Guns -blank firing or airsoft?

roxics

roxics

Veteran
Are most bigger productions today still using blank firing guns or have most switched to airsoft type guns?

I've noticed today that were seems to be a pretty big variety of airsfot guns that are all metal, look/function pretty real and have gas/air blowback functionality. So aside from muzzle flash, is there are a reason to still use blank firing guns?
 
The reality of the fire is why blanks are still used, but they are special blanks that produce the big fireball. The barrels of the guns are specially prepared so that (in theory) nothing but a blank fits in the chamber, and have several obstructions going down the barrel so that projectiles can not fly out, and often something inside the barrel to provide the pressure needed to blow the bolt back and cycle the next round.

I don't think I'd want to be on a set where fully functional firearms were used with blanks, the possibility of getting a real round loaded is too high for my tastes.
 
I am by no means an expert but I would almost think in a lot of environments unless you are on a closed off set with permits and an armorer you don't even want to be swinging around air soft guns. Seems like digital replacement of both the gun and flash is often done digitally these days.
 
Id go with the airsoft variety and just add the special effects in post.
You can always spray the barrels with Neon colors and then just key the colors out... plus it could help in tracking the barrels for the post work.
 
Yeah I've used an airsoft gun myself for a scene in the past. As a shoestring budget indie filmmaker I personally think it's the smartest choice. It's safer and you don't have a loud noise drawing attention to you if you're outdoors. I was just curious if with the advancement in airsoft guns since I last used one back in 2003, if Hollywood productions were using them now as well or still using blanks. The old one we used was spring loaded and all plastic, so it didn't have the blowback or weight of a real gun.

I've also seen these newer blank firing guns available to consumers. We have a large indoor flea market here in the Detroit area that's filled with a ton of different small shops. There are a few airsoft shops in there and a couple sell these kind along with the airsoft guns. I don't know what they are called. But the barrel is plugged on the inside with an orange plug and they take shells that have gun powder in them. Not nearly as much as a real bullet, I think maybe a quarter load or less. But they actually make a noise and blowback and eject a shell. But there is no muzzle flash since the barrel is plugged. It's about a $150 for a pistol, about the same price as the all metal gas blowback airsoft pistols. I don't think they are real guns that are modified, they look like they are built to be blank firing to begin with. But I could be wrong.

I guess the benefit of those would be if you want to see the shell eject and maybe increase the tension in the scene with the actors because of the real sound. Wish I knew what they are called.

I was just curious because I've been watching that show Video Game High School and I know they were using all airsoft guns in that. Granted they weren't a Hollywood production, but they had a little bit of a budget. Way more than any of my films ever had. So I was wondering if it was more common for bigger budget films to use airsoft as well.
 
daihard said:
Id go with the airsoft variety and just add the special effects in post.
You can always spray the barrels with Neon colors and then just key the colors out... plus it could help in tracking the barrels for the post work.
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That's an interesting idea. I wonder how effective that would be. In the past I had to paint the airsoft gun to get rid of the orange. I never thought about actually using it as a tool. Are there any examples of this being done, maybe even a video tutorial on how someone used this technique? It seems like it would be a lot of extra work, but I'm not a big FX compositor. I have done my fair share of keying though.
 
Neither. I avoid anything that uses any type of projectile no matter how soft and harmless it can seem or be. Replica guns is the way to go. Adding fire and sound is a very simple thing routinely done in post.
 
I just use the real thing. You have to put a target where no one is in direct line of fire (and out of camera) and make sure your shooting actor hits that target. No big deal. Just have to have a couple spare actors just in case.
 
silyn said:
Neither. I avoid anything that uses any type of projectile no matter how soft and harmless it can seem or be. Replica guns is the way to go. Adding fire and sound is a very simple thing routinely done in post.
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THIS can be undetectable from the real thing. And it's cheap.
 
Model guns was the term I was looking for. Here is a video:


But the more videos I see of these the more I think the stuff sound with the orange plugs are not the same thing.
 
Most bigger feature productions hire a Weapons Master that will coordinate with the Stunt Supervisor and Director on the type of weapons needed on a per scene basis.
 
Yeah these model guns are cap guns where the cap is put into an outer shell that is ejected. These are pretty sweet.

 
Those are damn cool! Need to slow it down a little so there is less fire coming out of the action and more out of the barrel, but still really cool.
 
combatentropy said:
I don't know, but be careful!

- Why a Gun Loaded With Blanks Can Still Kill You
- RIP Brandon Lee. Through a series of freak but possible events, the firing of a blank led to his death

Whatever you end up doing, be sure to research any risks as much as possible.

Sorry I sound like a mom. I must officially be getting old.
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There's a big difference between loading a REAL gun with blanks and using a gun designed to shoot ONLY blanks.

Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum both died tragically as a result of blanks loaded in REAL guns. If guns designed to fire ONLY blanks had been used, both would be alive today. Guns designed to fire only blanks have solid barrels -- nothing, not even fire or smoke, can come out of those barrels. Just about the only way to hurt anybody with a gun designed to fire only blanks is to hit them over the head with it.
 
Might as well get the water recovery body bag in case you are in the desert. That store is kind of morbid, would have never thought there would be that kind of need for a store like this.
 
David W. Richardson said:
Guns designed to fire only blanks have solid barrels -- nothing, not even fire or smoke, can come out of those barrels.
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Interesting. So are these the only effects of "blank guns": the recoil, an empty bullet case jumping out, and maybe some smoke at the back? You still have to add a gun flash, it sounds like, in post. I thought that the main reason to use blanks, instead of nothing, was to get a real gun flash out of the barrel. Then again, guns seem to spit out less fire in real life than in movies.

On a related note, I think post-added gun flashes look fake unless you somehow light up the gun and even the actor a little. The light from a real gun flash would light up the gun itself and stuff around it a tad. A dead give-away of a fake flash is that a flash emits from the gun, but nothing around the gun receives any light. Maybe have a light off screen pointed at the gun, which you flash when the actor pulls the trigger. The trick would be timing it just right of course.
 
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