The only Special Effect in FLIP

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In the movie there is a scene where Aldo (Jarrod) talks to himself in the mirror. Since short movies can play around with reality more than features, I'm going to do a splitscreen effect where it looks like Jarrod is talking to another Jarrod on the other side of the mirror. (Think of the scene in 25th Hour where Ed Norton talks to himself in the bar's bathroom). I realize that this technique has been done many times in movies before, but I think it'll be fun to do and will break up the monotony of the scene.

I want to tackle this effect via greenscreen. (If you are not familiar with greenscreen, visit this link .) As you can see from the photo, I outlined Jarrod's... well, his outline with green chromakey tape. I figured this would be the ideal way to do it for several reasons. Since only a small part of the mirror is covered, Jarrod will still be able to make believable eye contact with himself. Also, while I do have a greenscreen big enough to cover up the entire mirror, that would involve evenly lighting it. The bathroom is not really the ideal place to be running a bunch of hot lights, nor is there space to accommodate everything I will need. In addition, if I used a green screen, there would be a TON of green spill all around the mostly white bathroom (A huge giveaway as to how the effect was done.)

For these reasons and more, I will attempt to do the effect using the outline-method. Once the shot is set-up and lit, I will have Jarrod deliver the "reflection" lines to himself (with me giving him his "Aldo" lines). Once that shot is done, I will outline the mirror with the green felt tape. It will be very, very important that I do not touch the camera during this, or the registration will be off and the effect will not work. Once Jarrod has enough of a green "buffer", I will shoot the scene with him giving the "Aldo" lines and a video playback monitor giving his "Reflection" lines from the previous take. This will ensure that the timing is right and it looks like he really is having a conversation with himself.

In post-production, I will go into the shot with the green tape and digitally paint the same color green over the rest of the mirror. Since the scene is locked down, this should be a relatively simple procedure (in Motion, or AE, or whatever). This will make the shot seem as if there had been a large greenscreen there the whole time. The benefit to this method is that I know it will be evenly lit since I will be painting it in myself.

Once these shots (called plates) are both done, I will have Jarrod do the scene again, this time, I'll frame it off for a simple split-screen effect. Aldo will be screen right, the reflection will be screen left. This will be my backup in the event that the greenscreen does not work as well as I want it to. The problem with the split-screen approach is that Jarrod can not cross the invisible dividing line in the middle of the screen. If he brings his left hand up to point at himself, the hand will disappear when it crosses the line. So, this will take a little more pre-visualization and rehearsal than the green screen method. Here is a video of a split-screen test I did with Rebecca the other night. (Note, since we were working quickly and without a script, the timing isn't just right. Also, you can see that the camera moved between takes so the dividing line is clearly visible.)

Obviously, the greenscreen method would be ideal. It would appear the most real and not draw any attention to itself. If it doesn't work though, I have my back up effect ready to go.