How to Shoot a Practical Special Effect: the Drug Trip or Hallucination

You're shooting Generation Y's equivalent of "Easy Rider" for your film class, but you only have the change in your pocket. Here's a simple practical effect to make a mind-bending, drug-trippy, hallucinatory shot.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A 36 x 36 inch sheet of reflective Mylar (available in rolls and sheets at hobby and hardware stores)
• A standard 16mm film shot set up

1. Set up your scene from the point of view of the character experiencing the trip or hallucination, and light it as a standard set up (feel free to add strange colored lights or fog to enhance the weirdness factor or use rubber masks, orangutans and dancing girls).

2. Take the flat Mylar sheet and hold it like a mirror, reflecting the entire set up, or just the parts of the scene you want to see. Point your camera at the Mylar (at about a 45 degree angle) and frame as much or as little of the reflected image as you'd like. Take your light readings off of the Mylar, not the set up itself.

3. Roll the camera and begin bending or wobbling the Mylar, like a fun house mirror. It will warp the reflected image and create all kinds of trippy shots.

4. Experiment! Try vibrating the Mylar, shooting through a tube of Mylar, let your imagination run wild...

Tips & Warnings

• Images will be reflected, so avoid lettering or other imagery that will clearly be seen backward, unless you want this to add to the "weird" factor.
• Rehearse the scene a few times. Bending the Mylar too much can reflect images of the camera, crew or lighting setup.