Total recall - Lens flare, the movie?

Donald Ong

Donald Ong

Well-known member
So i've just recently went to watch Total recall with my mates. The first thing that pops right at me is the over usage of anamorphic flares...Does anyone else find it excessive. And most of the time, its quite distracting too... Avengers also had quite a bit of flares but nowhere near total recall. Anyone else feels this way?

The thing that disturbs me most is that there are several scenes with post-added flares even when there aren't any strong light sources...what's the point of that?
 
I noticed post added flares in Avengers too. I refuse to see Total Recall as the original didn't need remaking. I'd agree, I'm no fan of post production flares.
 
HeadStAtE! said:
I noticed post added flares in Avengers too. I refuse to see Total Recall as the original didn't need remaking. I'd agree, I'm no fan of post production flares.
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Well at least the flares in Avengers looked quite nice. The post-flares in total recall was just excessive, and in some cases even bordering on epilepsy-inducing. And some post flares can be nice at times when there's a reason for it, but yeah... The worrying reality is that hollywood really is over-using anamorphic flares and this is just causing all the yuppies on youtube to think that by grading their footage blue and adding a ridiculous line going across the entire screen, they are achieving the 'film look'.


sigh.
 
I read something about that from the official thread here...when I went to see it, I noticed it because of what I read. It still didn't seem too overused to me.

Maybe I was too busy watching Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale kick some ass :thumbsup:

Kegan
 
Kegan said:
I read something about that from the official thread here...when I went to see it, I noticed it because of what I read. It still didn't seem too overused to me.

Maybe I was too busy watching Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale kick some ass :thumbsup:

Kegan
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Heh, well, it definitely was alot more noticeable than in other films. Almost every other shot had a flare or two. (well, almost)
 
Yup. Lens flare extravaganza. Whereas Blade Runner used them judiciously, Len went kookoo for them.

Read the new issue of American cinematographer; they discuss it being Len's decision to put them everywhere. Funny thing about the article, they make it sound like the cinematographer directed the movie. Len just kept saying "more lens flares" (as in more cowbell) and was often seen disappearing with Kate behind craft services ...

The movie was a disappointment. I wish it was better considering how much money it brought to the docks, and all the peeps who worked on it.
 
D_and_G said:
Yup. Lens flare extravaganza. Whereas Blade Runner used them judiciously, Len went kookoo for them.

Read the new issue of American cinematographer; they discuss it being Len's decision to put them everywhere. Funny thing about the article, they make it sound like the cinematographer directed the movie. Len just kept saying "more lens flares" (as in more cowbell) and was often seen disappearing with Kate behind craft services ...

The movie was a disappointment. I wish it was better considering how much money it brought to the docks, and all the peeps who worked on it.
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I guess every cinematographer/director has their little idiosyncrasies. I remember I went kookoo for vignettes last year and light leaks this year. But Len did go overboard a little, didn't he?
The film was decent, i wouldn't call it a disappointment, it was certainly entertaining...just not my favourite, a disappointing film would be RED or pelham 123.
 
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Blame JJ Abrahams. In Star Trek he had people whose JOB was to hide offscreen and point flashlights at the camera. Crazy brilliant fool.
 
josh-ozirigpro said:
I had the same issue -- thought I was just being nitpicky but glad to see I'm not the only one...
Distracting? Very!
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Heh. apparently none of my mates thought it a huge problem (one did comment about it, but not fuss about it)... Must be just us video junkies.
 
A friend showed me the first 15 minutes or so of this on Blu-Ray the other day. In just that time I could see it was going to be a flare-a-thon. Cool? Yes, occasionally. More than that? Distracting at best. Ultimately just plain sophomoric. Kind of ridiculously 'more cowbell' (as someone here said) in light of the really amazing overall look, IMHO...

Gonna rent it anyway, even if just to see the rest of the incredible looking sets and VFX. In spite of RT's dismal score...
 
David W. Jones said:
I watched Super 8 the other night. JJ likes his lens flairs doesn't he.
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At least this wasn't faked on in post, Andrew Kramer (Video Co-Pilot) did many of the effects shots and confirmed JJ used anamorphic lenses and they were not put on in post using Optical Flares.
 
P13 said:
At least this wasn't faked on in post, Andrew Kramer (Video Co-Pilot) did many of the effects shots and confirmed JJ used anamorphic lenses and they were not put on in post using Optical Flares.
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I don't know if that's a 'relief' or, gosh couldn't they have used a spherical lens, and dropped in the anamorphic streaks less often...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I don't know if that's a 'relief' or, gosh couldn't they have used a spherical lens, and dropped in the anamorphic streaks less often...
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Fake CGI lens flare annoys me more, especially as sometimes they seem to choose only some light sources to make anamorphic. JJ does overuse lens flare as he seems to point lights at the camera to create the effect more often then you'd see on classic films.
 
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