The process of making the perfect mirror filter was through trial and error, year after year, shoot after shoot, and countless research.
To begin with, because I primarily shoot beauty content of models applying makeup and skincare, I needed a way for them to look into the lens yet simultaneously see what they were doing. Because it's very very difficult to apply makeup without a mirror.
So, let's go back to very beginning... years ago at our shoots we would set up a regular old mirrors either to the left or right of the camera. I wasn't a fan of this for several reasons. First, the model wouldn't be facing the camera, the eye-line would be off to the left or right. Second, the camera didn't have any flexiblity for movement, the mirror would just be shy of the frame and risked being in the shot. And third, a lot of the times the model would want to lean in to see better and would be moving out of frame and out of focus.
Then, we tried placing a small mirror just above the lens - but then the eye-line was slightly above, which is very distracting to the viewer.
Lastly, we would try to ask the model to just "wing it" and try looking into the lens while applying, which yielded very mixed results, most of the time it felt very awkward, fake, and took more time to get right.
That's when I took the pludge into the one-way-mirror world. I needed a way for model to look into the lens but with the comfort that a mirror provides. But it wasn't quick to find the right solution to this. There are a few things I tried that didn't work -
I used one-way-mirror acrylic pieces, which I was very excited to shoot with...until it came to post- production and my footage had a blue tint to it, looked very desaturated, and dark. It "worked" I suppose...eventually I cut it into 4X5 pieces and threw it in my matte box. I could shoot through it, and the models were super thrilled to see themselves. I finally had the freedom to move the camera around. But in the end, it was sacrificing way too much quality - and it was SUPER prone to scratching. It wasn't the solution I needed.
I also bought one-way-mirror window film to try... and wasted my money. Please don't do it.
This is when I sat back down and researched glass... glass of all kinds. I did some test orders - and found the perfect one. TheirMirror was born!!! I tested it for shoots and received very positive feedback from models. They loved having this mirror for support and have never seen this used before. Post production was a breeze - no more extra time spent fixing a horrible color and exposure shift that the previous method caused.
If you are interested, please visit my shop and pick yours up. I would love to hear your experience with it. Reach out to hello@theirvision.tv for any questions.
Sincerely,
Tyna
