13 Responses to “Pimp your Flare with Lens Whacking”  

1. 1 Caleb Pike Oct 19th, 2010 at 11:43 am

   Looks like a very unnatural way to reck your footage. Kinda looks like it was shot on a cell phone with CCD sensor artifacts.

2. 2 kai Oct 19th, 2010 at 7:31 pm

   lol this looks horrible.

3. 3 how to make a film Oct 20th, 2010 at 12:11 am

   I am not a fan

4. 4 Jaydee Oct 20th, 2010 at 10:47 am

   I’d never shoot anything like this: there are so many good post solutions to “destroy” your footage with flares…

   If you shoot it fucked up, you can’t “unfuck” it.

5. 5 Mathew Medeiros Oct 20th, 2010 at 8:30 pm

   Does anyone ever have anything positive to say!?

   Before Daniel Mindel and J.J. Abrams used lens flares on every bridge shot of Star Trek, a good majority of people thought it was horrible and ruined a shot. Now they can’t get enough of it. I’d bet if they used this technique too, all of your opinions would be the opposite.

   We’ve lost a lot of unique styles to digital acquisition from film, and from a DP perspective, if I can create a purposeful style that works better in-camera, I’ll do it. A great example is the hand-cranked double-exposed image from Man on Fire. Try do that with digital.

   I for one love the look and unconventional technique; it’s very difficult to create in post and it creates a unique look. But as in everything, it has to fit the project.

6. 6 Ajit Oct 20th, 2010 at 11:10 pm

   What? The footage looks great. Yea, you could imitate the look in post after hours and hours of fiddling around but this instant. More importantly, it’s fun. Nothing wrong with that.

7. 7 JayDee Oct 21st, 2010 at 6:30 am

   @ Matthew: So you’re allowed to “love the look” but people who don’t should shut up ?

   We’re just exchanging opinions, dude.

   And I’ve seen simulated hand-cranked double-exposed shots that look very good. And they are tweakable to death. But that doesn’t take anything away from “Man on Fire”.

   Inception is the perfect example of trying to get as much as possible “in camera”. They even decided no to use a digital intermediate. And I loved it.

   But this crappy technique above… i don’t like it.

8. 8 Mathew Medeiros Oct 21st, 2010 at 7:36 am

   @JayDee

   You misunderstand what my points were. And you spelt my name wrong.

   All the posts above my first post were nothing but negative. This site, at least for me, has felt like its for professionals, who look for news on the latest industry gear and techniques. To see the comments fields filled with nothing more than an opinion brings it down. It doesn’t bother me if you like it or not, but leave something more intelligent behind you.

   But what really annoyed me, possibly sans yours, was that there was no reason WHY. WHY did you hate it? WHY is it totally useless to you? HOW would you possibly do it different?

   Do you want to know WHY I like the look? The footage had a unique vintage feel, where the light reflections showed movement that traveled with the direction of the camera. As Matt described, it’s organic. Could you do that in post? Sure, but the part that I don’t like about that is developing it in post will take a while, and spending costly hours tweaking if it looks better this way or that. After Effects layers, composite modes, than render…or I pop off the lens and do it in two seconds. Don’t like it, than I’ll shoot a clean plate too. I may use this for a scene, I may never use it all. It has a purpose.

   I also like it because its a creative technique. Everyone has an HDSLR, from ASC DP’s to film students. The difference between the two is that the high-end users know how to use their equipment. Is there a way to manipulate the equipment you have to create something different? Push your gear to do something new.

9. 9 Caleb Pike Oct 21st, 2010 at 9:17 am

   Mathew, We are sorry your name was spelled wrong. I don’t think any of us were implying that this site is unprofessional in anyway. Been following these guys for all 5 years. I think its fairly obvious that some don’t like the aesthetic of this flare, to their eye it is not excellent (this is also known as an opinion). Sure it has its uses, every technique does. But I would prefer a more controllable flare usage I could see using this on a mars rover cam shot (looks like star optic artifacts). And to use on HDSLRs? That should scare you. If you don’t nail it your footage is destroyed and it ain’t coming back.

   So once again, we LOVE freshDV. They found an interesting use of lens flares, great!
   I am sorry we all aren’t a bundle of joy but I believe we are all critics of style and image.

   Have a great day,

   Pike

10. 10 Erin Wiedner Oct 22nd, 2010 at 11:52 pm

    This is an interesting technique.

    The lens flare is definitely making a comeback. The most currently used would be an anamorphic lens flare. It produces those interesting horizontal flares with the circle flare at the light source.

    The technique described here definitely feels more risky, and also more unpredictable than common techniques for producing lens flares, both analogue and digital.

    However, it is once again another weapon in the indie filmmaker’s arsenal.

11. 11 how to make a film Oct 25th, 2010 at 1:37 am

    Where can I see a good example of an anamorphic lens flare?

12. 12 Caleb Pike Oct 25th, 2010 at 10:19 am

    Here is a nice example: http://www.eoshd.com/content/399-Lomo-35mm-F2.5-Authentic-Cinema-Anamorphic-Primes-Part-1

13. 13 Video production Nov 14th, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Not sure what the fuss is about. Nice tips and tricks!