Lens flares seem to catch a bad rap. While some are simply a stylistic element (and some are even mistakes), there are plenty of thoughtful and symbolic uses of light scattering through the lens. Here is a compilation showcasing the many different types and uses of lens flares in a variety of films.
Music: "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)" by John Murphy
Films Used (in order of appearance):
Man of Steel
There Will be Blood
The Graduate
The Tree of Life
To the Wonder
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Punch Drunk Love
Boogie Nights
This is the End
Star Trek
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Looper
Spring Breakers
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Pain and Gain
Man of Steel
The Avengers
Man of Steel
The Thin Red Line
Looper
Star Trek
Magnolia
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Gone Baby Gone
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Pineapple Express
Three Kings
12 Years a Slave
Lost in Translation
Drive
Donnie Darko
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Killing Them Softly
Spring Breakers
Training Day
Django Unchained
Lone Survivor
Out of the Furnace
Super 8
Boogie Nights
Pain and Gain
Super 8
Melancholia
Nymphomaniac
Don Jon
Her
Warm Bodies
The World's End
Gravity
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
Pacific Rim
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
The Tree of Life
The Aviator
The Wolf of Wall Street
Super 8
The Wrestler
Warrior
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Zodiac
The Lone Ranger
Super
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hancock
21 Jump Street
Noah
Unforgiven
The Silence of the Lambs
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Requiem for a Dream
Heat
Punch Drunk Love
ET
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