How do you get gameobject geometry to show up as silhouette in front of lens flare?

I've added a mesh collider to my object, but that doesn't give the desired result. I am attaching images from the Scene view and the Game view. I would like my game to emulate the scene view. My ambient light is zero and the only light source is behind the gameobject, thus my desire to show a "silouhette" as one might see when a solid object passes in front of a bright light at night.

Perhaps there is a way to do this with layers? with tags? For instance, I've tried assigning the mesh materials as "UI / unlit"... but that didn't work either. When it was white it showed up, but when it was black it totally dissapeared.

this is the desired result. its what i see in Scene view:

this is the actual result. its what i see "in game"

Thanks in advance!