Why does J.J. Abrams Love Lens Flares? [Movies]

J.J. Abrams loves lens flares

Find out why J.J. Abrams loves lens flares although they’re “ridiculous.”

J.J. Abrams loves lens flares. If they were a woman he’d marry them.
The Internet is full of funny J.J. Abrams lens flare jokes and memes
about them. Funny or Die even made a joke trailer called “Lens Flare: the Movie“.

I think it’s a nice look and have never complained about them. But I started wondering why he loves them so much.

What is a Lens Flare?

You get a bright light and it makes a lens flare. On some types of
lenses, light reflects off parts of the lens and back into the
camera. It’s often caused by bright light sources and causes either
visible artifacts (starbursts or halos of light) or a haze across the
image. The term “Lens Flare” is used as a catch-all term for it.

Camera manufacturers are busting their humps trying to get rid of lens
flares, but many
artists like them because it makes the image “feel more real.” J.J.
Abrams isn’t alone in loving lens flares. Photoshop, for example, has
over 450 different lens flare plug-ins. But it’s more noticeable in his films.

Why Does J.J. Abrams Love Them?

So what’s the deal with all those lens flares? In 2009, io9 asked J.J. Abrams why there are so many lens flares in Star Trek
and he said he “wanted a visual system that felt unique” and loved the
idea that “the future was so bright it couldn’t be contained in the
frame.” They did it all in-camera, but went so far as to use big
honking flashlights to make the flares across the scene. Even he said
it was “ridiculous” and a “pain in the a**”, but they were “a fun
additional touch” that made the future feel bright.

When talking to Peter Sciretta at /Film about Super 8, J.J. Abrams explained the lens flares
that kept popping up in his work. He described lens flares as “a cool
beautiful image, the light through the glass. There are times that I
feel like it sort of adds another kind of smart element, and it’s hard
to define.” So, it’s “a visual taste” that Abrams likes. He admitted
“there are a couple shots in Super 8 where I just think I should
definitely pull back here or there, but I can’t help myself sometimes.”

Abram’s Super 8 cinematographer, Paul Kavanagh, explained why they used so many lens flares in Super 8,
“In anamorphic lenses, you get a lot of barrel distortion – the lens
creates a bow effect on the actual image and you get the beautiful lens
flares and everything. And especially on a movie that has its roots
back in the 70s – that’s something that Spielberg did and J.J.
certainly wanted to pay homage to that look of anamorphic lens.”

So, if you hate lens flares, blame Steven Spielberg.

Did Steven Spielberg Overuse Lens Flares?

Spielberg loves lens flares. You can go all the way back to his first film Duel
with a lens flare in the final shot. Some of his most famous films have
a lens flare in key scenes. There were lens flares all over Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the alien ship landed. E.T. had a bunch of lens flares too. Steven Spielberg intentionally created lens flares in Raiders of the Lost Ark to make you feel the scorching sun of the Egyptian desert.

In Jurassic Park: The Lost World Spielberg wanted a butt-load of lens flares. He told cinematographer Janusz Kaminski to “shoot against the sun or to introduce the dinosaurs as a
silhouette or moving against a bright light.”

Abrams loves Steven Spielberg and feels lens flares are a way to capture the magic of his films in his movies.

Will J.J. Abrams Ever Stop Using Lens Flares?

In an interview with Crave Online, J.J. Abrams admits he’s using too many lens flares in Star Trek Into Darkness. “I know I get a lot of grief for that,” Abrams said. “But I’ll tell you,
there are times when I’m working on a shot, I think, ‘Oh this would be
really cool … with a lens flare.’ But I know it’s too much, and I
apologize. I’m so aware of it now. I was showing my wife an early cut of
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ and there was this one scene where she was
literally like, ‘I just can’t see what’s going on. I don’t understand
what that is.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I went too nuts on this.'”

J.J. Abrams will cut back on lens flares, but never stop using them.

Do you think J.J. Abrams uses too many lens flares? Will he ever stop using them?

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