A new vid has gone viral in the last couple of days, which envisions JJ Abrams next feature film. It is not the Star Trek sequel, but a secret project called "Lens Flare: The Movie." Watch the first "trailer" for this bright new epic below.
JJ Abrams’ Lens Flare: The Movie
Coming off the release of JJ Abrams Super 8, which continued the directors love of the lens flare, the guys at Boy Genius Comedy envisioned Abrams next project: "Lens Flare: The Movie."
More Lens Flare Fun
The Lens Flare movie is just the latest entry in what seems to be a growing sub-genre of viral videos dedicated to JJ Abrams and the lens flare. In the wake of the release of Super 8, MTV and a number of other sites linked to TrekMovie’s last round-up of flare fun, and if you missed it, here it is reposted:
Just after the 2009 Star Trek movie was released, YouTuber partmor re-envisioned "The Space Seed" ala JJ.
Here is more "Space Seed" with flare via JohnnyZito
And here is Star Trek VI with more lens flare (via wcleere).
Is it possible that in the future everything has lens flares? WoodenNickelShore asks this question.
And finally, our old friend Daren Dochterman posted this shot of his excellent model of the original Enterprise "futurized".
Lens Flares? – There are apps for that
If you have Adobe Photoshop, adding a lens flare to a photo is not too hard to do (here is a tutorial to get you started). But that takes owning the software and all that time. Now a new application from Brain Fever Media called LensFlare makes it easy to do lens flares with your iPhone. It is available in the iTunes store for $0.99. Here is a demo video
And if you are serious about your lens flares you can buy the Video Copilot Optical Flares plug in for Adobe’s After Effects. The plug-in costs $124.95, but makes those flares come easy, check out the demo.
I laughed pretty hard…
This is great. Now everyone can be like J.J Even Bob Orci can. Hey Bob Orci. You can now use Lens Flares on hawaii Five 0 and any other show you want.
Now for the Next Movie. Lens Flares 2. The Wrath of J.J
Hey Anthony Pascale. When are you going to star using Lens Flares for Trek Movie.
Saw “Super 8” last weekend. I literally counted the lens flares in that film. I only remember there were ten or more.
I hate to say it, but the “Space Seed” trailer with lens flares and shakey cam DOES look a lot like the reboot. No kidding.
Seeing that Star Trek VI movie clip reminded me just how great the original cast was on the big screen. If you can’t get the Shat back for the next movie, how about George, Walter and Nichelle? They are all great and it would be fun to see them once more in action.
LOL!! That made my day!! :) :) And #2,I like your title!! :)
Lens flare: The movie trailer- better than some real trailers out there.
Good laugh.
In the future all glass will be specially coated to eliminate lens flares!
BTW, The founder of Videocopilot.net, Andrew Kramer, did the opening and closing credits graphics for Star Trek 09, as well as Fringe and some other JJ projects since Trek.
Now that the lens flare teasing has gone more main stream, have we seen any interviews where JJ addresses his use/over use of them? We are approaching George Lucas in Love/Shakespeare in Love territory.
Andrew Kramer from Videocopilot actulaly worked whit JJ on Star Trek 09 and now on Super 8. A crazy funny guy and wery smart. Check out some of hes After Effects tutorials.
Clearly JJ Abrams could learn something from these guys…:) LOL
Well, we’ve got plenty more to look forward to from JJ Abrams.
His use of lens flares shows us that he’s hip and cutting-edge. And best of all, he’s not being held back by any baggage from the past.
So pace yourselves.
did starfleet never do any PT? or did that just stop a certain age for officers? not cracking jokes, seriously, i’m not. its just…something my dude pointed out to me when we were watching our own little bluray trek marathon of all 11 movies.
Fracking hilarious!!!
As much as we have come to love Orci and crew I hope they realize we are laughing at them with the overdone lens flares and not with them
Hope they tone it down
@15
Some are laughing at and some are laughing with. The fun people are the later. ;)
Great, people can add lens flares to past Star Treks, but I’d give real money if anyone could de-lensflare the new Star Trek movie.
Do not lose the lens flares!
Hey, I think I went to college with those guys from the Lense Flare movie!
Although I love Trek 09, the lens flare deal has become so pervasive and distracting, that I really hope Orci or someone at the studio pulls Orci aside and tells him to can the lens flares in the next movie. Even watching Super 8 on opening night, I would notice the lens flares and think, “JJ”, and it distracted and interrupted my enjoyment of the movie.
I never really minded the lens flare in Trek 09, but this lens flare issue has blown up so much now that I think continued use of them by JJ in his movies is always going to distract from the movie content now.
#20.
Ya know, I never had a problem with the lens flares until others kept bitching about them. Now they distract me sometimes, mainly in scenes where they aren’t needed.
I just think J.J Abrams has to be more selective about where he puts his lens flares. Ideally, I just think the lens flares should be reserved for scenes taking place in space, i.e Enterprise travelling into solar system or during space battles. I DO NOT WANT LENS FLARES BLINDING ME during a KIrk-Spock-McCoy dramatic scene.
I need to talk about your flair.
15 is minimum, ok? Now, it’s up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Well, like JJ, for example, has 37 pieces of flare.
Look, we want you to express yourself, ok? If you think the bare
minimum is enough, then ok. But some people choose to have more and we encourage that, ok? You do want to express yourself, don’t you?
LOL
“I can’t see a god … damn …thing”
PLEASE go easy on the Enterprise Bridge, JJ — the Bridge officers need to be able to see to work ;-D
It was not Bob Orci shining torches everywhere, it was JJ. Actually it was a wonder that the actors who need to wear contact lenses (two of them for sure) didn’t *accidentally* knock that flashlight out of his hands.
I have to say that watching the Special Features section of the DVDs where it showed JJ and his torch reminded me of my seven year old daughter who was a barbie torch and was *experimenting* with it. A couple of times her name was yelled…
JJ Ease up a little on those lens flares and all will be totally cool. Honestly I rarely noticed them, hence the little ease up.
Sooooo Mean.
Yet so true…
@10 Correct! Andrew Kramer did in fact do some VFX work. I’m not sure what he was responsible for in Super 8 but he actually did the excellent opening and closing title/creidt scenes in Trek ’09.
I haven’t posted on this site for almost 2 years, but do check in periodically to catch up on Trek news.
I love Star Trek, but most Trekkies are insane – some more than others. You obsess over things like lens flares while 99% of the real world just enjoys the movie. It’s no wonder people think trekkies are weird.
You were all so proud that the new movie was making Star Trek cool again, and that there wouldn’t be a stigma attached to liking Trek any more. With this mentality it won’t be very long before Star Trek is once again mocked as only for geeks and nerds.
Have fun in your little lens flare world.
@27. Hey Mortimer, I am just thankful that you stopped by in you annual visit to correct and chastise all of us. I know you are real busy, what with all that hard work you are doing on Wall Street. Please say hello to your brother, Randolph Duke, when you get a chance.
In one of his recent interviews JJ admitted that maybe he could tone down the lens flares a bit. But he’ll still use them, and that’s okay.
I’ve often wondered if it’s because he wears glasses that he thinks lens flares are so prevalent in the real world… :)
partmor’s video is the best: The lens flare is subtle, then obvious, then annoying, then obnoxious and distracting, then over the top funny as hell because it’s so obnoxious.
With that said, there’s no need to artificially add this nonsense to any film without a compelling reason.
I don’t mind a few lens flares but NOT IN EVERY SINGLE SHOT.
28.
You’re proving 27’s point by your belligerent, overzealous reply.
I thought Lens Flare: The Movie was hysterical. Having just seen “Super 8” a week or so ago, it resonates well….
OK- Lens Flare the movie is funny, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t think the Space Seed trailer with the new music and flares was actually pretty cool. Obviously overdone for effect in a few places, but with the transport scene, and the space shots, I thought it was pretty neat.
Funny how we tend to ignore the lens flares in Close Encounters, ET, or even, STII:TWOK…
@32 “You’re proving 27’s point by your belligerent, overzealous reply.”
Belligerent — you are joking, right dude? :-)) If not, then my only conclusion here is that you are hopelessly without a sense of humor and wouldn’t know wit if it slapped you on the side of the head and called your papa. LOL
you guyz is havin laugh now, yeah, but the day has arrived when the flare is as common as the dissolve or the cross-fade (which, after 100 years, are slowly fading (no pun).
look. no one will remake citizen kane, but the techniques are still valid.
flares are just a new crayon in the filmmaker’s box. j.j. pioneered it, and will likely continue to be cool like that.
for a bunch of ‘film fans”, we/you trek types are pretty short of vision sometimes.
#35.
A good point; look how many films are digitally graining the image, or adding pops, hiss and scratches to achieve that ’70s “grindhouse” aesthetic; yesterday’s mistakes and blemishes are tomorrow’s artistic statement.
I remember when cinematographers were supposed to minimize lens flare as it obscured the image. But slowly but surely, Close Encounters, Blade Runner and many other movies since started to make it look ‘cool.’
I like the lens flare look personally (as a photography hobbyist, I’ve often worked to achieve it in my photos), but I also agree that the Star Trek movie did take it a wee bit too far (the fact that it’s now rapidly becoming a cliche proves the point), but on the other side of the coin? I hope they don’t discontinue it altogether in the next movie either. It’d be nice to have it here and there.
And yes; we Trek geeks (myself included) do obsess way too much over this stuff, but hey? What are you gonna do… ;-D
#34.
And MJ?
That joke wasn’t funny the first 207 times you used it…
I might laugh when you actually start being funny for a change.
@37. Now that was funny!