stray bullet fx

[titaniumdoughnut]

anybody got some good ideas for me? on saturday i'm shooting the major fight in my movie.

we got the realistic theatre guns, we got the martial arts, we got the knives. what we don't got is a simple and effective way to do stray bullet impacts. not people being hit but the ground (sand, dirt and grass), tree leaves and branchs, etc. like little puffs of dirt or a clump grass blades springing up suddenly as the fbi turn tail and run like ze wind! or closeup leaves ripping apart and branchs snapping.

any ideas would be very helpful! thanks!

- perry

[Brainmuncher]

Ever heard of an orange bomb? Stick some fireworks under leaves and light them, then film them setting them off close up.
Problem is, its only realistic if its meant to b shot from a big gun, and the fbi dont usually carrry rocket launchers around with them.

Actual bombs would work better, and the anarchists cook book hosts a variety of these. however, they are VERY dangerous.

The only one i can think of is the tennis ball bomb, which you could chuck at someone like a grenade (i know im going off on a tangent but you did say any ideas). Gouge out a tennis ball and then fill it with match heads, before taping it up with holy gaffer tape.

I stress once again the need for caution. And the fact that it might not blow up first time, if at all.

But you did say any ideas.

[rumaDAje]

You can also bury those little bombs.(might need to add a little tube for air supply)Especially try to use some firework that generates a lot of smoke, because the smoke generates a more dramatic effect.
For the branch snapping: use a saw to cut the branch from the backside, so you don't see it from the camera's point of view, and then pull it whith an invisible rope(use some leaves to camouflage the point where the rope is tied to the branch)
For the ground impacts, you can also use an old cheap Spielberg trick: Bury a part of a plank or a branch in the ground, and let your actor who is running by step on it, the result should be some flying dirt.
Have fun experimenting!

CU
David

[Integers]

when we did any gun shot effects, we just used a BB gun a friend got when he was younger and we used yellow BBs to give the effect of a flash. this looked ****. but if you only want stray bullets then you might be able to get a good effect using BB guns or air rifles.

[Tard]

Or you could try experimenting with homemade squibs.

Take the gunpowder fuses outa fire*******s or the smaller lady-finger crachers, replace the fuse with those little battery-operated electric launchers from a model rocket kit (so the fuse won't be smoking before the 'pop' bullet impact). Paint/camoflage the wires, etc.

For bullet impacts on a tree, dig into the trunk a little bit & replace the bark pieces over the squib, then when the squib goes off, it'll kick-out little pieces of treebark too. It'll look a lot more realistic than just a bit of smoke & shredded paper from a plain fire******* taped to a tree.

[titaniumdoughnut]

thanks everyone for the ideas! i especially like the spielberg trick ; ) i'll post and let you know how it went when i'm done, maybe i can include a video clip to show it. cheers [img]smile.gif[/img]

[3n1]

if you don't have any money (like me) just use bycicle pump for ground/sand hits. It looks like **** but hey, your crew will have fun pumping when the actor/actress run by (he he)

[Filmmaker58]

Sorry if I'm too late with this post, but a sling shot firing bits of chalk or small dirtclods works pretty well. just be careful you don't shoot anybody. As you get more advanced, special effects houses sell pellets (paintballs *****d with dust) for use with paintball guns that anyone can buy. they also have sparking balls called zircs, but you need a pyro license to buy those. I found that the fireworks thing doesn't work too well because they make such a huge flash it doesn't look real.

[titaniumdoughnut]

turns out we didn't film that bit due to puring rain (the ground wasn't about to spit up any dust for us). we basically stood outside in pouring rain (me filming from inside a garbage bag) unable to use our mics (causing massive dubbing for post) for four hours to film 8 minutes of video, 4 of which will be edited in! now i am contemplating doing it again in nice weather (everyone would probably want to kill me for making them do it in the rain at all then) coz we could probably redo it in about 30 min. thanks for the new suggestions! if we do it again the slingshot and the pump sound like good ideas too