DIY Pepper's Ghost: How I Shot a Theme‑Park‑Style Special Effect in My Living Room

Pepper's Ghost is a stage effect dating back to the 1500s, allowing designers to 'project' a ghostly image seemingly into a real space with only glass and clever lighting. It was popularized in the 19th century, and is still used in themed entertainment today. A famous example for theme-park fans would be the ballroom scene in Disney's Haunted Mansion, but even within Disney the effect has been perfected, now for a pretty stunning impact in Tokyo Disneyland's Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast.

Tokyo Disneyland's use of Pepper's Ghost in Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. Video from blackmagicfuckery, Reddit. 

It's also been used for celebrity performance 'holograms,'  advertising, and even teleprompters.

Below I'll show you how I did an extremely no-budget version of this effect for silly TikTik videos in my living room.

(Previously only available on Patreon, until I decided that gatekeeping knowledge is stupid and I won't be doing that anymore.)​

​Here is a goblin's guide to Pepper's Ghost:

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What I used in the video:

• ​Skylight projector aimed at the back of a suspended/claped up sheet of paper (background)
• Glass pane from a picture frame at a slight angle, facing the subject (me)
  •  Safety tip: tape the edges; don’t use cracked/unstable glass; acrylic works great if that’s available.
• LED color‑changing bulbs in cheap clamp lamps.
  •  I didn’t use a ring light for this (it muddies the reflection. Use heavily directional light as much as possible..)
• ​A fan (Optional, for floaty hair / ethereal movement.)
• ​Water effect light (Optional, same one from my faux-underwater film effect), turned on last and set to green or a contrasting color.
• Myself placed so the glass angle points directly at my face.
• ​Optional: candy. Lots.

I’m releasing all my 'educational' content at no cost. We all improve when we share! If it helps you make something cool, wonderful! It would be amazing to see your experiments and improvements over in the forum. 

​ADDITIONAL TIPS:

• Warm light is picked up on camera "better" and so it will reveal more detail, but can also cause more light pollution. For this reason, it's important to turn off any house lights in the filming area. 
  
  
• A fan, while not necessary for the effect, creates what we call 'perpetual motion' which gives the whole shot a feeling of more life. The water/ripple light also does this. 
  
  
• You can absolutely set small physical scenes behind the glass instead of the projection/paper backdrop, and make it look as if a ghost hand is coming out of a mirror or a box, things like that. However, be intentional when lighting that scene. Too much light will create light pollution, and any light that hits you (or the "ghost" subject) could be picked up and light something you didn't intend for.
  
  
• Experiment with physically moving the lighting around your face to create more of a 'phasing in and out' effect.
  
  
• If you're filming in/for TikTok, certain filters can make the ghost show up better. Experiment!
  
  
• The darker your miniature backdrop, the more your 'ghost' will show up. However, if your miniature backdrop is totally black, any mistakes you make in lighting your 'ghost' will be nearly impossible to hide. This is why I chose the sky light- it's not so bright that you can't see the effect, but it is organic and has it's own glow, so it's more forgiving.
  
  
• If you have a small projector, or experiment with using a laptop or an ipad as the miniature backdrop (I am going to try this and diffuse it with some paper) you could potentially put your 'ghost' in any environment that you can find footage of. If you use a projector or something that projects light, make sore to angle it so that the light only hits your paper/backdrop and none unintentionally hits your 'ghost.'

I love experimenting with effects like this, and members of my Patreon Adventuring Party make it possible for me to go full goblin so you don't have to! Everyone say thank you!
​-Az