shut and it s designed specifically to create the simulation of gunfire. there is an audible bang. there is smoke. there is a bit of a muzzle flash. but there s no projectile flying downrange. now, sometimes in a movie, you would use this. but it would be inert. it wouldn t have gun powder, wouldn t have primer. you would use it because you sometimes want a tight shot of a bullet being loaded into a gun, right? sure. again, this is what we call a dummy cartridge in the industry. we manufacture those here at iss ourselves and we put a bb inside of the shell case. so you can actually rattle it by your ear and hear it and when we would be loading that into a gun on set in front of an actor, we would tell them, hey, we are loading in these rounds so that you can see that the gun s loaded on camera. but each one is a dummy and we would rattle it next to the actor s ear and then with their understanding that it is not a live round, we would go ahead
and it s just not done. now, the blanks that are typically put in actors guns, they make noise. they light up. smoke. nothing comes out. but to a layman, when you look at a blank, can look like a live round. you have here a blank and a live round. explain the difference. and what what the difference is between them. okay. this particular round right here is actually a dummy cartridge. but we re going to use it as an example of a live round. this is what a live round would look like? this is what a live round would look like. and so, you see that we have a cartridge case. typically, that s full of gun powder. there is a primer case or a primer cap at the bottom. and this right here is the projectile or the bullet. that is what would leave the shell casing, and get propelled downrange in a live cartridge. and this? this right here is the modern crimped theatrical motion picture blank. and you can see that it s simply a shell casing. there is a primer cap at the bottom. but
you would use it because you sometimes want a tight shot of a bullet being loaded into a gun, right? sure. again, this is what we call a dummy cartridge in the industry. we manufacture those here at iss ourselves and we put a bb inside of the shell case. so you can actually rattle it by your ear and hear it and when we would be loading that into a gun onset in front of an actor, we would tell them, hey, we are loading in these rounds so that you can see that the gun s loaded on camera. but each one is a dummy and we would rattle it next to the actor s ear and then with their understanding that it is not a live round, we would go ahead and load it into the firearm once the first ad told us that we were ready to do that. assistant director. correct. so now, we were shooting with you the other day as i said and you emphasized the only two terms that people should be hearing are hot gun and cold gun. what do each of those terms mean? so in the motion motion-picture industry, we
is actually a dummy cartridge. but we re going to use it as an example of a live round. this is what a live round would look like? this is what a live round would look like. and so, you see that we have a cartridge case. typically, that s full of gun powder. there is a primer case or a primer cap at the bottom. and this right here is the projectile or the bullet. that is what would leave the shell casing, and get propelled d downrange in a live cartridge. and this? this right here is the modern crimped theatrical motion picture blank. and you can see that it s simply a shell casing. there is a primer cap at the bottom. but there s no projectile. it s simply crimped over and shut and it s designed specifically to create the simulation of gunfire. there is an audible bang. there is smoke. there is a bit of a muzzle flash. but there s no projectile flying downrange. now, sometimes in a movie, you would use this. but it would be inert. it wouldn t have gun powder, wouldn t have p
just so i m clear, if somebody has a dummy round in and the gun is very close to them, could that potentially injure somebody? no, no, let me let me be clear. the dummy cartridge is totally inert. it s the blank cartridge that makes the smoke and the muzzle flash. so, sorry, i used the wrong terminology. if it s the blank cartridge, the smoke and the muzzle flash. i mean, if someone s holding that up to their head or in close proximity, that is something that they would avoid doing? sure. in the the safety guidelines, it clearly states that minimum safety distance in front of a muzzle of a blank firearm is 20 feet. so, you should never have that situation where a full-flash blank is being pressed up against someone s exposed skin or anything like that. there is, again, a little bit of a flash, a little bit of smoke and stuff coming out so you would not want that in that close proximity and that s why we maintain a minimum 20-foot safety distance.