ABSTRACT
One of the earliest expressive uses of lens flares in mainstream filmmaking was to visualize the sun’s oppressive heat, a convention that continues to be used to this day. However, when Cool Hand Luke ’s director Stuart Rosenberg and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall first wanted to use lens flares for this purpose, they faced stern opposition from their studio, which considered them an imperfection that did not belong in a major motion picture. The cinematographic conventions of the time were strictly aimed at the creation of technically flawless, meticulously lit and composed images, often at the expense of the spatial and/or lighting circumstances that would logically exist in a real-life location, prioritizing a highly polished aesthetic over verisimilitude. Cool Hand Luke , the story of a rebellious war veteran who is sentenced to spend time on a Florida chain gang after destroying a row of parking meters, features two early examples of an expressive use of lens flares.
