‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens:’ A J.J. Abrams Movie With No Lens Flares?

Did J.J. Abrams successfully create a sci-fi movie without excessively using lens flares to do so?

The highly-anticipated teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was officially released online earlier this week.

Many Star Wars fans and critics were pleased while others were not.

Many Star Wars fans and critics enjoyed being able to see a brief glimpse of what director J.J. Abrams has done with Star Wars Episode VII, simply through watching the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer.

However, one slight point that seems to be overlooked and even forgotten by many people that have watched this particular trailer over and over again since its initial release is the fact that there does not seem to be very much use of lens flares at all.

Yes, lens flares. The visual effect that that J.J. Abrams has been mocked for using excessively.

Back in September, 2013, J.J. Abrams himself even admitted that he overly used lens flares in his movie productions — especially in his Star Trek movies. According to The Verge, the Cloverfield director even apologized for his excessive use and even provided a little more insight into why he decides to use lens flares in the first place.

“I know I get a lot of grief for that. But I’ll tell you, there are times when I’m working on a shot, I think, ‘Oh this would be really cool… with a lens flare.’ But I know it’s too much, and I apologize. I’m so aware of it now.”

J.J. Abrams even explained that there was one particular scene of Star Trek Into Darkness that he showed his wife during the early stages of post-production and her reaction spoke volumes to him about his overuse of lens flares.

“There was this one scene where she was literally like, ‘I just can’t see what’s going on. I don’t understand what that is.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I went too nuts on this.'”

Clearly, J.J. Abrams has gotten this under control.

When you watch the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there are several thoughts that may pop up in your mind.

You might get overly excited to see the droids. Perhaps you were pleased to see John Boyega’s debut as a Stormtrooper, or Oscar Isaac in full gear while flying an X-Wing Starfighter. You might have even giggled like a little kid when you saw the Millennium Falcon.

However, now that you have seen the full teaser trailer, there is one thing that you probably did not see in the Star Wars trailer — an overuse of lens flares.

How does that make you feel?

[Image Credit: Indie Wire]