Squibs........can we make-um....hehehe

Yeah, I bet they did. Even with padding, you are dealing with high explosives really close to the skin. You can see the force of the charge by looking at the actress's hair when they detonate.

A lot of companies actually use bulletproof vests for padding and even then, the talent ends up with bruises
 
In the eighties we used home-made electrical squibs made from a bit of gunpowder (firecracker's worth) wrapped in electrical tape with a strand of copper wire running through it. It was attached to a metal plate which was taped to the chest or back or wherever and detonated with a 12V battery. A pouch filled with fake blood and tissue-paper was placed over it, then worn under a shirt. Because electrical tape is elastic, it had less power than a firecracker -- barely enough to propel the blood and tissue through a pre-scored shirt but it still looked pretty good.

We never had any problems after a hundred or so blasts. However we still switched to a pneumatic system which was quicker to setup and less expensive.

If you want dangerous, we made "launchers" out of 1 kg bags of gunpowder wrapped in a couple inches of duct-tape. This would go into a hole, and either 5 lb bags of flour, or a garbage-bag filled with gasoline would go on top. The nice thing was that they didn't go "boom", but made excellent dirt explosions (flour) or fireballs.

I got both of these ideas from a 60's era film FX book at the local library.
 
Why would the airsoft be such a bad idea? It shoots little plastic balls that don't even hurt a bit. You can shoot yourself with one from literally like 10 inches away and it barely tickles you. Sounds way safer than exploding things next to your skin.
 
I don't know what kind of airsoft you have. Even cheapo guns off of ebay are 200fps +

And why would we should airsoft guns in the first place? To shoot a squib or what?
 
badhairdude said:
I don't know what kind of airsoft you have. Even cheapo guns off of ebay are 200fps +

And why would we should airsoft guns in the first place? To shoot a squib or what?
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They're 200+ FPS, but they're shooting a plastic BB that weights about 1/5th of a gram. Not very much force. It can still draw blood at close range though, as I've been hit numerous times playing and had blood drawn - and inflicted wounds that bleed to. Carry bandaids with me to keep blood from staining my gear.

However, I really don't think you'd get a very good squib effect from an airsoft BB hitting a bag. You'll just get a bit of leakage, no explosive effect at all. It'd be barely be noticeable.
 
Jim H said:
They're 200+ FPS, but they're shooting a plastic BB that weights about 1/5th of a gram. Not very much force. It can still draw blood at close range though, as I've been hit numerous times playing and had blood drawn - and inflicted wounds that bleed to. Carry bandaids with me to keep blood from staining my gear.

However, I really don't think you'd get a very good squib effect from an airsoft BB hitting a bag. You'll just get a bit of leakage, no explosive effect at all. It'd be barely be noticeable.
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I don't think people know what airsoft really is, even at close range they don't hurt and do no damage at all if you are wearing proper clothing/padding. I've seen it done on Mythbusters, it worked pretty well. Like I originally said, it only works for a closeup. With a camera that close you don't have to have the gun very far away from the target to prevent missing it. Place padding under the clothes and unless you are a idiot, there is no chance of injury, much safer than gun powder too.
 
KKeller said:
I don't think people know what airsoft really is, even at close range they don't hurt and do no damage at all if you are wearing proper clothing/padding. I've seen it done on Mythbusters, it worked pretty well.
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Saw it on TV? Yeah, I am sold, cause everything on TV is real. Badhairdude is right. Just my pistol draws blood, not even mention my MP5 (will break skin, and more since it's 12-15 rps @ 400 fps (I played Hong Kong rules). But skin heals, eyes do not. If your talent (and everyone else in range) is not wearing at a minimum, full safety glasses, you are being totally reckless. You obviously have not done this before, nor been shot with a real airsoft gun. I think you would change your mind if you had to experience it yourself.

What you need to ask yourself is "What am I willing to risk the get that shot" And honestly answer. And if answer is someone else's safety, you have no business filming this type of shot. And I don't care if the talent is willing to do it, you have to look out for the safety of those on your set.
 
Yeah, I'd way rather be strapped up with one of my "cherry-bomb" type squibs with a metal plate on the back, than have someone fire an airsoft gun at me... personally, I just don't see the airsoft method working/looking nearly as well, and it's pretty hard to miss with something that's tape to your chest as opposed to firing a plastic BB gun at you.
 
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