Emulate gun fire and ejecting shells?

H

HKFF

Active member
Suggested by thisiswells, I guess it's a good idea to make a new thread. (I just worry to over flood forums with too many threads).

After everyone's advice and some research, I have decided that blank guns are not the way to go. I looked into airsofts, and they are much safer. (gas guns). The problem is that they don't eject shells, have the smoke, or create muzzle flashes (bad for slow mo sequences).

Anyway, how can I create muzzle flashes, smoke, and ejecting shells? Thanks!
 
After Effects.

Also check out. Art Beats.

They have gun flashes, bullet hits already green screened. Haven't checked about the ammo discharge.

I'm wondering if you can fake it with an empty shell with a real gun. Get an extreme close-up and pull back the lever with your hand and see if it discharges.

Just make sure you have no real bullets loaded in the mag. We don't want to read about an accident.

I've known of guys to put a lighted cigarette into the barrel, to make it look like its smoking.
 
Use Particle Illusion. It is best for all particle effect's and there are lib's offering shells etc.
PI is only for adding particle effect's and has a very good preview window so it is easy to work with. Try it.
 
Yeah, I think if you're really careful, you can achieve the same effect with a carefully composed sequence. Just out of curiosity (not to derail your brand new thread ;) ), how do you plan on shooting slow motion, with another camera?
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'll see what I can do with those suggested programs. Right now I only have AE.

I planned to do some slow mo, by just slowing down the footage. I guess that wouldn't be effective? I just experimenting with dvx right now, since I'm totally new to the whole filmmaking scene. I'm guessing if I shot the footage at the highest frame rate (60?) then if I copied that one to a 23.97p timeline, then it would look slow mo while keeping all the quality? I have no clue, but any advice on that would be great.
 
its also going to depend on how close to the gun you are...if your right on the gun in a close up, your going to need to do cg shells, as in 3d ones. the further away you are the better chance you have at getting away with somethig in after effects. at a certain distance the shells will just look like specs...so you can use a bunch of different effects like stock footage or particle effects in after effects...

actually, i just had an idea...if your shot is locked off....you could shoot your actor shooting the gun. then go back with no actor in the scene and from where the gun was positioned toss some shells around from there. you could then comp them over the shot. you might need some greenscreen....worth a test maybe.
 
A bit off-topic, but why does everyone always want guns and shooting in their DV movies? IMHO it usually makes the video look even more cheap and amateurish :(
 
Why is everyone so intent on seeing the ejection? If the action is good and shot correctly, the ejection of the shell is superfluous. Just do an insert of the shells hitting the floor in slow motion, or flying through the air. IT IS AN INSERT SHOT!. Learn to do correct coverage and tell the story.
I remember working on the remake of Shenandoah. We were dressed alternately as Union army and Confederates. In each we were getting shot and blown up. Air ramped through the air.....I actually had an extra come up and tell me that my belt buckle was upside down. I said "If they see that buckle in the middle of the explosion, they're not interested in what I'm doing and all the action going on".
If people see the ejecting shells, or lack thereof, your movie or story lacks something.
 
If you are going to all the trouble to comp in the muzzle flash and ejecting shells make sure that your sound design includes the sound of the empty shells hitting the ground. You could actually eliminate the visual ejecting shells if it is suggested on the sound track... listen to the gunfire scenes in Reservoir Dogs
 
Great examples of what I would like to do is from A Better Tomorrow (1986) John Woo film, where Chow Yun Fat guns down a gang in a restaurant. Or maybe people are more familiar with The Killer (1989) also Woo, he does alot of slow mo shoot outs too. Very stylish/classy. If you guys are unfamiliar with Hong Kong Cinema, Face Off has some of that slow mo stuff too (also Woo).

I'm just trying to make an action sequence for practice, more than anything else. It's totally experimental.

I also have access to Softimage xsi, so I'm thinking I should make some shells that way. (don't know how to use that either yet)

Slow motion question on the side: if I film footage at a higher speed and paste the footage into a 23.97p timeline, will the footage look like slow motion? (Like how they did the White House explosion in ID4? is that the same concept?)
 
Another option is to use alamdv2, the program isn't the best, but it's very cheap and gets the job done.

http://fxhome.com/alamdv2/

There are many effects you can do with that program, muzzle flashes, light sabers, shells, explosions, particle hits... the list goes on. Check the site out. It's a nifty program.
 
DV Footages

DV Footages

HKFF said:
Suggested by thisiswells, I guess it's a good idea to make a new thread. (I just worry to over flood forums with too many threads).

After everyone's advice and some research, I have decided that blank guns are not the way to go. I looked into airsofts, and they are much safer. (gas guns). The problem is that they don't eject shells, have the smoke, or create muzzle flashes (bad for slow mo sequences).

Anyway, how can I create muzzle flashes, smoke, and ejecting shells? Thanks!
Click to expand...


You can get some very good footages at www.detonationfilms.com it's the best they have everything you need AND A LOT OF IT IS FREE.
 
For my money Action Movie Essentials it the best package on a budget and the video copilot site is loaded with goodies.

-Nate
 
I like how in the last Indiana Jones, at the beginning when the commies shoot down the hapless guards guarding the test-site gate, the actors are pretending to fire. No muzzle-flashes or ejecting shells. If no effects are good enough for Spielberg...
 
Ok...old thread, I'll bite though.

When firing a real gun shells are often ejected so quickly that they are difficult to see anyway. The only time I see that they would be required to be seen is if you are doing a close up or a slow motion shot...and really, you can avoid those.

Alternatively, as suggested you can cut in a clip of shells falling to the ground in slow motion a la the matrix. As others said, if you're going to show spent shell casings flying around then you better have the sound to match.

Some guns like revolvers and some shotguns will also not eject shells when firing but only when deliberately ejected...might be easier to film a revolver then, right?

Also ask yourself, do you REALLY need that cool looking Glock etc? If so, go back and look at your story because 99% of the population does not care what kind of gun the hero or enemy is using.
 
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