One of my favorite things in this episode was the use of lens flares. There is a reason that the scenes with lens flares were filmed outside on a sunny day that doesn’t really fit the mood of the episode. Lens flares are created by a bright light, especially sunlight, hitting the front of a camera lens and bouncing off different lens elements inside the lens.
You can prevent stray light from hitting the front of the lens by using a hood. Every camera filming outside is going to have a hood. Probably one that adjusts for the field of view and focal length. Here is an example of a camera on the set of Supernatural with a hood.
It would be very difficult to get lens flares on accident with a hood. It can and does happen but if you don’t want them you can make adjustments and reshoot the scene. Higher end
lenses also make lens flares more difficult so when a director whats this effect sometimes a filter is used or a cheep lens.
This particular flare is called a “veiling flare” and it takes place when the source of light is out of frame but the light is still hitting the front of the lens. Some people have suspected that this was added in later. I think there is a natural lens flare here that was edited later to show different colors. But this was originally produced using sunlight. When Sam asks about Cas. Cas shows up as a ray of sun over Deans face. The colors are definitely edited in no one can excuse this as a coincidence like they might excuse Dean’s bi shirt or other props with bi colors. Naturally this flare was probably white-light yellow. Like this.
Someone had to go in later to change the colors to bi flag color. If they wanted just a lens flare they wouldn’t have colored it.
This is another important lens flare that happens during Dean’s prayer. This one looks like it could be completely natural. This could be another sign from tptb that Dean is not straight but I don’t think it is. Dean is talking to God. Talking about how he lost his everything. His whole world you could say. Everyone knows the story of Noah’s ark where God destroys the earth with a flood and makes a rainbow afterwards.
11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. – Genesis 9: 11-13
I think this could be a promise from God that Dean will not have to go through this again. Dean won’t have to see his everything destroyed ever again. I know that Dean thinks Chuck didn’t answer him but I am wondering if he actually did.
How does the fandom pick up on such cool shit like this? Fucking awesome.
Well I don’t know how everyone picks up on stuff like this, but I am kinda a self taught photographer and lens flares were something I looked up how to do in high school. The first time I took a photo with a lens flare it was an accident but then I wanted to know how I could replicate this effect. I don’t really have any pictures with a lens flare on this computer to use as an example because now I enjoy taking pictures with a small subject like this. There are some small lens flares off to the left from the reflection of the sun off the water.
Oh my lord how does this not have anymore notes!?! You are so awesome! Because if people like you, I see things even if they’re so small and seem insignificant, in a new light. You help us see how purposeful everything is and I applaud and thank you for that
Thank you so much for this really kind comment. This has a ton of notes for one of my posts so I am actually quite happy with it. The only reason it doesn’t have more is probably just because I don’t have that many followers yet.
Here is another light effect they used that you might find interesting.
There is a halo around Dean’s lighter just before he lights the pyre. This isn’t a true lens flare because you can see the source of light in frame. Sometimes this is caused “ghosting” which is interesting to think about when it was included in a scene that was a funeral for a dead angel. This is actually caused by a technique that I use a lot called “bokeh” this is when you use a shallow depth of field so that parts of the picture are in focus and the parts that aren’t are blured. Lights that aren’t completely in focus take on the shape of the camera’s aperture turning them into disks. This is much easier to do at night since the camera needs a wider depth of field to let in more light. Dean’s lighter is in the mid-ground so even though the light isn’t focus it is also not completely out of focus so you get this halo instead of just a blurred circle.
This is awesome – I do SO enjoy it when people in the know can explain clearly that these things are NOT ACCIDENTS and are intentionally done.
For better or worse, the
bunker’s in shit shape. Repairs take up a lot of their time, and while it’s
hard work, Dean’s thankful for the distraction. If he works himself hard, he’s
so damn tired when he crawls into bed that he doesn’t think or dream or cry.
The worst part is that
damn kid starts following Dean around like a lost puppy. For a while, he seemed
to like Sam more, which was just fine with Dean. Dean doesn’t like the kid for
obvious reasons (“He’s Lucifer’s kid,” he tells himself. “Enough said.” “Sure,”
he answers back. “Has nothing to do with him being the reason Cas got
killed.”), and it creeps him out when he feels the kid watching him.
“Keep him on a shorter
leash,” Dean tells Sam one night. “I don’t want him around me.”
“Yeah right.” Sam snorts.
“I’ll just tell the all powerful nephilim what to do.”
“He ain’t all powerful.”
There’s one very important thing he can’t do, so he’s basically useless.
Can’t even control his powers.
“Well, he’s more
powerful than me. And he’s not even doing anything. Just give the kid a
break.”
Since Sam refuses to
help, Dean goes back to ignoring Jack. The kid’ll take a hint eventually,
right?
Wrong. A week more of
having a silent shadow trailing him throughout the bunker has Dean grinding his
teeth and wanting to punch a few more walls.
“What?” Dean snaps one
day. He’d been tuning the Impala just for something to do, and the normally
soothing task has him completely on edge because can’t Jack just leave him
the fuck alone!? “What do you want? Why you keep following me around?”
Jack doesn’t even look
taken aback by the outburst. “I want to learn more about humanity.”
“What? TV, the internet,
and Sam not good enough resources for that? Why you bugging me?”
Jack tilts his head to
the side and Dean wants to go over and physically straighten it. How dare
this kid be like him.
After a moment of
consideration, Jack answers. “I know my father—”
“Cas isn’t your father.”
“… I know my father
was fond of humanity, and of you and Sam in particular. If Castiel trusted you
both, I thought you would be good models for how to behave. Maybe you’d give me
insights on how to be the type of person Castiel and my mother would have
wanted me to be.”
Dean wipes grease off
his hands and doesn’t meet Jack’s eye. “Yeah, well, stick with Sam. I ain’t
exactly a role model.”
“That’s not true.”
The flashback is short
but vivid, and Dean feels short of breath. It’s like the world’s closing in on
him, and he gropes for the Impala just so he can keep his balance.
“Sam says that you and
Castiel were close,” Jack continues on, as if Dean’s not having a nervous
breakdown in the middle of the garage. “Closer than he and Castiel were. I
thought that would make you a better choice to learn about humanity. Surely
Castiel saw something in you that was worth seeing.”
“I-I’m not— he didn’t—”
His knees give out and he lets himself fall to the ground. Jack lays a hand on
his left shoulder and Dean shudders. Like father like son, he supposes.
“You are, and he did.”
As if Jack at all knows what Dean meant to say. Dean sure as fuck
doesn’t know, so it’s absurd to think this month old creature possibly could.
They stay there like
that, with Dean trying to catch his breath and wishing he could cut out his
heart, it’d hurt less. Jack stays at his side, kneeling beside him and keeping
a steady hand on his shoulder. When his head clears, Dean can’t help but laugh
at how fucked up his life is. He’s losing his shit because the love of his
life—an angel, for fuck’s sake—is dead, and that same angel’s adopted
son—the spawn of the literal devil—is trying to comfort him.
What a world.
“Alright, enough of
that.” He shrugs off Jack’s hand and pushes himself to his feet. “I’m telling
you, kid, I’m not special. And I don’t appreciate the silent brooding as you
watch me do stuff. It’s creepy.”
Cas used to be creepy,
too.
“I’m sorry.” Jack looks
more frustrated than apologetic. “I’ll go—”
“Whoa whoa, I didn’t say
that.” He hands a tool to Jack and ushers him over to the Impala. “If you’re
gonna stick around, you gotta make yourself useful.”
“I don’t know anything
about cars.”
“You think I did either
when I started? No. You gotta learn. You said you wanted to learn how to
be a better human, why not start with learning how to be human, period. We can
add in the morals and stuff along the way. Got it?”
The corner of his mouth
perks up a little. “I got it.”
“Alright, so this here
is the battery…”
Dean doesn’t want to be playing
babysitter or uncle or dad to this kid, but Jack has a point. This right here,
the two of them bonding over the Impala’s hood? This is what Cas would’ve
wanted. And if Dean can’t save Cas this time, well, at least he can do his best
to follow his wishes.
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