JJ Abrams: I'm Sorry for the Lens Flares

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,599
126
I had to LOL repeatedly at this

J.J. Abrams isn't sorry for the last two Star Trek films, Super 8, or Mission: Impossible III — all of which he directed. But he is sorry for the rampant lens flares streaking across the screen in each of those films. In an interview with Crave Online, the man who will helm Star Wars: Episode VII confessed that there were so many lens flares in early cuts of Star Trek Into Darkness that he hired special effects house Industrial Light & Magic to erase some of his signature embellishments from the film.

"I'M SO AWARE OF IT NOW." "I know I get a lot of grief for that," Abrams admitted. "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." The director tells Crave that he showed his 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.'"
Click to expand...

:biggrin:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/30/4788758/j-j-abrams-apologizes-for-his-overusing-lens-flares
 
Last edited:
Meghan54

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,225
136
Abrams is so in love with lens flare, I'll believe it when I don't see it.
 
SSSnail

SSSnail

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
17,458
83
86
Lens flares are like instagrams - allowing idiots to make their shitty photos more ”interesting”.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
SSSnail said:
Lens flares are like instagrams - allowing idiots to make their shitty photos more ”interesting”.
Click to expand...
Or just another expository tool that directors use with an audience of morons (real or imagined morons): "THIS THING IS BRIGHT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? BRIGHT THING!!!!"
 
SKORPI0

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,469
2,409
136
MontyAC said:
His name is still JJ "lens flare" Abrams.
Click to expand...

tumblr_mh5wyfH9n61qzrlhgo1_500.jpg

:biggrin:
I wonder if there is a "delensflare" program to remove them in those movies. Lensflare free versions.
 
Last edited:
Ruptga

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,246
207
106
SKORPI0 said:
tumblr_mh5wyfH9n61qzrlhgo1_500.jpg

:biggrin:
I wonder if there is a "delensflare" program to remove them in those movies. Lensflare free versions.
Click to expand...

I would be more interested in his movies if that were possible. Dead serious.

I'm pretty sure he has "apologized" before, we will see if he sticks to it. I think it is just a ploy to get us to give him another chance.
 
phucheneh

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
It's Not Lupus said:
he should really care about improving his shitty endings to his tv shows.
Click to expand...

In his defense...he abandoned the TV show.

So...still kinda his fault, but basically he went on to bigger things. And then someone dug a crazy drunken hobo out of ditch, hooked him up to a IV packed with 100% pure stupidity, named him Damon, and told him to write the rest of the show.

And I still think Super 8 was the only movie where I really noticed terribly out-of-place lens flares. And it didn't make the movie much shittier than it already was; you know, because that movie was total shit.
 
StrangerGuy

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
124
106
Overusing lens flare is a rather secondary fault when today's hollywood is full of shitty storylines.
 
OutHouse

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
616
126
he cut back on the number of flares in darkness? holy crap, i hate see the version that has all of them...
 
Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,348
6,534
136
Replace "controversial performance" with "lens flare":

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/pop_star

It's marketing. It's something unique, that stands out, that gets a lot of discussion. Good publicity and bad publicity is all good publicity because the bottom line is it's publicity. The lens flares got people talking and kept people talking about it, making Youtube videos to make fun it, encouraging people to go see it to make fun of the stupid lens flare effects. This thread is the perfect example: step 1, make movie. Step 2, do something unique that will probably upset some people. Step 3, apologize for it later. It all keeps people talking about it, like this thread. JJ wins the marketing division again! :awe:

(actually I kind of liked it, it was a little overdone but it was fun & different)
 
C

Chiropteran

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2003
9,811
110
106
Lens flare is perfectly normal in real movies. Recent switch to CGI has had everyone complaining about how "obvious" the CGI is, without anyone really nailing down why CGI is so obviously CGI. JJ Abrams believed part of the problem was lack of lens flare, real motion picture photography would produce lens flares, so when a CGI shot of the same lacks the lens flare something in your brain recognizes it as a fake computer production.

Now nobody is complaining about JJ Abrams' CGI looking like CGI, instead they complain about the excessive lens flare. In a way ,that is a huge success right there. Just a few years back everyone HATED CGI, it was the only thing anyone talked about after seeing a movie with CGI, but JJ Abrams changed that. Mainly because the movies of the last decade have had shitty CGI that looks like obvious CGI, but they lack lens flare because they are shitty CGI. So nobody sees lens flare anymore, until JJ Abrams starts adding it to make his CGI look a little more real.


That said, he does go overboard on it occasionally. But the existence of lens flare in itself is a good thing, it makes CGI look a little less obviously fake.
 
Last edited:
mmntech

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
StrangerGuy said:
Overusing lens flare is a rather secondary fault when today's hollywood is full of shitty storylines.
Click to expand...

It's what happens when you have people in suits driving the creative process. Movies need to appeal to the widest possible audience, which usually means appealing to the lowest common denominator.
 
KaOTiK

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
This is my favorite part
Abrams admitted. "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.'
Click to expand...

If it was anyone else besides Abrams I would have sworn it was a joke lol
 
rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
don't care about Star Trek. Get back to making things like Alias and Cloverfield.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom