# Inception mirror scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672 "2013-02-08T02:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/1 "2013-02-08T02:55:10Z")
This: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/q3tBBhYJeAw/maxresdefault.jpg "Inception Mirrors") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3tBBhYJeAw) How did they film this scene without showing the camera’s reflection? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/2 "2013-02-08T03:07:07Z")
Wow, great question. Digitally remove the camera? It’s a great effect and like a lot of the best effects, not one you think about during the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/3 "2013-02-08T04:08:22Z")
Quick guess: Like most of that movie they aren’t really outside and those aren’t really mirrors. It’s all green screen. The reflections in the mirrors are computed based on the positions of the few objects & people actually on the green-screen set, the reflected backgrounds are just CGI like the regular backgrounds. Makes ma head hurt… ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/4 "2013-02-08T06:24:37Z")
Vampire camera. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/5 "2013-02-08T06:57:02Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Vampire camera. What I was going to say, but after watching the video, it seems there is a slight angle in the shot. That would be sufficient to avoid getting the camera’s reflection in the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/6 "2013-02-08T16:23:22Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Quick guess: Like most of that movie they aren’t really outside and those aren’t really mirrors. It’s all green screen. The reflections in the mirrors are computed based on the positions of the few objects & people actually on the green-screen set, the reflected backgrounds are just CGI like the regular backgrounds. Makes ma head hurt… My guess is greenscreen, as well. Whenever you’ve got two mirrors facing each other, the reflections \*always \*veer off one direction or another- because it’s impossible to make the mirrors exactly parallel to each other. Even the slight divergence will become more apparent the “deeper” you look into the reflections, resulting in a very apparent “curving” of the images. There’s no divergence in that shot- you could take a ruler and draw a straight line down the depth of the reflections. Gotta be fake. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/7 "2013-02-08T16:33:13Z")
Probably just digitally erased the camerman from the scene. If you can erase Gary Sinese’s legs from forest Gump in 1994 it’s probably pretty easy to erase an entire camerman in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/8 "2013-02-08T17:05:26Z")
First done in Citizen Kane. Angles and one way mirror. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/9 "2013-02-08T17:50:34Z")
Here’s a description from seeing the scene being filmed: > [@](#): > > Monday’s scene on the closed set utilized two giant mirrors, each the size of a storefront and slowly rotating and reflecting each other. The leading man – dressed in a grey-green Armani jacket, black trousers and looking very tanned and blond – stood between them, creating a funhouse-mirror effect of a thousand reflections before the mirrors pulled away to reveal him walking the bridge with Ellen Page amid a sea of extras. > > An argument develops between them and Page turns violent, shoving him, knocking him down. What followed were shots of the extras, standing as still as statues, as though they were frozen in time. So it sound’s like they used actual mirrors, not green screens. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/10 "2013-02-08T18:52:02Z")
I also think there’s sufficient angle between the center of the mirror and the camera’s viewpoint so that the camera just doesn’t show up. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/11 "2013-02-08T19:15:33Z")
There’s certainly some green screen involved (my guess is that the scene has been CGI’d up the wahoo). Notice at 28 seconds in where Ariadne takes care to step over something that isn’t there (I actually think she’s doing it at ten seconds in as well, with the other mirror, but it’s not as obvious). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/12 "2013-02-08T19:35:48Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > There’s certainly some green screen involved (my guess is that the scene has been CGI’d up the wahoo). Notice at 28 seconds in where Ariadne takes care to step over something that isn’t there (I actually think she’s doing it at ten seconds in as well, with the other mirror, but it’s not as obvious). Wow, I did I not notice that before? I wonder what she’s stepping over ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/13 "2013-02-09T01:48:33Z")
i’m guessing it is a sill to stop the “mirror”. so that’s either a real mirror or something else heavy she’s pulling. ---
**Author:** ![bomtarker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@bomtarker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomtarker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/14 "2013-04-10T13:58:59Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Here’s a description from seeing the scene being filmed: > So it sound’s like they used actual mirrors, not green screens. I too have found this set report, I’ve been looking into how they did, nothing official yet! I feel there are a number of different techniques used, but using one way mirrors and filming the cast through them would have been one. Rotoscoping out the camera op is also a possibility, this being made easier when the mirrors are stationary. ---
**Author:** ![bomtarker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@bomtarker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomtarker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/15 "2013-04-10T14:09:47Z")
also, this; [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ru5DyAp9Qh4/maxresdefault.jpg "Filming Inception in Paris HD - Part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru5DyAp9Qh4) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/16 "2013-04-10T20:34:00Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > What I was going to say, but after watching the video, it seems there is a slight angle in the shot. That would be sufficient to avoid getting the camera’s reflection in the mirror. > [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I also think there’s sufficient angle between the center of the mirror and the camera’s viewpoint so that the camera just doesn’t show up. No, there is not enough room. At :12 into the clip, the camera is almost in line with the leftmost paint line. When that mirror runs flat, the camera is well in that line of view of the mirror. Similarly, in the clip from :23 tpo :29, the mirror swings and exposes the full area to the right of Leonardo. There is no space for a camera to hide. > [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > There’s certainly some green screen involved (my guess is that the scene has been CGI’d up the wahoo). Notice at 28 seconds in where Ariadne takes care to step over something that isn’t there (I actually think she’s doing it at ten seconds in as well, with the other mirror, but it’s not as obvious). Interesting catch. I agree she appears to be stepping over something that is not visible in the final version. > [@bomtarker](#): > > I too have found this set report, I’ve been looking into how they did, nothing official yet! I feel there are a number of different techniques used, but using one way mirrors and filming the cast through them would have been one. Rotoscoping out the camera op is also a possibility, this being made easier when the mirrors are stationary. How does that one way mirror work again? Remember, mirrors like that in police lineup rooms work by lighting - bright lights on one side and dim light on the other. The bright light causes that side to work as a mirror, where dim lighting on the other is dim enough to be overwhelmed by the light passing through from the far side. How would that work in this scene, filmed outdoors? Now look at the video in the link by **bomtarker**. At around 1:04 you see a big green sheet on the right, and a smaller green screen on the far left. At 1:29 you see one of the big mirror panels being assembled, with a pattern of blue dots across the face. I’m thinking those are target dots used for tracking the mirror surface location. I’m sure the mirror images are digitally corrected if not digitally generated. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/17 "2013-04-13T22:02:57Z")
She steps over it at 18 seconds as well on the way to the second mirror ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inception-mirror-scene/649672/18 "2013-04-13T22:46:47Z")
One of the YouTube comments from the OP’s link says this: > [@](#): > > According to DimanOperator’s website, here’s your answer: > > “Chris Corbould got his team to build an 8 by 16 foot mirror that could be swung shut on a hinge. […] The compositing team set about removing the support rig and crew reflections and then adding in the infinite secondary reflections as well as the surrounding environment. […] In fact most of what you’re looking at is digital with only the actors being real – even their reflections are digital doubles in many cases.”