Favourite scene from movie Contact (1997)

[TileGuyJesse]

Jena is just as cute in this as she was in Sucker Punch.

[TileGuyJesse]

The best special effect is the one nobody notices. Amazing!!

I can see why this is a fav shot in the film. He did the same sort of thing in What Lies Beneath with the bath tub scene.

Killer!

[floatinglandscape]

Perfect

[AndyTzan]

MIND=BLOWN. I think it's one of the best camera ticks I ever seen.

[hagenar]

How could this be someone's favourite scene?

[Bandersnatch187]

Do you still hear the lambs screaming, Clarice?

[DNesij]

Amazing yet I never noticed it before.

[Dristarg]

When I first saw this at the cinema, the whole audience gasped at 0:23.

[baddmanaz]

is her name alice?

[chrisfraire21]

great visusl effect

[MarkFFHH]

I thought i was seeing things...how could the staircase be moved to the other side of the entrance way..and the dining room be shifted to the other side of the house..swoosh. Is there a reason for this??? a mesage? a reflection?

[Pinesol23]

WES, YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY? HER FATHER IS DYING. LEAVE THE CLASSROOM RIGHT NOW!

[uuduu7]

Another thing to note:

..

Notice when she opens the mirror, there's not reflection of the photo frame and cupboard below but when the mirror swings back there is a close up reflection of photo frame with a cupboard below. I think the mirror cabinet attached to the camera moved abit to get the shot of it..

[uuduu7]

I don't think digital effects is required to shoot this scene..

My guess is the easier way of simply attaching the mirror cabinet to the camera, the camera is literally shooting at the reflection of the mirror and moving from downstairs to upstairs while having the girl chase after it till she finally "catches up" with the mirror to open it..

Does anyone have the answer from the production ?

[Joshalidina]

@uuduu7 Yeah, the mirror is not actually a mirror, it is a piece of blue screen, (sorry about my lack of tech knowledge), but yeah, they used blue screen and then patched the video on top if that makes sense...

[uuduu7]

@Joshalidina

Thanks for the answer .. I guess your right//

[uuduu7]

@Joshalidina

Frankly, I think this camera trick is quite unnecessary as it takes away the emotional impact of the scene .. kind of distracting..

[hparas]

@uuduu7

thank god you're unnecessary in the filmmaking world.

[uuduu7]

@hparas

The movie could have been better if I had directed it, now you'll never know ..

[EnzoTheBaker]

Steven Spielberg's best sci-fi movie.

[ebayrak]

@EnzoTheBaker actually it's Robert Zemeckis

[Gforcebond]

And to come up with the imagination to even think of doing that is pretty impressive let alone actually doing it. Most directors would have never even thought of doing something like that.

[waqman]

Okay when it got to the mirror I was tripping balls.

[cameraperson]

@waqman

That's hilarious.

[paraconti]

hey isnt this the girl from The Ruins? So little then!

[mofolarry]

this scene had obsessed me for some 10 years. i can finally rest in peace now.

[tgallemore]

when we are in stress, our perception time slows down

[kingofskateop]

Its easy trick to do it (if ya know cg animation stuff)... Actual footage is shot by a steadicam (tracking the girl in front of her -i mean backwards-. Second footage is zooming out from a mirror (there is not a mirror -a greenbox inside it-. Combining the 1st footage inside the mirror at the 2nd footage. Easy, but very strong. And yea few finger mistakes (not matching exactly!)

[hparas]

explain thagt again... I"m confused: tracking the girl in front of her -i mena backwards-.

[kingofskateop]

Footage #1: tracking the girl (in front of her) using steadicam (from the stairs to the bathroom)...

Footage #2: track out (like zoom out) the bathroom's mirror...

Compositing: In After Effects, put the footage #1 inside the "mirror" at the footage #2 (use the mask tool)...

The timing is important!

[hparas]

thank you.

[Gforcebond]

@kingofskateop

yea way easier said than done b/c when you combine the two images they have to match perfectly I bet it took at least 100 takes.

[kingofskateop]

@Gforcebond Maybe few takes, cuz the steadicam operator, the cinematographer and also the director are so professional :D

[CENSOREDFORSEX]

LOL Don't go in slo motion, RUN LITTLE GIRL RUN!!! HE IS DYING!!!

[pinkandizyan]

how they shoot it? but at the end..it used the reflection of mirror...how they done it? wow

[NoMorFear]

"Favorite Scene"

Nice joke.

LOL, what a waste of an upload.

[FigurativeSpeech]

you're a small minded waste of a person. Just don't comment anymore, stop wasting the precious bandwidth.

[Q3t3sh]

S.R. Hadden: First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price? Only, this one can be kept secret. Controlled by Americans, built by the Japanese subcontractors. Who, also, happen to be, recently acquired, wholly-owned subsidiaries... yadayadayada...

That scene still gives me the chills hehe

[michigan1984usa]

The scene where the bible thumper gives her that cold look by the launch site really made a lasting impression on me.

[DragonsLove1032]

my fav scene was when she was going into the ball thing (for when they were testing stuff... the rotating thing, second one, first blow up) and she went through some worm hole and it was like, trippy, but in reality is was just an illusion and the ball thing failed and she just went straight through into the net o.O

[kablamo9999]

Actually she did go through the wormhole, as far as she could tell, she could just not prove it. Except for the 18 hours of recorded static, of course.

[resistenciaactiva]

i always loved that scene too, the way the camera shoot the mirror, it's an efect but i dont know how they did it...

[TheRealDimplemonkey]

The director's notes in the DVD says it was all computer generated. Just like the scene in the beginning where the camera flies into the young girl's room and goes through the glass windows.

[resistenciaactiva]

good, it looks so real

[Willzito]

I've read that they've shot all the sequence of the girl umtil she reaches the cabinet.

Then they've put it into a blue screen(like the mirror of the cabinet) and shot again the girl opening the mirror. Then they've combined both shots.

[resistenciaactiva]

ohh sounds so easy, but logic

[styleparade]

Look at 0:21

The fingers doesn't seem to have the correct reflection on the mirror.

Wich make me think you are right.

Terrible scene.

[fatsomamacheese]

"Terrible scene." lol, w/e shmuck

[pg5687]

i've done the same scene with my camera and computer.. look my videos

[hparas]

awesome man...