How do I achieve this weird mirror effect?

[Jonas Thorhallsson]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm shooting a music video very soon and the client is looking for this in-camera effect. Almost like kaleidoscope.

 

I understand there are some type of mirrors involved but not sure how to achieve it.

 

Does anyone here have any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonas

[Brian Drysdale]

Please don't double post, it causes confusion. If you wish to add a video, just add another message, don't create a new thread.

[Phil Rhodes]

Prismatic attachment of some sort, I presume. There are kaleidoscope devices which will do this, only often with more than two reflections.

 

This music video, shot by Stephen Murphy, uses one:

 

[Jonas Thorhallsson]

Here's the reference

Edited November 10, 2017 by Jonas Thorhallsson

[David Mullen ASC]

 

I've done that in the past with a piece of glass on the edge of frame, angled to reflect the background, as in this frame where I put the glass on the left side of the lens -- I could have gotten a second reflection with some glass on the right side as well.

[Max Field]

I'm trying to wrap my head around the optical physics of how you resulted with that look, David. Is the glass much closer to the lens than the actors, so physically out of focus, but its reflection optically reads as the same distance the actors are? Not sure if I even worded that question right.

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, the reflection is the same focus distance as what it is reflecting just as with a mirror reflection -- if you hold a hand mirror right up to your lens and reflect something 20 feet away in it, you wouldn't be focusing to the distance between the lens and the mirror if you wanted the reflection to be in focus.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

It didn't make the final cut; but we used these on a music video:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sunglasses-Lotus-flower-Kaleidoscope-Festival-Diffracted/dp/B0758B3BM6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510329864&sr=8-3&keywords=kaleidoscope+sunglasses

 

it had interesting effects, and for $5 worth messing around with.

[David Mullen ASC]

The advantage of using angled glass on each side of the lens, open in the center, to create the effect of the reference above, is that unlike mirrors, you get a more subtle overlap and ghosting effect, the reflections on the sides are semi-transparent.

[Jonas Thorhallsson]

David, may I ask what sort of glass did you use for the image you referenced here above?

Thanks,
Jonas

[David Mullen ASC]

Just went to a department store and bought some picture frames and took the glass out. In my case, I got something large like 9"x14" but if you were going to build a black box with a piece of glass at a 45 degree-ish angle on the right and left third, you can probably use smaller pieces of glass depending on the size of the lens. Generally these shots work better on longer lenses with a flatter perspective.

 

The advantage of having each piece of glass on a c-stand is just that as you change focal length, you might want to adjust the size of the clear gap in the middle. But the disadvantage of not building a box that can attach to the front of the lens is that when you dolly or pan, you move through the glass, it doesn't stay aligned. Which sometimes is cool, to slide back and forth through the reflections.