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Here is a soundless clip of two thugs clearing the score using the safe Air Squib to create the action.  The T-shirts are new, and the treated fibres create a protective film that does not look as convincing as when using washed shirts. So, we recommend washing your shirts for an even better effect with the stage blood bleeding through the shirt from the first secon.

Stuntman Daniel Hallin tries out the safe air squib in a test with abun with blanks.

Looking great, Daniel! Great spray and your reaction also “sell” the effects. Good work!

Creative filmmaker Victor Saf tried the Air Squib in a new way, attaching it to the back of the actor’s hand, spraying stage blood on his face while simulating the hit. Victor also added the “add-a-hole-technique” shown here a few weeks ago, adding a hole in the hand using AE. Great work, Victor with an exciting sequence! Love that falling gun too!

While preparing for an FX scene I stayed in a hotel room in Stockholm. The glass in the bathroom was a little intriguing, so I tried out a scene with some stage blood I thought you may find interesting.

One of our customers, Stunt and Fight Coordinator Desmond Teng, makes us happy by occasionally sending clips from productions where he uses the safe air squib. Here is a sample from a production with a gruesome-looking headshot where Desmond arranges the hit on the forehead and cuts into the scene just prior to firing the spray on the wall.

Good job, Desmond, and thanks for sharing this clever technique!

These three air squibs look very similar, but they create drastically different effects. The first unit is a classic air squib, safely simulating a 9 mm bloody hit in an actor. The second unit gives an 18 mm diameter hit on the actor – and the final, third one, simulated six simultaneous bullet hit effects (like an “execution”) in the garments of the actor. All units are radio-controlled, making it easier for the actor to focus on acting, and helping to act surprised after the hit, and not before.

The effects of the six-shooter on a torso

The effects of the Big Shot on an actor

Want to improve your shootout or action scene? Sometimes I get requests from young filmmakers on how to make a shootout scene look good. My best recommendation is to hire a real FX technician, but what if you are on a small budget? I recently started responding to an “indie” filmmaker and ended up with a long list that even surprised me. If you are in the same situation, here is part of that list of “Proven techniques to improve any bullet hit scene” – using any type of exploding squib, safe air squib or even CGI hits. Amazingly, even if the tips are tested in hundreds of productions, way before even CGI-hits were developed, these ideas will work nicely in such situations too!

Here is the list:
1) Add plenty of sound effects. Add many more sound effects than visible hits on the actor. Have lots of shots firing, but it is only necessary to ”show”
a hit for every 3-6 sounds of a gun fired. This will make it seem like more hits.

2) Have the actor act with many jerking motions as he/she was riddled with many hits, even if you only actually SEE a few hits.

3) Have the surroundings behave as if that was hit by stray bullets to lure the viewer’s eye away from the lack of blood hits on the actor.
If you are on a budget and cannot afford a real FX technician, you can use fishing lines and compressed air, and even people behind set pieces dropping paintings, knocking over props, breaking mirrors (from the back with a small hammer etc) and use breakaway bottles etc. It is also common to rig mouse traps to throw things around in the background. Maybe try shaking a bush or pulling off wires in trees if you are outdoors. Paint out fishing lines in post-production if you did not hide them well enough when filming.

4) Have the actor do dramatic things. Fall backwards, into bushes, onto balsawood props, drop breakaway bottles, fall into ponds or – my
favourite – lean with a bloody head onto a wall or window (be VERY careful here and take precautions not to break it – preferably use plastic polycarbonate etc) , slowly smearing the surface with stage blood as the talent ”slides” down.

5) When editing, cut to scenes of splattering blood on a wall or on other actors. This can be done with stage blood in a hand sprayer – or even with a handful of stage blood swung toward the wall etc. (additional tip – practise with water that dries quickly). This way, you don’t need to show the hit, but leaves that to the imagination of the viewer.

6) If you want to film the actor lying ”dead” after the attack, add extra bullet holes (20-50 % more) and blood splashes when filming him
”dead” on the ground. This will make people more impressed – but ”don’t overdo it” of course. You cant show a guy shot twice, and then
show him dead with a hundred holes…

7) Heavy editing. Cut quickly between other actions. Close-up of the victim’s face in agony, a car passing by with a scared driver,
screeching tyres, muzzle flames, evil shooter smiling triumphantly, people’s phones tapping in ”911″, and simply the victim contorting
and holding the arm, chest or stomach as if in pain.

Good luck with your filming!

One of the first Hollywood blockbusters I was working on was “Poltergeist II” in the late 1980s. It was a great experience that made me long for more effects work. One scene that I was NOT involved in is when the boy, Robbie Freeling, holds a glass that suddenly breaks as if cracked by supernatural powers. To this day, I have no idea how the glass broke, spilling liquid all over as I was not part of the practical effects crew. But I was recently asked to hold a 2-hour lecture on “Creating Special Effects using things from the hardware store and Supermarket”. For this, I made a simpler coffee cup rig, reacting as if hit by a bullet. It can be rigged with the air squib we offer on our website, but you can also use regular compressed air from a compressor. Use a valve to activate the effect.
Here is the video that shows you the simple rig:

The effect can be used in a comedy sequence or in serious action, as part of a shootout sequence etc.

We are working on a video guide on how to combine the safe air squib with digital effects. It will not be out quite yet, but keep your eyes peeled for some good future. Here is the first hit documented by an off-screen iPhone shooting at 240 fps.