modelguns & movies

****Originally posted by pcess****




I was wondering, are modelguns used in some big hollywood movies?
Are another type of blank firing guns used?

****Originally posted by mark****




Hi Pcess,

I think that at one time hollywood was using modelguns as detailed background props in some movies. But, i think that most of them where replaced with solid resin copys after the supply of modelguns dried up in 1988 due to new federal laws on replica guns and the rising Yen to Dollar exchange rate.

That and the brittle nature of most plastic modelguns doomed most of the use of the newer types of modelguns. The earlier modelguns where made out of zinc and steel and made very durable props and some of these, evidently are still in use today.

The vast majority of firearms in use in movies are real firearms that are specially modified to shoot blanks by restricting the barrels.

If any movies are using modelguns in production, they are most certainly being used outside of hollywood in foreign and independent films where firearms are hard if not impossible to get (legally that is)

I think that in many of the martial arts movies etc. that you can tell the "guns" that they may be using are in fact, modelguns!

****Originally posted by pcess****




thanks
i was wondering for so long what kind of guns they used.
Now i know they use modified real firearms.

**** Originally posted by madmike ****




As far as I know metal MGC M-16s were used in Kubrick´s "Full Metal Jacket" in 1987 by troops who did not shoot their rifles in the movie.

I can also remember some scenes from the TV series "Tour of Duty" (first season, 1987) where some M-16s looked like MGC models.

Greetings

MadMike

**** Originally posted by pcess ****




Has anyone seen a Hong Kong film called "Time & Tide"?

-great movie

Do they use modelguns in that movie?

**** Originally posted by mark ****

Quote :

Has anyone seen a Hong Kong film called "Time & Tide"?

I have not seen the movie but, i am sure that they used modelguns as i am sure that the use of real firearms would be very limited (if any) in Hong Kong. Unless, they had co-operation from the government or something.

So, i am reasonably sure that they had to use modelguns....

**** Originally posted by rizzo ****




I've watched quite a few of John Woo's earlier films which are all based around Hong Kong. He may also used modelguns in those films too, as they were filmed around the period that they were beginning to produce them. Although some of the guns used look very metal It is difficult to differentiate between plastic and metal when sound effects are dubbed in...

**** Originally posted by mark ****

Quote :

It is difficult to differentiate between plastic and metal when sound effects are dubbed in...

That is very true, but the muzzle flash and the recoil is very hard to simulate eventhough, the muzzle flash can be simulated by the effects team by caps or by other methods, simulated recoil is hard to time correctly. So, sometimes modelguns can be spotted fairly easily in a movie.

**** Originally posted by rizzo ****




Since when do movies accurately simulate REAL recoil anyway :p Most movies replicate what the filmmaker thinks the public will want to see/hear when a gun is fired. For example, the sound of a silenced weapon or even an unsilenced weapon is usually very unrealistic in most films.