Alrighty, thanks.

Eh, schools been out for a while and no ones there. I plan on having the prop gun hidden away until we have to do the scene, and then it will only be out for like 3 minutes tops, before it goes back away...

"Let's not freak out, man. I run an airsoft event with 100 players and no problems. Hunters carry guns everywhere and gun shops abound."

In some juristictions , yes they do. every state is different and Canada and the UK are extremely tight with their gun control. let's not debate the relative merits as each state and country have their own special reasons.

"These stories you hear are freak happenings."

Not where I live they're not. lets remember we're counselling a 14 year old here. The further north you go the stiffer the gun laws.

For the record I have served in the military and have been active in competition shooting. I still own several match weapons. Gun safety is a very real issue especially since 9 / 11.

<<<-- Originally posted by Alex Knappenberger : About treating a "weapon" as if its loaded all the time, I wouldn't classify this BB gun as a "weapon", seriously. I can shoot myself in the leg like 20 times repeatedly with it, and it pretty much just leaves some bruses and stings. It doesn't even use c02 or "green gas", its just spring loaded.

Alex, eyes and ears have been lost to just that type of BB gun. That clasifies it as a weapon. I used to bust poker chips at 20 feet with one. That's a fair amount of power.

I'm sorry, but if you have that attitude towards that weapon, you shouldn't be using it. No smiley face.

Alex,

I shot an indie feature a couple of years ago in New York in which we used airsoft guns as props. They work great. You can put some talc in the barrel and get a little muzzle smoke in the shot. The gas powered ones are the best because the action cycles just like the real thing. Infinitely smarter than dealing with blank firing real guns, especially on a budget. Everything else you can do in post (muzzle flash, casing, etc.). The advice you have gotten about contacting the local police is good and you should take it. Just remember that several agencies may be responsible for the area you are shooting in and just because you informed one agency doesn't mean the cops that roll up on your shoot are going to know what's going on. Cops will kill you. Signs are a very good idea, and also, if you are shooting at night make sure you have very obvious C-stands and lighting rigs. If it is during the day, make your diffusers, bounce cards, etc. really obvious. I would definitely NOT shoot a scene that involves a "gun" guerrilla style. The more people and gear you have on hand, the more obvious it is going to be that it is a film shoot. Also, I would find another venue. Guns and schools, bad idea. Just my $0.02

Good luck,

~Brad

What I'm trying to downplay is the "much ado about nothing" attitude. Sure, bad things have happened to careless people. So don't be careless. Contact the school board or principal and ask permission. Then tell the cops what you want to do and that the school gave permission. No big deal. As a 14-year old, it might be better to get your dad to request those permissions so you'll be taken more seriously.

BTW, airsoft guns use plastic bb's and are nowhere near as painful as those metal bb airguns. Also, no, we don't walk openly with guns down here.

You can easily cause serious damage to your eye if you got an Airsoft shot to the face. I'm sure you know that; just pointing it out to everybody else. Obviously if you use Airsoft guns in a shoot you should take every precaution to make sure it is unloaded (still stray pellets can be caught up in the mechanism) and make sure people treat it as if it were a real weapon.

- no horseplay
- guns are secured between shots / scenes

There are courses you can take that that are geared toward gun safety in shoots that not only teach you safety but also teach non-gun owners how real weapons are wielded to make your shoot more realistic. There is one in Vancouver where they actually teach participants basic CQB (close quarter battle) scenarios.

Just some good news, we finished shooting it, and there were even people (teachers and stuff) inside of the school, and some were watching us the whole time. It only took us about 20-30 minutes to knock pretty much everything out, we were rushing, and of course, rushing is bad, it makes you forget stuff. Rushing caused us to forget the equipment we needed to make it look like he gets shot, so he just had to act it out hoping I could add something in editing, and hopefully I can.

It's going to be a completely retarded video, I looked rediculous, heh.

Look forward to it.

That's good to hear.

Eh, I just got done reviewing all the stuff, rushing is bad once again, lots of bad shots, on top of that my LCD is bad and even if it was working properly it was too bright outside to see it, so I had trouble properly exposing stuff. AE = BAD.

As long as my editing is good, it can still be pretty funny.

Glad no one got arrested or hurt!!! Good luck with the editing!