# My Magic Mirror Illusion



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Years ago I saw someone's haunt and they had a Magic Mirror illusion. The ToT's would walk up to the mirror and you would see the face in the mirror. He would interact with the ToT's and gave candy. Now I have had the time to make my own version of it. Here is the link to the video of me testing the Magic Mirror out, and photos of the cabinet the mirror is in and final finished photos.

Magic Mirror Illusion pictures by frstvamp1r - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid117.photobucket.com/albums/o75/frstvamp1r/Magic%20Mirror%20Illusion/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@o75/frstvamp1r/Magic%20Mirror%20Illusion/MagicMirrorTest


----------



## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

How did you do that?


----------



## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

i have always wanted to make one of those. but oooo the price.


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Sickie, very very easy as a matter of fact...
http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/magic_mirror.html

GothicCandle, what price would that be, I only paid like $2 total cost of material for a scrim.


----------



## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I knew about that one, I even downloaded a version last year- but from the angle of the vid, I thought it was a different face and set up altogether. Thanks


----------



## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

I love CCs stuff. He even has that skull for 15 bucks that I always wanted to do. Did you use a voice changer and if so, what?


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

DeathTouch, when I was the puppeteer I used my own voice, but when my nephews took over, I had them use MorphVox using the "demon" voice.

Sickie, the only difference from how I used the magic mirror and how it was originally used. Mine was in a cabinet away from any walls, so it looked like it was standing alone with no visible wires or cables or whatnot.


----------



## CerysCrow (Jan 22, 2007)

Great illusion, nicely done! I'd love to make one for our haunt.


----------



## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

Nice work!


----------



## Nephilim (Sep 15, 2006)

That looks fantastic. Nice lighting.

How did it go over with your visitors? I hope they liked it!


----------



## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

frstvamp1r said:


> Sickie, very very easy as a matter of fact...
> http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/magic_mirror.html
> 
> GothicCandle, what price would that be, I only paid like $2 total cost of material for a scrim.


really?


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Neph - all the visitors at first thought it was just a non-interactive thing, until "he" spoke to people and interacted and made comments about people's costumes and stuff. The magic mirror asked one kid "so what are you supposed to be for Halloween?" and he replied "a Bandit" and the mirror said "A Band-Aid? You don't look like a Band-Aid to me" and he told his mom "I think the mirror needs a hearing aid". It was funny


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

GothicCandle, yeap, bought sheer material from WalMart, got about 3 yards for $1.97. The program is free to download. I had the picture frame that I had for a while that I just painted gold.


----------



## Nephilim (Sep 15, 2006)

Cool. Sounds like you had fun with it and your visitors.

With regard to the cost of the scrim material, yeah, you can easily get away with some cheap black fabric. You don't need _actual theatrical scrim_ material - you just need something that will work for this specialized case.

Since you place your monitor up almost against the fabric, the fabric doesn't need to transmit as much light as "normal" scrim material - in fact, that would allow too much light, in all likelihood. When we built the original Magic Mirror prop, we just took a PDA to the fabric store and held up the display behind different types of black fabric until we found one which would let you clearly see the screen, but not the frame, through it. Our experience was similar to frstvamp1r's: only a couple of dollar's worth of fabric. In fact, it was one of the cheaper fabrics that worked best.


----------



## Technician of Terror (Nov 7, 2007)

Can you record audio and face movements to play the same message over and over?

I'm thinking this may be a cool way to communicate haunt rules to TOTs rather than a plain old sign.


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Technician, yea, the program allows for using an audio track and the "puppet" will move its mouth along with the audio. You can modify how sensitive to make it.


----------



## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

that is way cool i love love it lokks like fun too--was that led flicker lights


----------



## Technician of Terror (Nov 7, 2007)

Thanks frstvamp1r.


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Pyro, I only use artificial candles for my haunt. I have about 4 different kinds of artificial candles (ones you see at Michaels Art Supply that are battery powered, ones called CandleLites which are used in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, ones called Enchanted Candles which look like pillar candles, and the regular flicker bulbs you can get at any hardware store). The reason I don't use real flames is simple...safety. God forbid a ToT catches their costume on fire.


----------



## Technician of Terror (Nov 7, 2007)

When you say the Haunted Mansion candles, are you referring to the very cool 3 bulb candles found in the saence room?

I did a Google search for “CandleLites” but came up empty.


----------



## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

i thought those were the leds ones that flicker-- http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/1435548/product/AL-06130


----------



## Technician of Terror (Nov 7, 2007)

Last time through the HM and Disneyland, I really tried to pay close attention to the candles just as you exit Madam Leota séance room. They appeared to be small incandescent bulbs. The lowest bulb was on (illuminated) the most, the middle on slightly less and the top even less. This gave a flicker effect AND "flame movement" that was stunning to say the least. When you can get the light source to move, the shadows do wonderful things.


----------



## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Pyro, the ones used around the magic mirror illusion are those you mentioned, but I got mine at Michaels Art Supply, they were $1.99 there...

Technician of Terror, the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland use various types of "flicker" artificial candles, in the Foyer and in the loading queue they use regular nightlight bulbs on a flicker circuit, the NEW ones for Madame Leota's seance are LED's that dim and brighten to mimick that of a flicker, the ones in the Ballroom on the birthday cake are called CandleLites which are 3 small rice bulbs in a silicon "flame" which is what you describe. You can purchase CandleLites as a complete candle kit or just the "flame" with wires to be connected DC or AC.


----------

