Action Movie Location help?

[Brandon]

My friends and I have wanted to shoot some action scenes for awhile now, and we know that using guns outdoors is the furthest thing from a good idea. But wanting to use guns in an action scene, and seeing how other YouTubers like FreddieW, and the like all have these outside places to use them at, how would I go about being able to do that? I don't exactly have the money to buy permits and insurance, and I would guess that they aren't doing it for one of their weekly YouTube videos. Any help at all would be great. Even indoor places would be good, I was thinking maybe looking at what places are for sale and contacting them and asking if I could give them like a hundred bucks to film in there for a day or whatever.

[rayw]

Oh, screw spending a dime on locations to practice learning how to shoot an action scene.
There's no need for that. Plenty of other options - until you KNOW what you're doing before spending money on.

First, Jersey, you're going to want to google your local film commission just on general principles. Find out what the official rules and regs are.

Second, you can do whatever you want inside your own home or that of your cast, crew, & friends - without any permits or anything. Now, once you step outside and the do-gooder neighbors and passersby can flip out over guys with guns running about on the stoop, sidewalk, and driveway then you're going to need to let everyone know WTH is going on BEFOREHAND and likely have someone standing around watching for incidental do-gooders.

Third, find FREEEEE locations. Abandoned businesses with nice big backyards and parking spaces, commercial buildings for sale, train tracks & yards, brown fields, rock quarries, dirt/rock fill dump sites, under bridges and collective storm drains, service areas behind strip malls, etc.
Places where no one goes for days or weeks, even.
I advise against regular public parks. Maybe a very large park you could do some guerrilla shooting in for just a couple hours without getting thrown out, but... maybe you just might wanna stop by the park manager's station and inquire first.

POLICE
If you're going to have guys with airsoft pistols running about pretend shooting each other outside in public some do-gooder is going to bring the fuzz down on you, and they don't seem to be particularly easy to comfort once they get their hackles up. They donnnn't eeeeven carrrre that you're using airsoft pistols.
And for God's sake don't even consider using a real UNLOADED gun on set just to make practice films. Wait until you know what you're doing before realizing it's not worth the hassle.


Then watch what everyone else is doing: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ac.IiMfHELE50E

[PaulGriffith]

Like Ray said, check local laws and dot use real weapons.

In Texas, on private property you're pretty much free to do whatever you want. We've shot a lot of action and almost all of it has been at churches haha. We do some set decorating, toss pallets about and what not but yeah, most of the guys on our team are active at one church or another and it's easy to get permission to shoot there.

I definitely recommend the private property route. If someone manages a store or a warehouse get them to be a part of it. The back alley behind any building probably looks action-y enough.

Definitely don't try it near any schools or anything haha. Be extra smart about what you're doing.

[directorik]

Private property is the way to go. You still need to notify the local
police because they may get calls from neighbors and it's the right
thing to do.

I had never seen the FreddieW films. They have excellent locations,
don't they? "Pedestrian Revenge" was shot just outside of downtown
LA and they did nice compositing work on the 4th Street bridge. Easy
to guerrilla down there because so much shooting happens, the locals
would never call the cops. But, man, do I hate those CG blood hits
and muzzle flash.

[Lisa Talley]

I did a student film a couple semesters back, a cops and robbers kind of student film. Our biggest shoot was a heist scene that required 8 people dressed all in black, with masks, and waving around fake fire arms. Actors in fake police uniforms then chased them down an alley way with fake shotguns. It was quite a scene. SO, to prepare for that we attempted to look up the city's film commission for rules and regulations, but the city didn't have one. Our next step: we called the police department to let them know the time and day we planned to film, exactly what we were filming and about how long we were going to be out there. We lucked out and they were very accommodating, all they required from us were signs around our scene that let the public know that the firearms were fake and that there was "filming in progress".

Depending on your city, you may not have a film commission, so it may help to call your local police department to let them know what you have planned.

But I definitely agree with the above statement about locations, DON'T shell out money for one if you're just practicing, not if you don't have to.

Video Production

[rayw]

[Lucky Hardwood]

I would recommend a paintball field. You have the advantages of a private property location where artificial arms fire occurs regularly, an area set up for the type of action that you are looking for, rental gear availability, and access to a nearly unlimited pool of willing actors, most of which will have their own gear.

http://www.funnewjersey.com/upload_u...J_SKIRMISH.HTM