Thread: I want to do this...Pepper's Ghost??

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Here is a link to a video on You Tube that I saw. I'm guessing many of you have already seen this, but I love it and I want to figure out how to do this. Maybe the author of the video is even on here?? Here is the link: YouTube - Ghost in the Window (I hope it works).

I know this has to be some type of Pepper's Ghost Effect but the person who posted the video said that it was video from 10 years ago and he sets the display up every year. So my guess is that he's using a projector?? Have any of you ever done a Pepper's Ghost effect using a projector? Any input would be great. This video just gives me the chills. Love it!!

I say projection, notice the aura around the girl. The girl also is on a loop, you can tell from the head turning and then her fading out. As for the placement of the glass, it would have to be between the stool and the piano. Notice how her image doesn't cover the stool.

I'll bet it's a tape or DVD playing on a big screen TV angled off 45 degrees from the glass, 90 degrees from the window. It couldn't be a direct projection, because the image won't reflect off the glass..it'll pass right through it and shine on whatevers behind it. if it IS a projection, it's projected on a screen set 45 degrees from the glass 90 degrees from the window. Remember, only scattered light can relflect off of glass, not a direct projection.

Originally Posted by Galen DreVahn

I say projection, notice the aura around the girl. The girl also is on a loop, you can tell from the head turning and then her fading out. As for the placement of the glass, it would have to be between the stool and the piano. Notice how her image doesn't cover the stool.

This could in fact be due to careful setting during recording of the image. The girl could be sitting on a blacked out crate or box or even the bench itself with a black covering during recording. That way, the image is matted over the original bench with the blacked out parts omitted so the real bench shows through.

For ease of setup, I'd put the glass between them. If I used this every year, it'd be hard enough to align the piano with the video, without having to worry about where the drape over the stool lies exactly. Didn't see any hard lines around the stool as he moved the camera around the window either.

Didn't think about a tv. Good call.

The peppers ghost effect we do is with a live actor interacting with the viewer. (Floating Head) Alignment of our actors chair to the props gets tedious sometimes.

If you look at the fireplace closely, you can see the edge of the glass as the camera moves around about halfway through the video. Very impressive.

WOW! An excellent rendering of the effect! And to think it was first set up 10 yrs ago!!!

Originally Posted by Galen DreVahn

For ease of setup, I'd put the glass between them. If I used this every year, it'd be hard enough to align the piano with the video, without having to worry about where the drape over the stool lies exactly. Didn't see any hard lines around the stool as he moved the camera around the window either.

Didn't think about a tv. Good call.

I'm not sure that would work, you would lose perspective and the "ghost" would appear to sit way in front of the stool. The reflection of the projection is double the depth of the actual position on the image to the glass, so you would have no choice but force perspective by placing the props the ghost interacts with in the EXACT proportions to the image itself. This is why doing Peppers ghost with props is so darned difficult. Everything has to be duplicated right down to last detail of where a ghost passes behind or in front of a prop. This setup in the vid is a little easier because the ghost just sits in one spot and only the head and arms move.
As far as the drape over the stool, it really doesn;t matter as long as the part the ghost sits on is square. Since everything is blacked out under the ghost, the drapery is has no correlation to the effect, it just is.

awesome!!!

Thanks for all your insight, like fravak said, I can see the glass now that I've watched it over and over but you really have to be looking for it. Some how I would like to set this up on my screened in front porch but obviously a piano won't work out there. I was thinking more on the line of having a "ghost" child sitting and playing with something. This way I won't need such a tall piece of glass and I won't have to coordinate any real props for the "ghost to interact with, which should make it easier for my first attempt at this. I'll have to sketch up a dimensioned plan of what I would like to do and see if you all think it will work. My guess it will be a lot of trial and error especially if I want to try and use a projector. The TV would definitely be easier but I don’t have one large enough to be “life size”. Any ideas on what I could have a child sitting on the porch playing with. Maybe just Jacks or maybe two kids playing Cats Cradle?? Will that be scary enough or shouldn't I worry about that because the effect should be creepy enough?