# Half Man Illusion + Two-Way Mirrors = ?



## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

I mentioned in another thread that I'm planning to make a 



 that TOTs can enter as a photo op. Of course the same trick can be used to create a headless person. Which got me to thinking - what if you used two-way mirrors for the illusion? When lit from within, you'd see the person's head. When lit from the outside, the mirrors would create the headless illusion. I think it'd make a great beheading illusion. Lop off a TOT's head, watch the parents freak! :jol:

I have no experience with two-way mirrors though. Does anyone see any inherent flaws in this illusion idea?


----------



## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Only inherent flaw I see is if someone wants to punch you in the face to be funny, you are pretty much defenceless.


----------



## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

So here's a better description of what I'm thinking. This page shows the basic "half man" mirror box trick. Basically it's a box with two mirrors in the back at 45 degrees to the walls of the box. The mirrors create the illusion that the box is empty. When a person stands behind the mirrors, that part of his body seems to vanish while the parts above and below remain visible.

The same basic trick has been famously used to create a headless woman illusion. I'm thinking of making a box with a hole in the bottom that a TOT can stick her head through. The hole is behind the mirrors, so it looks like the kid is headless. Simple enough.

Here's my question. What if, instead of regular mirrors, you use two-way mirrors? The trick would go like this:

1. Mirrors start out with a light behind them, allowing the viewer to see inside.
2. TOT sticks her head in. Viewer sees her head.
3. I do some flimflam to "behead" the TOT.
4. Switch off the light behind the mirrors. Switch on a light in front of the mirrors.
5. Now the mirrors are reflective, creating the illusion of an empty box with the TOT's headless body underneath.

Again though, I have no experience with two-way mirrors. Does anyone who does have a sense of whether this idea is worth pursuing?


----------



## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

I do like the concept.


----------



## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

I have some 2 way mirrors left over from a job my husband did for a dance studio. I've been contemplating what I could do with them. I think this is a great idea! This would creep the heck out of a lot of kids.


----------



## AmazingGordo (Oct 14, 2013)

austenandrews said:


> I mentioned in another thread that I'm planning to make a half-man illusion that TOTs can enter as a photo op. Of course the same trick can be used to create a headless person. Which got me to thinking - what if you used two-way mirrors for the illusion? When lit from within, you'd see the person's head. When lit from the outside, the mirrors would create the headless illusion. I think it'd make a great beheading illusion. Lop off a TOT's head, watch the parents freak! :jol:
> 
> I have no experience with two-way mirrors though. Does anyone see any inherent flaws in this illusion idea?


Very cool!

Looks pretty good to me!


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Austen, did you ever make an attempt at this project? If so, how did it go?


----------



## ezekiel (Jun 8, 2009)

I would be curious if you attempted it also?

If anyone watches the show on travel channel called "Making Monsters" there was an episode recently where they did something very similar. The name of the episode is "Mirror, Mirror Giant Zombie".

The biggest thing I can see for this is making sure the guests are in the proper viewing area to restrict their viewing angle. They used a very clever scene in front to help hide the mirrors and supporting structure.


----------



## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

I never got around to trying it. I've done some mirror illusions but the two-way mirror part requires more effort than my usual pre-project tinkering. This year I'm building a lot of new infrastructure; once that's done, I'll have more liberty to work on a photo-op gag.

If someone else does this though, I'm dying to see the results.


----------



## Dead Things (Apr 4, 2009)

Two way mirrors are very expensive, at least up here in Canada. I have used mirror film for cars with great success, although it adheres way better to glass than it does to plexiglass. Relatively inexpensive, $25 got me enough to do two 18" x 18" squares.


----------



## z0mbie st0mp (Oct 9, 2010)

This illusion does not require two-way mirrors... You just need 2 regular mirrors


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

This is such a great illusion. The tutorial link earlier in the thread is broken. I searched the monsterlist and youtube and did not find a "how to."

I get the basics of the trick, but can anybody point me to a well done video or pics of the construction.

This trick is certainly going on the list.

Here is another video of the illusion set-up for a home haunt using a Halloween theme:






.


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Google image search gave me this:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z46/jekyllhyde7/halfmanillusion.jpg

I'll recommend you save a copy of the picture since it's in someone's Photobucket account and could disappear some day.


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

Thank you for the assistance, RB. I would still love to find an actual process build with photographs or video, since I am construction challenged. :zombie:

I just have a feeling that the mirror placement will be harder than it looks. Plus I would like to get an idea how big the mirrors should be and the best way to support them.

Still a killer illusion. I would think that it would make a great entry way prop. I bet the little kids would go bonkers trying to figure it out.


.


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

Actually, where I am getting lost is why doesn't the mirror reflect the gentleman's arms in the video that I posted. In the Texas Barker vid, the gentleman seems to be making an effort to keep his arms higher than the mirror. But in the Halloween vid, the guys lowers his arms further down.


.


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

This video from Making Monsters might help. It's the giant mirror illusion they built:

http://www.travelchannel.com/video/mirror-mirror-giant-zombie

The arms may not reflect in the Halloween video because of the angle of the mirrors.


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

The Halloween version doesn't seem to be accomplished with mirrors. It looks like he's on his stomach facing the audience (superman style), where he joins up with the fake portion of his body & spine.


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> The Halloween version doesn't seem to be accomplished with mirrors. It looks like he's on his stomach facing the audience (superman style), where he joins up with the fake portion of his body & spine.


Good eye. There is a break in the moving boxes behind the prop where his body would be lying. That makes a lot of sense because he seemed to have a wider range or arm movement than a typical spill your guts or half man illusion.

.


----------



## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

The State Fair Barker might be the same way. Do you notice how far back the tent goes behind the half-man box? Also, you would think that the flash from cameras/cell phones would highlight any mirror usage. In a haunt you would not have that problem.



.


----------

