Jane Wick JR

I am now in preproduction on my action movie that is shockingly reminiscent of 2004's The Punisher.
Loved the editing in that movie. John travolta not so much.

I am all by myself planning and executing this lol. Filming starts december 12th.
Movie effects that i haven't done before:

Shooting someones head off with a shotgun.
Shooting a row of 10 aluminum cans with two pistols.
Shooting walls full of bullet holes and debris
Hand to hand fight with pencil stabbing (I hear john wick killed three guys with a pencil.. a fucking pencil!!)
Shooting a car full of bullet holes and blowing the windows out
Fake 3D bullet casings when the guns fire
Buy better prop guns that use co2 cartridges - there aren't any with fake casing ejection i can buy are there?
Get some kind of double barrel shotgun prop
Build a blood cannon for shotgun blasts
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My initial thoughts are...
For bullet holes my 2 choices are either create them entirely in post and apply tracking
or to create them IRL and then to cover them in post production until such time as i want them to appear

for shutgun head blast maybe I have to put a blue bag over someones head and then key out their head for a headless corpse ?
 
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With an M-80? That thing would blow a can to smithereens and leave a smoke cloud larger than a car. It would take half the wood plank with it.
Yes, I have used M-80's in a can, but sfoster mentioned the M-60.
M-80's (now illegal in the States) contain about 5 grams of flash
powder – 80 grains. You're right, they were crazy dangerous The
M-60 has about 50 milligrams.

They do produce smoke and don't really look like a gunshot. Which
is why I suggested he give it a try to see what it looks like. I'm
“old school” - I admit it. Rather than just rely on the experience
of others I like to try it for myself. What you say is accurate.
But seeing for yourself will let you make a more informed creative
choice.
 
Airsoft sells pistols with ejection, but they run around $200+. Rifles and pump action shotguns are easier to find at prop weapon suppliers. PLEASE PLEASE get a dedicated armorer or YOU do the job. Put a realistic prop gun anywhere near a mature adult and the 12 year old kid rises from the ashes. I was at a stoplight in Santa Clarita many years ago, I was doing a play (Murder at the Howard Johnson's) and was using this incredibly realistic revolver for a prop. 1am, and I start playing with the prop... twirling, trick shooting, blasting bad guys from behind a barricade (well, my steering wheel)... and I noticed the old couple parked next to me, WIDE eyed and praying for a quick green light. I just smiled, put the gun down and was glad there was no phone booth handy for them to call the police on my dumb ass. Today, people get killed for being that stupid. I don't do Airsoft, but I've bought a few things from Collector's Armoury. And all departments are different, but Los Angeles Sheriff's Department doesn't allow off-duty Deputies to function as a weapons handler without special department training and certification, which makes their day rate out of this world. BTW, why not shoot a bunch of cans with a BB gun for practice, film it, and see how that looks, just to see how the cans react? A .22 won't be much different when you go to live fire, and if you go for insert shots, your shooter can stand 3 feet from the target and hit high or low on the can as required.

 
If I was to try firecrackers it would be these:
black cat firecrackers.jpg
 
I could safely do it with real guns but only at certain angles and avoiding the line of fire so it's not ideal.
I think an air rifle poses the same problem... I wouldn't want my lens to get cracked by a BB.

Is it super easy to remove wire strings in post? Maybe I could just tie some super thin wire to the cans and yank them ?
Could you not set the camera up behind some perspex to protect it and do the line of fire shot with a BB gun.

Also, just on a personal preference, I think glass bottles would give a better visual effect that tin cans. Not sure if a BB would smash a normal bottle but could be done with sugar glass prop ones I suppose.
 
Could you not set the camera up behind some perspex to protect it and do the line of fire shot with a BB gun.

Also, just on a personal preference, I think glass bottles would give a better visual effect that tin cans. Not sure if a BB would smash a normal bottle but could be done with sugar glass prop ones I suppose.
That's what I was thinking. Glass bottles would be easier to simulate getting shot since the glass goes everywhere.
 
Those shell ejecting guns are awesome. I can imagine that looking fantastic in slow motion.

As far as glass bottles doesn't that seem a bit contrived?
Who even drinks glass bottles? Not 10 year olds lol.

The thing about aluminum cans is you can pick them up and shoot them again, it just seems a lot more practical.
I think the visual effect will be fine with rapid fire and bullets going everywhere.
 
Those shell ejecting guns are awesome. I can imagine that looking fantastic in slow motion.

As far as glass bottles doesn't that seem a bit contrived?
Who even drinks glass bottles? Not 10 year olds lol.

The thing about aluminum cans is you can pick them up and shoot them again, it just seems a lot more practical.
I think the visual effect will be fine with rapid fire and bullets going everywhere.
I didn't know you wanted "realism" so much. Haha. Glass is just easy because you can actually use fireworks or whatever you want. It will shatter regardless, so the direction it flies doesn't matter as much. No need for fishing line or anything like that.

ALSO, just thought of it, but putting one of those small fireworks on the under side, front of the can would probably make it fly up and back? Do some experiments and see if that works???

That said, I think borrowing someone's airsoft pistol would be easy to pull off, and it would work with the cans.

If you are talking about practicality though (10 year old's don't shoot like John Wick anyway)... so you should take whatever action is cheap, fun, and SAFE to pull off as the Director, Producer, Editor, Choreographer, etc..... Number one thing is going to definitely be safety.

If you are really trying to make it super believable and gritty, then you may need to reduce the FX amount a bit and go with what you can do mostly in camera. Especially if you aren't familiar with VFX or don't have someone who can touch it up.
 
I didn't know you wanted "realism" so much. Haha. Glass is just easy because you can actually use fireworks or whatever you want. It will shatter regardless, so the direction it flies doesn't matter as much. No need for fishing line or anything like that.

ALSO, just thought of it, but putting one of those small fireworks on the under side, front of the can would probably make it fly up and back? Do some experiments and see if that works???

That said, I think borrowing someone's airsoft pistol would be easy to pull off, and it would work with the cans.

If you are talking about practicality though (10 year old's don't shoot like John Wick anyway)... so you should take whatever action is cheap, fun, and SAFE to pull off as the Director, Producer, Editor, Choreographer, etc..... Number one thing is going to definitely be safety.

If you are really trying to make it super believable and gritty, then you may need to reduce the FX amount a bit and go with what you can do mostly in camera. Especially if you aren't familiar with VFX or don't have someone who can touch it up.
What you’ve never heard of a child prodigy
 
She walks into her grandpa's old shed, collects some dusty soda bottles (the old style) from a milk crate. Green glass would look awesome exploding in the light.

We don't know the scene, the time period, the style, etc.
 
What Maxsdad said about LA Sheriff's - on a permitted shoot within L.A. County.

Before I got my license I used off duty cops and sheriffs in CA but outside of
L.A. on several no-budget shoots. I suspect on private property in Maryland
sfoster could use his sheriff friend with no problem.

Of course if the parents of the child do not consent then none of this matters.
 
The video was just to give an idea of how realistic the ejection process looked, not to recommend any specific model. And half the blank firing pistols in the catalog have live ejection, it's surprisingly easy (and cheap) to find one.
 
The video was just to give an idea of how realistic the ejection process looked, not to recommend any specific model. And half the blank firing pistols in the catalog have live ejection, it's surprisingly easy (and cheap) to find one.
That was an airsoft in the video though.
Blank firing guns require safety protocols don’t they?

the one thing that sucks about airsoft is how obviously fake it is when you reload a magazine

well the two people that offered to Help me both backed out the second I asked them to actually do anything lol. Thought I would have an old friend to make the costume and now I dont

so I have to consider just buying $40 elf costume offline bc they want like 500-1000 for custom outfits at tailor shops and id rather buy a drone if I’m spending that much money tbh.

also contemplating filming this entire thing as a crew of one. Who needs anybody else right
 
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That was an airsoft in the video though.
Blank firing guns require safety protocols don’t they?

the one thing that sucks about airsoft is how obviously fake it is when you reload a magazine

well the two people that offered to Help me both backed out the second I asked them to actually do anything lol. Thought I would have an old friend to make the costume and now I dont

so I have to consider just buying $40 elf costume offline bc they want like 500-1000 for custom outfits at tailor shops and id rather buy a drone if I’m spending that much money tbh.

also contemplating filming this entire thing as a crew of one. Who needs anybody else right
It's really based on whatever your sanity can handle. I would try to find at least one other filmmaking person to help with this though. Sounds like a complicated shoot.
 
It's really based on whatever your sanity can handle. I would try to find at least one other filmmaking person to help with this though. Sounds like a complicated shoot.
When I filmed interview with Lestat (a really awful fake movie trailer) I had a friend help with sound. After the day was over he asked why didn’t have I have old man neighbor do it and I told him that guys hearing is really bad. So? He says. That shouldn’t matter.
Yes my sound guy saying being deaf shouldn’t matter. And sure enough when I got home there were entire audio tracks with nothing recorded at all. Nothing went to the headphones and this dude didn’t even notice.
We had to reshoot the whole day and one of the most talented and prettiest actresses I’ve ever worked with hated and blamed me for it and never talked to me again. Bc of other people’s mistakes.

moral of the story I would have been better off doing it as a one man crew and not depending on someone else. At least if I do itmyself I will know what I have and what I don’t.

GUYS I GOT A SEWING MACHINE
I AM THE DEMOLITION MAN
 
When I filmed interview with Lestat (a really awful fake movie trailer) I had a friend help with sound. After the day was over he asked why didn’t have I have old man neighbor do it and I told him that guys hearing is really bad. So? He says. That shouldn’t matter.
Yes my sound guy saying being deaf shouldn’t matter. And sure enough when I got home there were entire audio tracks with nothing recorded at all. Nothing went to the headphones and this dude didn’t even notice.
We had to reshoot the whole day and one of the most talented and prettiest actresses I’ve ever worked with hated and blamed me for it and never talked to me again. Bc of other people’s mistakes.

moral of the story I would have been better off doing it as a one man crew and not depending on someone else. At least if I do itmyself I will know what I have and what I don’t.

GUYS I GOT A SEWING MACHINE
I AM THE DEMOLITION MAN

Well, I mean.... If you choose people who don't know what they are getting into, that could definitely be a problem. Either way, good luck on this! Sounds like you've got a lot to work with, should be at least fun... I hope...
 
Shit I am clueless about these firearms.. they are supposed to shoot BB
I put in a co2 can and then when I dry fired it the slide locked back to show that the magazine was empty... so i can only fire this once on film lol

And i sewed my first stitch yesterday. it's like im a fashion designer now.
More people have applied to be in my next movie and less people have watched my last movie.

# viewers < # applicants

lol.
 
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I switched my facebook avatar to female just like i did on IT.
First time I've had a female avatar on facebook - 3 likes 1 comment lol.

STORY TIME
I offered the hitman part to this comedian that I'd been talking to for a bit.
He was always nice to me and always responded to me but now I have a trans avatar...

Instead of saying yes or no he completely ignored me for days, goes off and starts making fun of trans people instead... like wtf.


Also I am going to delay this project, when i set these days I had a handful of people that were going to help but every single one of them backed out the second i asked them to lift a finger. i got a bit depressed and unproductive after that, it will definitely suffer if i keep my shooting dates. project delayed :(

Modified the clip on the BB gun so that it dry fires now, it was simple just keep the spring pinned down.
 
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