Movies really do seem like magic sometimes. They bring fantasy worlds to life, there are people who look like Ana de Armas, and they occasionally accomplish feats of cinematography that seem to defy physics. But like everything else in movies, including Ana de Armas, it’s just the result of clever trickery.

5 Dawson’s Creek

In 2023, a scene from an episode of Dawson’s Creek of James van der Beek throwing a basketball in Joshua Jackson’s face went viral after a Twitter user realized the ball appears to bounce from Jackson’s face into the camera and away into the distance. How did they do it? How could they get the angle just right and not damage the camera? Was it CGI? Two shots cut together? According to Jackson, it was sheer luck. It was also a painted beach ball, so that’s how the camera held up. As Jackson further pointed out,...