Loud Gunshot tricks

[BrokeStudents]

Hi,

 

I've been tasked with somehow producing a realistic pistol effect for a Student production of Widows, based upon Ariel Dorfman's book.

I've looked into Hire, and we cannot afford it, especially with the necessary Armourers etc.

 

Any ideas of getting round it?

[andy_s]

Create an offstage sound effect with a length of 3 x 1 timber (about 2 ft long maybe?). Drill a 6mm through the wood at one end, then use a 10mm drillbit to widen out the hole to about a third of the way through the wood. Poke a length of 6mm sashcord through the hole, tie a knot in the end of the sash on the wide side of the hole. Make sure the knot lies inside the 10mm hole, but doesn't pull through the 6mm hole. Lay wood on floor in wings. put foot on end without sash; pull on sash to bend the other end up off the floor (creating a spring). On cue, release sash to allow the wood to slap onto the floor creating loud sharp crack, similar to gunshot.

 

Apologies for longwinded prose!

[sparks fly]

do you have any pyro equipment there? if so you could set a small cartridge up in the wings and use that to create the effect - almost identical to a blank cartridge in a pistol, if not it might be cheaper to hire than a pistol and blanks...etc

[cedd]

Many professional productions make use of recorded cound effects. There's nothing wrong with using a sound track. It's not as realistic, particularly when it comes to locating the position of the sound source, but it may well be the simplest and cheapest method.

The gunshots in Sister Act are sound cue's, and to be honest, I was quite glad of it when I was watching. I was 3 rows back in the stalls and not too far away from the gun!

Whilst it can be quite fun to make an audience jump with a loud bang, I honestly think it spoils the performance. Not only is it quite unpleasant to be made to jump, it also kills off any mood in the piece, cause there's the usual muttering and laughing about having been made to jump.

 

Pre recorded sound effects or the lump of wood trick seem a pretty sensible way to go.

[andy_s]

When I started working in the business quite a long time ago, the received wisdom was that recorded gunshots were much inferior to real gunshots using blank-firing weapons. This was due to the inability of the the available technology to reproduce a sound with a very fast attack time and short duration accurately on cue.

 

with samplers and other computer based sound reproduction systems, this is no longer such a problem, so using recorded effects is indeed a viable option, and as Cedd says, gives much more control over the levels, reducing the "startle" effect.

 

However, having worked on several productions using real gunshots, and seen plenty more, I would disagree that loud bangs necessarily spoil the performance. In the context of a lighted hearted musical entertainment like Sister Act, this may be the case. In the context of the last scene of Blood Brothers, (also musical theatre, but much less light-hearted!) the loud gunshots used in the production I saw (not the current West End version) left the audience in stunned silence, which was absolutely the desired effect. In this production, the weapon was fired by an actor coming down the aisle through the auditorium - somehow I doubt whether this would be acceptable nowadays, but it was hugely effective in the dramatic context. (I've never seen the West End production, so I've no idea how they achieve this in that version)

 

Note to Sparks Fly - the OP has already ruled out the use of blank firing pistols for budget and other reasons - I imagine the budget constraints would also apply to the use of pyros.

[BrokeStudents]

Thanks, some great ideas. The issue with recorded sound effects is that at the moment we are using a lecture theatre, as the designated theatre is being built for next year, when Dartington College of Arts moves in to our campus in Falmouth.

Also, being in Falmouth does increase the travel costs of any armourers, but would off stage pyros need an armourer?

That plank idea is really great, thanks, I'll see how it goes, don't know how it will work on the carpet though.

[themadhippy]

but would off stage pyros need an armourer

nope just a competent person who knows how to use pyros safely,a suitable firing device and if you go down the maroon route a bomb tank.a tank and firer shouldn't cost more than £25 to hire for a week,box of maroons about £30

[andy_s]

Thanks, some great ideas. The issue with recorded sound effects is that at the moment we are using a lecture theatre, as the designated theatre is being built for next year, when Dartington College of Arts moves in to our campus in Falmouth.

Also, being in Falmouth does increase the travel costs of any armourers, but would off stage pyros need an armourer?

That plank idea is really great, thanks, I'll see how it goes, don't know how it will work on the carpet though.

 

It won't make the right noise on a carpeted floor; to solve this I'd get a bit of 18mm ply 4 ft square to lay on the floor as a base for the effect...

 

and I won't take credit for the idea - it's a pretty common live sound effect from the days before extensive libraries of pre-recorded stuff - usually used as a back-up in case the gun misfired, I believe.

 

I'd just add to TMH's very clear post that even small maroons are very very loud indeed - louder I'd say than a 9mm blank firing pistol.

[Jivemaster]

With pyro you may wish to test whether a small maroon or a microdet or similar gives the right sound, and buying a box of each may be silly money just to try one! You can't buy singles.

 

Using any of the designs for a wooden clap board will be the cheapest and most effective method if the sound system is not up to producing a couple of samples of gunshot. These can be found on the web and in sound libraries. They can be played off PC MiniDisc or CD according to your preference.

 

Even a realistic looking dummy or replica firearm needs careful handling to ensure that it is secure when not in the action. No-one in a bank has time to check whether it's a dummy when reading a note to hand over the money. Careful liason with your local police should keep you on the right side of the Violent Crime Reduction legislation.

[Just Some Bloke]

don't know how it will work on the carpet though.

Just turn the whole thing around by 90 degrees and use the wall as your base instead of the floor. Not quite as good but still works fine, especially for the sound of a smaller gun.

[wycome5]

Incase anyone is interested, Blood Brothers (West End) still position the police officers in the aisles (or they did a few months back).