette; neither of them have sufficiently placed shiny surfaces for the light to reflect off of for them to also appear lit.