Where is the camera?

[gandy]

This is a mind blower.

Where Is the Camera? (Contact, 1997)

[BubbaBlues]

Fascinating.  I believe from the time she turns around and heads up the stairs, the camera is shooting through the mirror.
I think the camera and mirror are going up the stairs in front of her and she's actually following it. Then the mirror stops,
appearing to be mounted on the wall, and she walks up to it. 

[Rudge]

Fascinating.  I believe from the time she turns around and heads up the stairs, the camera is shooting through the mirror.
I think the camera and mirror are going up the stairs in front of her and she's actually following it. Then the mirror stops,
appearing to be mounted on the wall, and she walks up to it.  

If this were the case, you would be able to see the camera in the shot unless very carefully placed. Or at the very least, that last bit would be very tricky. It's a good theory. 

Maybe the entire thing is a shot of previously recorded video that the actress sticks her hand into at the end, mimicking the action in the video and making it look like a mirror image. ?

Very interesting indeed.  

[Old-Polack]

Much simpler explanation. The viewer assumes a house of standard construction, yet this is a movie set. Picking an arbitrary 10 degrees as an example, if the wall holding the mirrored cabinet is 10 degrees off of square, the camera must be an additional 10 degrees off to the left in order to look directly down the hallway. (angle of incidence = angle of reflection) Adjusting the angles of the  two items the camera is off to the left just enough to not be caught by the mirror as it shoots the reflection of the runner in the hallway.

[AndrzejL]

I love this movie... I have purchased it on DVD sometime ago and it's on my http://tinyurl.com/AndrzejLDVDs list http://s6.postimage.org/s7kmgh2c1/DVD_2.jpg - the shot is very interesting. I think it's two different shots combined into one... First shot is not a image in the mirror, second is taken "in the mirror" and they are combined / joined right after the camera in the second shot is no longer visible in the mirror. Maybe...

Regards.

Andrzej

[gandy]

I'm sorry, but you are all wrong

 I can understand thinking that it was all shot through the mirror. That's what I thought too.

One thing I noticed was that the stairs were reversed after the cut. When she goes down the stairs, the wall is on her right. When she comes up the stairs, the wall is on her right again. If the part after the cut was shot through a mirror this would be correct.

The truth is a bit disappointing. Most of the clip is done with green/blue screen.

CONTACT. The impossible shot. Robert Zemeckis

[BubbaBlues]

You just can't trust anything anymore.     It just goes to show,
you can believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see

[sammy2fish]

You just can't trust anything anymore.     It just goes to show,
you can believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see

I hate to be cynical, but you could be right.

[Nok]

You just can't trust anything anymore.     It just goes to show,
you can believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see

I hate to be cynical, but you could be right.

 I don't believe either of you.   

[BubbaBlues]

  Smart man.

[gseaman]

You just can't trust anything anymore.     It just goes to show,
you can believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see

I hate to be cynical, but you could be right.

 I don't believe either of you.   

If you don't believe them, then you must believe everything else. 

Galen