Spartan (2004) Cinematography

[Andrew Ceperley]

Does anyone know what was done to the film to get the somewhat curved horizontal glow/flares in certain shots?

It says on IMDB that the film was shot super35 with Panavision cameras and lenses...and it's not a mistake in terms of 'maybe it's anamorphic and not super35' because the flares are not anamorphic artifacts...just similar in that they're horizontal.

My only thought is that they did something in post production, but whatever they did was so effective that the artifacts look more like what you'd see looking through a foggy windshield of a car. Actually, now that I think about it, that's exactly what they look like. Not too clean or post-looking. Very unique indeed.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

I haven't seen it, but its most likely a post effect. Otherwise, it's probably a streak filter, just rotated vertically.

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

It probably was post...the more I look at it...but then again, maybe not.

Any thoughts on something like this? I've never used a streak filter, so I'm curious if its results can create such a bright and wide flare.

*This was not anamorphic. It's HD in 1.78:1*

(These are tiny little grabs from the Screamers 2 trailer...in which the flares were the only thing to catch my attention)

 

[Evin Grant]

Probably the Sapphire plug in set from Gen Arts, they have the best anamorphic flares. It's expensive at $600 for the lighting pack but you can get a free three week trial.

http://www.genarts.com/sapphire-ae.html

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

Thanks for the info! Didn't know they had such a filter.