AntcuFaalb said:

Laserschwert said:

bkev said:

They were pretty prevalent in Super8 and didn't detract from how much I love that film

Granted, with "Super 8" he mimicked "Close Encounters" both in style and tone, and CE was FULL of lens flares, so that was pretty spot on (no pun intended). Generally Spielberg used them a LOT in his most iconic movies, and they never bothered me a bit.

Isn't the difference that JJ had to digitally add them in for Super8 whereas CE had them because that's the way that real-film Panavision cameras worked back then?

Hmmm? It was shot in the exact same format (anamorphic panavision). I would think the flares in Super8 are all in-camera.

Anyway, to be fair, there are some subtle (and probably unintentional) lensflares in the OT. The shootout in the detention block of the Death Star comes to mind.