Inserting weapons into a movie

[John Grenier]

I'm just starting in the entertainment industry with a sci fi movie which requires guns, combat blades, grenades and other military gear. I only need basic weapons. No futuristic sci fi guns, as it is modern. But this is my first script and I have just begun college so I dont exactly have a budget. Because of this the weapons and props are the only difficulty. What programs, free or affordable, can you recommend to insert weapons into the movie? I'm talking pistols, assault rifles, platoon guns, and maybe some electric knuckles.

[Phil Rhodes]

You can do it in Blender, for free, but with some fairly significant limitations - and of course it takes a lot of time to do well. I'd consider it an entirely impractical approach for a whole production.

 

Is there really no way you can do it with airsoft replicas, or something? Many jurisdictions have rules about it, but there are often exceptions for filmmaking which you can make use of if you're reasonably cautious about it.

 

P

[John Grenier]

I can absolutely try, and you mean airsoft specifically not paintball, blanks or models.

[Phil Rhodes]

Well, anything that looks right, really. But clearly, you need to be careful about both the letter and spirit of the rules wherever you are.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

It would be much easier to get airsoft pistols. And you most certainly want to check on the rules specifically where you are.

[Robert Houllahan]

I personally have always used real firearms modified by taking the firing pins out of them, and not having any real ammo on set I personally feel that everything else looks obviously fake.

[Phil Rhodes]

I've always considered the better end of airsoft more than good enough.

[Matthew W. Phillips]

I gotta go with Phil on this one. Then again, it depends on where you are at. Where I am at in Cali, it would be a mistake to brandish anything remotely looking like a real firearm. And if you shoot on film (ie 16mm), the image should sell the authenticity fine as long as it isnt super close up. If you are shooting indoors then I guess ti doesnt matter what you use but real firearms will be more expensive to procure.

[dan kessler]

I remember discussing this very thing here a couple of years ago.

There's no such thing as just plugging cg weapons (or any other cg objects) into a shot.
Even with very high end software, there is still considerable labor involved in modeling,

shading and animating the objects, and that's when it's done by experienced artists.

All suggestions to use real props should be taken seriously. CG can more easily be used
to add muzzle blasts, but even that is not a trivial procedure. You either need to take the
time to practice and learn or get someone who already knows how.

Edited June 3, 2014 by dan kessler

[Brian Drysdale]

Replica guns, full scale plastic models, prop guns etc are the way to go. I shot an award winning short that had a non firing Lee Enfield rifle, the acting and sound effects carried it. Be careful where you're filming with them. you may need to inform the local police, otherwise the SWAT may arrive on your set.

 

I would add having actual firing weapons on set does crazy things to normally sensible people, so you need a good armourer if you're using them. .