Shooting in Three Mirrors: DEAD LESBIANS

how to (practically) shoot your gays

Today we break down mirror shot trickery from short film Dead Lesbians, which I (Mel) worked on, so I know exactly how mind-melting it was to figure out eyelines for this shot. (Don’t worry, there’s a handy, sketchy diagram below.)

First, the three panels had to be veeeeery carefully arranged so the camera is hidden.

Then, to avoid ‘crossing the line’ is one thing. To make sure it seems as though Dorothy (gray suit; Jennifer Vuletic) and Isabelle (green shirt; Yassica Switakowski) are making eye contact as they talk and move is a much harder thing, because that 3-way mirror arrangement bounces eyelines around in all sorts of directions!

Check the medium shot starting at 0:15 (screencap below) - in order to make it LOOK like Isabelle is looking at Dorothy, Yassica actually needs to be looking at herself.

Here’s a rough diagram of where Jassica is looking, and where reflections and the camera makes us perceive where she is looking:

When Isabelle checks her clothes out in the mirror (screencap directly below) 0:35 . . . you guessed it, Yassica actually has to be looking at Dorothy in the mirror.

Jennifer is similarly staring at not-Yassica the whole time, in order to make it look like Dorothy is staring at Isabelle . . . except for the moment at 0:39-0:47 (below), where they’re actually looking at each other, but then immediately have to look back at not-each-other when Isabelle turns around.

Takeaways

While it may seem pretty simple in diagram form, imagine remembering to keep it (ahem) ‘straight’ and always at the exact opposite place of where you are actually looking, while delivering your lines, hitting your marks, avoiding the giant camera rig, and, y’know, acting!

Actors are amazing.

Dead Lesbians premiered November 2023 at Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Director @evajusttorks
DP @babou_lancelot
Producer @gpoyproductions
used with permission; edited to depict relevant mirror clips