Sticking glass things in front of a light source and shining it into your lens and creating cool looking distortions in your images have been part of the cinematographer's toolkit for at least fifty years. When you stick a DP in a thrift shop or market with time to kill, little crystal baubles and silk stockings are the two items they are most likely to go digging for, in the never-ending quest to craft the perfect image.
Flarestick vs. our lobby crystalCredit: Charles Haine
Now, Flaresticks have come along to create purpose designed sticks that clearly riff on the crystal knobs that many of us were already using. In fact, one of the flaresticks looks very similar to the crystal bottle stopper I once found in my building's lobby and have used for flare. Flaresticks were nice enough to loan us a few sticks, and we tested them out to see how they compare with the thrift store variety.
Undeniably, there are two huge benefits of Flaresticks, and that is consistency of image and easy mount-ability. C-stands have standardized holes in them, and if you really want to be able to put an object precisely where you want it in space, nothing beats mounting it in a C-stand. We could take the random bottle topper we found and mount it to a rod designed to fit in a C-stand with some JB weld, but results would be mixed at best.
Flaresticks are built around a solid rod that fits perfectly into the C-stand knuckle, which is exceptionally useful and is going to give you more control and precision. We've gotten used to kludging together a rig for our bottle stopper, and it's a real relief to be able to place crystals precisely.
Bottle Topper Flare
Speaking of that bottle topper, if we lost it, and had to do pickups later that matched precisely, we would be out of luck. Whereas, if you bought a set flaresticks and lost them, only to need them again later, you could order another that would presumably match it very well. Considering how much more frequent pickups are in our recent jobs, and the large desire for consistency, this is a huge plus. Especially if you want to create a signature flare look as part of a long movie shoot or a commercial campaign. An easy to use tool that gives you flexiblity and replaceability is a perk.
Flaresticks flare
One thing we were actually surprised by is that it appears that the flares from the flaresticks are well, nicer looking. This was something we expected, and we acknowledge that it wasn't the most scientific test, but in side by side comparisons with the item that has been in our kit the flaresticks flares were cleaner and more saturated, even when we kept the lens focused on the light source in the background. There are so many variables that could be affecting these results, but the flaresticks also just look exceptionally clear to the eye and this likely affects the quality of the flares they give.
So much fun, flares.
Something else we would consider is storage. Our test units came nicely packed in cardboard boxes that make sense for shipping, but if we were going to integrate these to our set life they might be worth the time to setup a flat pelican to ensure they survive rough and tumble set use. They are glass, after all, and that makes them delicate.
For more, check out the Flaresticks site.
- 5 designs available
- Rod fits perfectly in a C-stand
- Crystal
