Where does Hollywood get it's full auto's?

[jim in Anchorage]

I just watched the last episode of the walking dead. Dozens of full automatic's being fired, many different kinds. No way these are all pre 86 guns. Is there a "Hollywood exemption" to the gun laws? Or do they have someone with "chief law enforcement officer" title on the payroll buy the guns in his departments name and he "loans" them to the studios?

 

[armoredman]

There are a few weapons rentals in that area with all the legally registered toys. There are many exemptions built into CA laws to allow the movie industry to let anti gun "heros" like Sly Stallone use firearms the local guy can't possibly afford or legally own in CA, while spouting anti rights nonsense off the set.
The goofiest "gun" the movie industry uses is the "spark gun", which throws those famous "bullet sparks" out, which always fascinated me how a bullet made of no sparking, non ferrous materials could spark off anything...unless it's a Mosin shooting surplus steel core ammo.

But seriously, yes, they have rental agencies with all those expensive toys, and given the support Hollyweird gives politicians, they will keep their toys for a long time.

 

[Slamfire]

I read an article of perhaps "the rental agency" for the movie industry. The article would not give out a street address or even a city. Pictures showed every conceivable historical arm you can think of.

I have no idea of the mechanics of transfer. Localities give hundreds of millions in tax breaks, or just flat out tax subsidies to the movie industry, I am sure that given the financial clout, lawmakers have created lots of exemptions for Hollywood.

California Film & Television Tax Credit Program

100% Tax Deduction for Movie Picture Production

$100 Million CA taxbreaks to 2017

$170 Million tax incentives for movie industry in Louisiana

 

[Baldman]

I think one way The Walking Dead gets around it is a lot of filming is done in GA. Hopefully GA is much more gun friendly than CA. My big question of the scene (like many other scenes in movies / TV / etc) is the lack of the reload.

 

[David E]

Another way is Hollywood magic, via post production editing.

 

[Zoogster]

There is in fact exemptions for the film industry which can rent guns others cannot even possess.



This was a big source of guns in movies of decent budgets some decades ago. However Hollywood primarily uses CGI and a variety of fake guns even in high end movies today.
There is some exceptions like when they do close ups involving things where a real gun could be of great benefit, however these are almost never scenes where the gun is actually fired.

The downfall of real guns used in Hollywood firing blanks came as a result of Brandon Lee dying while making The Crow.
Big budget films have various financial sources and insurance involved.
They have timelines and deadlines to stay within budgets.
The Crow was able to be completed even after the star's death as a result of enough other scenes having been filmed.
However from a cold financial perspective the majority of films would be ruined or hard to complete if the star or a significant supporting actor/actress died while filming.
The film being ruined or requiring new cast or scenes to compensate would go over budget or cost the insurer and financers big bucks.

So there is strong financial motive to severely restrict real firearms used on set. Where the same scenes are filmed many times, the props get loaded or unloaded before being used in other scenes. (Scenes are generally not shot in the order you actually watch them in the film.)
They don't want anyone injured until they are done with the film. There is some similar issues with people that want to do their own stunts sometimes as well. (Not as big of an issue now that so much is done with CGI now.)
This requires someone to keep track of the guns and everything going on, and you still have dangerous weapons around Hollywood people typically chosen for looks and as a result many cast in action roles using guns won't have any common sense.
As a result most guns are fake. They are rubber props when tossed around, painted in ultra realistic details. Or propane firing guns, spark firing guns, non firing replicas relying on CGI to add all the necessary effects, or something similar when being fired.
Some real guns in scenes without firing.

The movie Heat was noted for being one of the big movies after The Crow where real firearms were used and real sounds from those firearms echoing around buildings were recorded.
Even still they are only so realistic because without a projectile being fired the firearm firing blanks lacks recoil. So you can fire something on full auto holding it in certain ways or in a caliber that wouldn't turn out so well in real life.

 

[ATLDave]

Do you think those guns were all firing real bullets? Or that they are capable of firing real bullets? They shoot blanks, and are converted to operate on - and only permit the chambering of - blanks.

 

[ATLDave]

The movie Heat was noted for being one of the big movies after The Crow where real firearms were used and real sounds from those firearms echoing around buildings were recorded.

Even then, the guns were not recorded during the acting takes. They were recorded elsewhere (IIRC - I read an article about it contemporaneously with the movie coming out, so it was many years ago), then the sound was dubbed in. That's certainly standard practice in Hollywood productions, from my understanding.

 

[rodregier]

One of the big players in the historic/full auto market *used* to be Stembridge. They came to the realization that selling their collection would net more money than operating
for (say) the next 25 years. A lot of that has to do with how astronomical a value of a transferrable full auto has become when they closed the register for civilian-legal full autos in 1986. Movies being shot outside California was another factor.

http://www.imdb.com/company/co0009868/

https://plus.google.com/117315796853062280774/about?gl=ca&hl=en


http://www.stembridge.us/2004/10/25/stembridge-gun-rental/

 

[jrdolall]

Ahhh Hollywood. I watch the Walking Dead and think it is one of the best shows on TV.

Toward the end of last season, The Governor shot one of the good guys with a single shot to the head from a couple hundred yards. He then proceeded to shoot at every other person multiple times with no hits all while standing in the open beside his car.

Much of this is filmed in Senoia GA and I know several people that have been in some of the shows as extras. It's pretty cool to watch a show every week and know exactly what they are talking about geographically. Taking Highway 85 to Atlanta does not mean taking Interstate 85.

One thing I think they have not yet exploited is the fact that Fort Benning is about 45 miles from where a lot of this action is supposedly taking place. I wonder if there are any fully automatic weapons anywhere on that base?

 

[DammitBoy]

Do you think those guns were all firing real bullets? Or that they are capable of firing real bullets? They shoot blanks, and are converted to operate on - and only permit the chambering of - blanks.

This, plus a lot of the guns you see in tv and movies are rubber replicas and the shooting bullets part is added post-production.

I work in the movie business and nothing is more fun than getting to talk to the Armorer on set during production, especially if you offer to help him move/load up all his goodies.

Movie armorers are independent contractors who rent their specialized (non-firing) firearms that have been converted to shooting blanks to movie and tv production companies. These guys are basically mobile FFL's.

 

[DammitBoy]

Even then, the guns were not recorded during the acting takes. They were recorded elsewhere (IIRC - I read an article about it contemporaneously with the movie coming out, so it was many years ago), then the sound was dubbed in. That's certainly standard practice in Hollywood productions, from my understanding.

Not in my experience. It's common to hear plenty of gunshots while filming.

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, but are those sounds the ones that they use in the final audio? Or are "better" sounds dubbed in afterward?

 

[DammitBoy]

Some of both. Production can never leave anything alone, but the gunshots are recorded during filming and there are plenty of them.

On Oblivion, they shot the New York Library scene for three days and the gunfire was constant for eight hours a day.

 

[brickeyee]

If it sounds at all like a typical movie gunshot it was dubbed in, even on top of an actual recorded shot (makes it easier to align visuals to sounds).

The audio equipment used is simply not capable of rendering anything as loud or impulsive as an actual gunshot.

Not enough bandwidth, not enough dynamic range.

Unless the gun is going to be used in closeups there is no reason to use the actual model.

It just needs to look acceptable at a distance.

If you make an item that cannot fire ammunition with actual bullets, it is not actually a firearm.

Short chambers, very small bores to generate back pressure to cycle actions, are just a few of the tricks to making a 'non-gun' gun.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Thanks for all the informed posts guys. I knew I could count on THR for the info!

 

[Elkins45]

I remember a posting on rec.guns (remember rec.guns?) from someone who said he worked in the film industry. According to him a lot of the 'guns' we see are actually gun-like devices that operate on propane and are tuned to give maximum muzzle flash for photographic effect.

Don't know if it's true, but it makes sense considering some of the crazy muzzle flashes that full auto movie guns generate.

 

[GEM]

It is true. You can google for it and see the companies that make such. It's been discussed here and on TFL before. They are designed to make those muzzle flashes.

 

[KimberUltra]

Makes me think though. How lame would so many shoot em up type movies be if they had to adhere to the current guns laws in a lot of states. Bolt action shootouts. Small magazines forcing reloading after 5 shots. I think it would be amusing.

 

[JTMcC]

In my little rural part of the world, about 15 mile as the crow flies from my shack, is a big metal building in the middle of nowhere with a very nice machine shop inside.
They pulled out of CA about 20 years ago and make propane powered full auto movie guns of almost every sort.
They have real firearms for security tho.

J

For what it's worth, we haven't had a legitimate zombie sighting around here for years.

 

[jrdolall]

For what it's worth, we haven't had a legitimate zombie sighting around here for years.

They must be mostly nocturnal in your area.

 

[Outlaw Man]

Where's Correia when you need him??

 

[9mmepiphany]

For those wondering, it isn't a rental in the sense that the studio either picks up the guns or they are delivered and left.

What the rental includes is the Arms Master(s) who is responsible for all the guns...he loads them and maintains them...and maintains control of them. The guns never leave his sight, much less the stage. He takes personal possession of each gun after each scene...especially the Class 3 ones

 

[bobmcd]

You don't need real automatic weapons to make an action movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-ZmwATS8E

 

[Robert]

Asked, answered and drifting.