A Question about 70s lens flares.

[aemilia scott]

Hi everyone,

I just finished watching Three Days of the Condor, which was great. One thing stuck out, and I thought I'd ask here. Some of the night shots had lens flares that looked like a cross with wedge-shaped pieces (like the radioactive symbol, but with four rays). In addition, the colors of the flare when from white light through the rainbow.

Would this be a special light modifying filter, or is this another example of incredible lens artifacts that one can't achieve without actually using anamorphic lenses or the such?

Thanks,
Aemilia

 

[Paul Ellington]

http://www.theasc.com/magazine/may05/interpreter/page2.html


Khondji adds that he also wanted the widescreen format to evoke American thrillers from the Seventies such as Klute, All the President’s Men, Serpico and, most of all, Three Days of the Condor, a key source of inspiration. Anamorphic’s shallow depth of field could effectively create a sense of claustrophobia and offer both emotional intensity and an epic feel. “I didn’t want to create a nostalgic look,” he notes. “I wanted to make a modern film, but I wanted it to be more analog than digital. We cinematographers lose something by always going toward sharpness, toward perfection, depth of field, anti-halo, anti-flare, anti-this, anti-that. We lose a certain soul we used to have.”

 

[Zeb B]

It's not just a 70's thing - I hear the new iPhone 5 has a real neat lens flare that adds real style and edginess to any shot

 

[Keith Putnam]

If you can find them, try out the Hawk Vintage '74 anamorphic lenses which are on the verge of availability. They were designed to specifically emulate the eccentricities of '70's-era anamorphics. They're profiled in the Sept. 2012 issue of Film & Digital Times.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Old Panavision anamorphic lenses will do that, depending on the lens coatings. And that was definitely a wide, anamorphic movie (lit by the great Owen Roizman, who did dozens of great movies in his career, including this one and The Exorcist).

A look like this is very organic and can't be recreated digitally, in my opinion, since it's inherent in the glass. Using anamorphic lenses on Epic would require some tests and experimentation, but predicting flares with digital pickups is very iffy. I have worked with a lot of old-school DPs who are very irritated and bothered by lens flares, because they feel it reminds the viewer that they're seeing the film through a lens; human eyes don't have flares (or at least, not horizontal streaks like this). J.J. Abrams feels differently. I'm in the middle: I think they work sometimes, but only very sparingly, or else it becomes a very showy gimmick.

 

[Robert Hart]

There was a guy a while back on dvinfo.net who published a method of faking anamorphic flares with a piece of fine thread stretched across just in front of the lens in an out of focus zone. Apparently it does something optically. I don't know if he was separately lighting the thread or if this was doing the effect on its own.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Old Panavision anamorphic lenses will do that, depending on the lens coatings. And that was definitely a wide, anamorphic movie (lit by the great Owen Roizman, who did dozens of great movies in his career, including this one and The Exorcist).

A look like this is very organic and can't be recreated digitally, in my opinion, since it's inherent in the glass. Using anamorphic lenses on Epic would require some tests and experimentation, but predicting flares with digital pickups is very iffy.

History Channel just did an Epic + Old Anamorphics shoot (specifically to get all the flares and character), and it looks GREAT. Experimentation will help predict what it will look like. But in terms of feasibility, rest assured...it looks staggering. This footage made my jaw drop.

 

[Tanner Field]

If you can find them, try out the Hawk Vintage '74 anamorphic lenses which are on the verge of availability. They were designed to specifically emulate the eccentricities of '70's-era anamorphics. They're profiled in the Sept. 2012 issue of Film & Digital Times.

Have they announced a availability date for these? Cannot wait to test these out..