Gh1 and Muzzleflash?

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Indyreel

Well-known member
1) Is there anyone who know if the GH1 can handle muzzleflash (really ejection port flash) from a blank firing gun, in low light? i.e. will the rolling shutter strobe?

I don't want to add flash in post (except the muzzle flash) as this is a night scene and there should be a considerable amount of flash on the shooter and the surrounding area. There will be approximately 75 shots fired and this will probably be a nightmare to add in post (although I will be adding muzzle flash)

I don't think adding surrounding area flash in post will look good. I could be wrong. Please correct me where needed :laugh:

2) I need to buy a Glock blank firing gun. I purchased one years ago and it was a piece of junk. Every third or forth shot, it would jam. This caused tremendous problems on the set.

Can someone refer me to a Glock blank firing gun that is reliable?

Thanks.
 
Anyone? I could really use some professional input, as I'm filming my final battle sequence and don't know the best method to achieve a professional result.
 
I am guessing it probably wouldn't strobe but that's just an educated guess...I've only ever shot muzzle flash on CCD cameras...tricky. I'd go to a shooting range and do a test.
 
I'm not claiming to be a pro in this area but I have done some films with gunshots in low light. You'll be better doing everything in in post - nothing special about the GH1 - just that a real muzzle flash is an expanding burn which starts and finishes at around double your frame rate (i.e. close enough to 1/50th second for 9mm (a gun nut can probably tell you more exactly quoting variation, humidity and powder, but 1/50th is good enough). You'll get all kinds of weird sizes and effects if you catch the flash at all. Doing an area flash in post works OK - just lighten no more than a single frame. A click and post sound effect is also better than blanks.
 
Use a photography strobe, then gel it cto, So each time he pulls the trigger, you have someone spark the strobe, You can always use black tape on part of it if you want to mke it a smaller flash.
 
maranfilms said:
Use a photography strobe, then gel it cto, So each time he pulls the trigger, you have someone spark the strobe, You can always use black tape on part of it if you want to mke it a smaller flash.
Click to expand...

Photography strobe won't work well with a CMOS chip camera.
 
That's a cool idea, but unfortunately the strobes I've tried have a half second delay, so it will be really hard to time and the strobe I have definately effects the rolling shutter on the GH1.

I would love to do all in post, but always see the pros using blank firing guns in "real movies" when I watch behind the scenes footage, that's why I'm leaning in this direction.

Also, I've seen some software examples where they added gunfire (surrounding flash, etc) in post and it looked cheezy. I am afraid of filming the entire segment with an airsoft and having the
distributor tell me I've blown it.

Anyone KNOW if doing all surrounding and muzzle flash etc in post is is done in Hollywood? And are there any low light examples?
 
My first experance of trying to shoot muzzle flashes was years ago on 16mm flim. After the shot I told the director that the machine gun looked great and that he'll love it, forgetting that what I see in the viewfinder is not what is recorded on film - there were hardly any flashes recorded.

Have tried many time since then with many different camera systems, mostly without success.
The problem is that a muzzle flash lasts less than 1/50th of a second so a large portion of them happen during the blank half of the frame. You could try using an long shutter but that will do odd things to your motion.

Add it in post
 
Where Hollywood uses blanks, which it probably does increasingly rarely, it uses special slow burn blanks, which it either buys or for which the armourer mixes the powder and loads. And it has to use real guns - guns made to fire only blanks have a solid barrel. Still, there's nothing realistic about the appearance of the shot - examined frame by frame, there's a flash, sparks, smoke, over about five frames (check it for yourself) . Beyond the initial flash, it looks nothing like a modern handgun shot. But it's probably what the audience expects to see. If you still decide to use slow-burn film blanks, you'll need to be aware they can kill you, deafen you and ignite stuff.
 
I've gotten a fair amout of input saying to CGI my low light gun battle. But, before I take a chance on something this important, I'd like to verify first.

Is there anyone who can give me examples of mainstream movies that have a gunbattle(s) in low light which are CGI?

I don't want to blow this final scene. It's very involved with many people.
 
Just about every mainstream big budget movie is cgi enhanced, so take your pick. We're having to do extra muzzleflashes on the picture I'm cutting now - half of them didn't show up on the footage! Try a flash every 3 frames (I'm at 24fps) - seems a good balance of visual bang for buck and workload. You'll have to do some kind of lighting effect on your shooters too - try another video layer with a heavily lightened colour correction applied to it, then soft mask this off appropriately for fake light spill from the gun flashes. You'll have a couple of proper flashes to refer to, hopefully.
 
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