10 Genius Movie Tricks You Totally Take For Granted
3. The Impossible Mirror Shot - Contact
The only film with a mirror shot that can possibly rival the complexity of Terminator 2's is Contact, which opens with a jaw-dropping sequence in which a young Ellie (Jena Malone) rushes upstairs to get her father's medication from the bathroom cabinet.
The 30-second shot begins with Ellie running upstairs towards the camera, but once she reaches the bathroom, the camera pulls back to reveal that we've actually been watching all of this unfold in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.
It's completely brain-snapping if you stop to consider the technical logistics of the sequence, which saw director Robert Zemeckis - ever one to push the boundaries of filmmaking - compose the final shot of three separate takes digitally stitched together.
There's the shot of Ellie running towards the camera, the shot of Ellie opening the bathroom cabinet with a blue screen placed over the mirror, and then a true reflection for when the cabinet is closed again, revealing a photo of Ellie and her father in the background.
This was then all composited together to create a seamless transition between elements. Yet as glaringly impressive as it is, it's also easy to take for granted just how much work went into it if you're not paying total attention to what you're seeing.