Object Portal

An ordinary object holds a view into somewhere else. A mirror, a box, a cup, a doorway in a wall that has no other side.

Two worlds occupy one frame and the object is the seam. That makes the shot readable in a single image, which is why it works so well as a poster or an opening.

Light the holder from the opening, as the note says. Whatever is on the other side throws its light out through the gap, so the hand, the face and the nearby surfaces pick up its colour and direction.

The view through the opening has to disagree with the room. Different time of day, different weather, different colour temperature. A matching view reads as a reflection.

Keep the object ordinary and its scale plain. A plain object with an impossible interior is stranger than an ornate one, because there is nothing to blame the effect on.

Use it for a reveal, for a threshold, and for fantasy where two places have to be shown as connected rather than cut together.

Skip it when the audience has to read either world in detail. The opening is small, so the other side is a glimpse.

A pass through takes the camera into and out the other side, so the audience travels. An object portal stays outside and looks in, so the two worlds are compared rather than crossed.

The test is whether the camera goes through. Travel through the opening is a pass through. Looking at the opening is an object portal.

A flat reflection comes back in a solid object. Say the object contains a view into a different place and name how that place differs from the room.

The second failure is an opening that lights nothing. Ask for the light from the other side to spill onto the hands and the face.