filmmakers can be stupid

sonnyboo

sonnyboo

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2011/apr...ie-making-ends-accidental-shooting-ar-464593/

COLUMBUS, Ohio --

A man is shot while filming a superhero movie in a Clintonville a Surburb of Columbus, Ohio home Sunday evening.

Sam Vestey, 23, was wounded when a gun discharged.

Vestey, costumed as Spiderman, was with two friends who frequently make amateur superhero movies, authorities said.

Medics responded to a home in the 400 block of Torrence Road at about 7:40 p.m. Sunday.

A 911 caller told dispatchers someone was shot accidentally while filming a movie at the house.

Before filming began, Casey May (age unknown) was examining a shotgun that was being used as a prop.

The three thought the shotgun was not loaded.

While May, Vestey, and Michael Galusick (age unknown) were waiting to begin shooting, the shotgun discharged, striking Vestey in the right leg.

He went to Riverside Methodist Hospital for treatment and was expected to be OK.

CPD said no charges will be filed.
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You do not need a police officer on set, but someone to check the weapons is kind of essential if you're using real guns.
 
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You know....

When you can go to Toys R Us and get a pretty realistic looking gun or at least something that looks real from a distance, this is a really dumb thing to have happen. No real guns, guys. Disaster waiting to happen.


-- spinner :cool:
 
This may be the stupidest part of it all:

"Vestey, costumed as Spiderman,"
​

Never use copyrighted characters in your shorts!

(Of course these idiots shot each other...)
 
First, Im glad hes going to be OK.. we can laugh at him and not feel bad. A tragedy was avoided. That said.

HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHHHHHAAA HHAHAAH OOOO MMMYYYY GOOOOSHHH THAT ISSSS TOO HAHHHHAHA AAA FREAKIN HAHAHA FUN HHAAH NNY..

(edit to not be so mean!)
 
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I was talking with one of the stars of the original Charlies Angles show the other day and he told me a story of a time when one of the girls walked on set and pointed a gun straight at his head for a shot and he immediately grabbed the gun and asked if it had been checked yet and she said yes and the gun was cocked and loaded and ready to blow... And the shot was when she pulls the trigger...

Talk about 6th sense.
 
The Real Story

So, I was the one shot in the leg, and I have a lot to clear up, since the news did a terrible job getting the actual story.

First off, no one was dressed as Spiderman. The reason we were there that day was to film a Deadpool web series, but despite what the article says we were not yet filming.

We were not using the shotgun as a prop, nor did we plan to.

The shotgun was on loan to the person in the Deadpool costume, as it was used in an appearance in a horror movie (seen, but not wielded) the week prior. The gun was checked multiple times prior to shooting that it was unloaded, and the person responsible for the gun owned no ammunition for it, and none was kept in the house. Someone (we still don't know who) loaded a blank into the weapon while we were in West Virginia shopping the horror film, and did not inform anyone.

The person who was handling the weapon when it went off did not have it pointed at anyone, and he was treating it as if it were loaded. While we were all talking, it slipped from his grip, and in an effort to keep it from hitting the ground and possibly discharging, he grabbed for it an it fired the blank at point blank range into the side of my calf and thigh.

The incident was a true freak accident, and everyone there that day acted to the best of their ability, and was never treating the weapon as anything less than a deadly weapon.

Had anyone been truly acting out of stupidity or using the gun as a prop, then someone would have been hurt a lot more, or possibly dead.
 
svestus said:
So, I was the one shot in the leg, and I have a lot to clear up, since the news did a terrible job getting the actual story.
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I would let them know ASAP so they can issue a correction. They are making you (and Columbus filmmakers) look really bad.

I apologize for any insult. I was basing that on the "facts" from the "news"....



ROC said:
Isn't a blank supposed to not shoot anything? How did it hurt you? Or was it just the flash that hurt you?
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It does not have a "bullet" but does have a shell and gun powder. They can still be extremely dangerous. it's a misconception that Nothing comes out, as it's everything except for the projectile, so there's a lot there that can still hurt someone, and seriously. Any dirt or buildup of anything in a chamber or barrel can suddenly become a projectile (see Brandon Lee and his death...)
 
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A blank still shoots bits of wadding, and also at point blank range (which it was) it still has an incredibly powerful purcussive blast. This caused a large chunk of my calf and the skin and tissue behind my knee to be blown off. I am incredibly lucky to have made it out of the incident with only muscle and tissue damage, my bones and arteries were unharmed.
 
Anyone remember Brandon Lee?

On March 31, 1993, while making The Crow, the crew filmed a scene in which his character walks into his apartment and discovers his fiancée being beaten and raped by thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the film's villains, was supposed to fire a pistol at Lee as he walked onto the scene.[5]

Because the movie's second unit was running behind schedule, they decided to make dummy cartridges (cartridges that outwardly appear to be functional but contain no propellant or primers) from real cartridges by pulling out the bullets, dumping out the propellant and reinserting the bullets. However, the team neglected to remove the primers, which, if fired, could still produce just enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel (a squib load). At some point prior to the fatal scene, the live primer in one of the improperly constructed dummy rounds was discharged by an unknown person while in the pistol, leaving the bullet stuck in the barrel.[6]

This malfunction went unnoticed by the crew, and the same gun was later reloaded with blank cartridges and used in the scene in which Lee was shot. When the first blank cartridge was fired, the stuck bullet was propelled out of the barrel and struck Lee in the abdomen, lodging in his spine. He fell down instantly, and director Alex Proyas shouted "Cut!". When Lee did not get up, the cast and crew rushed to him and found that he was wounded. He was immediately rushed to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington by ambulance, but following a six-hour operation to remove the bullet, Lee was pronounced dead at 1:04 pm on March 31, 1993. He was 28 years old.[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee
 
Hmm. Wow. If that's what a blank does then I'm actually surprised there isn't more of this happening (i.e. not just Brandon Lee). Does the stunt actor who has the gun just have to point the gun away from the other actors? I never really understood that.
 
svestus said:
A blank still shoots bits of wadding, and also at point blank range (which it was) it still has an incredibly powerful purcussive blast. This caused a large chunk of my calf and the skin and tissue behind my knee to be blown off. I am incredibly lucky to have made it out of the incident with only muscle and tissue damage, my bones and arteries were unharmed.
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This goes along with another thread on this forum... safety is king. Any weapon of any kind needs to be checked by a licensed professional, as in someone who is federally approved and up to date to handle weapons on movie sets. If you can't afford to hire someone like that, then don't mess with anything other than a toy plastic gun or resin replica.

You are really really lucky. Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

ROC said:
Hmm. Wow. If that's what a blank does then I'm actually surprised there isn't more of this happening (i.e. not just Brandon Lee). Does the stunt actor who has the gun just have to point the gun away from the other actors? I never really understood that.
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See above answer. A professional will clean the weapons and check them thoroughly. It's their ass if someone gets hurt.

Yes on some movies, it's "cheating" the perspective so that guns are sometimes not aimed at real actors but to the camera it looks like a bullseye. Sometimes there's a glass of plexi in between the actors and blank firing weapons on occasion too.
 
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Thank god you are okay, and here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

As an aside, the press still can't tell the difference between Deadpool and Spiderman? Sigh. Deadpool would not be pleased.
 
I have used real guns on set with strict protocols:
I had a dedicated person very familiar with firearms whose sole job is the security of the weapon.
He checks it before every take, and takes it into his posession where it stays after every take.
Before the weapon is handed to the talent he stands there in full view of the talent and crew and demonstrates that the wepon is empty, then he hands it to the talent.

That being said, I am planning on airsoft weapons for my upcoming shoot.
 
Well, sorry about the Spiderman dig.

There remains an idiot in this scenario however. Who loaded the gun and didn't tell anybody? You should shoot him in the leg with a blank, just to keep things even. Anyone seen "Go?"
 
Publicity stunt.
smiley_colbert.gif



Just kidding. :blush:


Man, you guys are lucky. Could have turned out much worse. Hope you recover soon enough. :cool:

There was a squib demonstration at Vegas Indiemeet 2010, performed by licensed pyros. Even those have lethal consequences if mishandled, and those are designed to be as safe as explosives can be made.

Quick q - did you at least get it on film? Maybe even the BTS camera? Gotta make getting shot be worthwhile, somehow! :abduct:
 
I take back my calling you a freaking moron.

But I RESERVE the right to laugh at you. That's a pretty funny story.

I will say that GUN SAFETY 101 is to ALWAYS assume a gun is loaded. If you had done so, you would have discovered the blank before any harm. Please see my "Gift Of Live Saving Information" 2:10 to be specific. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbv8CRrN5Vg
 
I could've sworn that ROC posted something like 'how funny would it be if he Googled it and saw this thread' seconds before svestus registered and posted... now that post has disappeared.

Please tell me I'm not having a stroke...
 
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