Mirror Gag

I'm shooting a spot with a mirror gag, that is a frame with no mirror (a hole) and 2 similar looking actors that double the action as a cheat for one person standing in front of a mirror. Other than the bathroom scene from La Haine, are there any other references that come to mind from anyone?

thanks

Crighton Bone
DP
NZ/London

Other than the bathroom scene from La Haine, are there any other references that come to mind from anyone?

Vaguely useful - opening to the Patty Duke Show -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiNRECw6gW0

Some versions have more or less of the gag used..watch a few of them and you won't get the theme out of your head.

Mark Weingartner
VFX DP/Supervisor - Lost Angeles

Crighton Bone wrote:

>>Other than the bathroom scene from La Haine, are there any other references that come to mind from >>anyone?

Well there's Duck Soup, I suppose. Somewhat of a classic scene.

Steve Parker
The Reel Show
UK

>>I'm shooting a spot with a mirror gag, that is a frame with no mirror (a hole) and 2 similar looking actors >>that double the action as a cheat for one person standing in front of a mirror.

Original I Love Lucy show with Harpo Marx.

And about 15 years ago, I did a series of commercials for Scope mouthwash where the talent was talking to him or herself in the mirror, but we did that using bluescreen.

Bob Kertesz
BlueScreen LLC
Hollywood, California

>> Other than the bathroom scene from La Haine, are there any other references that come to mind from >>anyone?

It wasn't a feature, but there was a rather famous episode of "I Love Lucy" that involved such a gag with Lucy and Harpo Marx. You can find a clip of it by searching for "Lucille Ball Harpo Marx" in Google.

Mike Most
Chief Technologist
Cineworks Digital Studios
Miami, Fl.

The first two seasons of the TV show Quantum Leap had a similar mirror gag in each show. Looking through a hole into another duplicate mirror image set with a different actor representing the person into whom Scott Bakula had leapt. (A preposition is something you should not end a sentence with.) Later, when the budget shrank, we used a real mirror with two actors and a substantial amount of
camera and human gymnastics to make it work. Much simpler with two sets and two people.

Sincerely,

Ed Colman, President
SuperDailies, Inc.
Cinematographer Supervised Video Dailies
www.superdailies.com

There's an elaborate mirror shot done this way in Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married.

Casey Pegram
Videographer/Editor
Atlanta

How about Labyrinth or Terminator 2, the second example is very subtly done as Arnie is doubled by an animatronics double as Linda Hamilton digs in his head. The great thing is the camera dollies round the back of the double (in foreground,) as Arnie watches in the fake reflection but of course there is no reflection of the camera, as there is no mirror! - great stuff.

Simon Vickery
DoP/ camera operator UK

"Evil Dead 2" has a good scene of Bruce Campbell interacting with 'himself' in a mirror during a sequence where he's going bugf**king nutz.

Kurt

Kurt Rauf
Director/DP
Las Vegas, NV
USA

"Duck Soup". Harpo steps in front of a head-to-toe mirror and the fun begins. You will never forget it.

Mort Zarcoff
Writer - Producer
Los Angeles, California

The obvious reference for this mirror gag is in the Marx Brothers film "Duck Soup," in my opinion, their best film.

They use a very large (non-existent) full-length "mirror," and they use it very well.

I urge everyone to rent/buy this film - it's the Marx Brothers at their best.

Doug Hart
1AC, NYC

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=8VoAj_6iKTo

Very effective

Nate Martin
Sydney, Australia