MOVIE GUN SAFETY COURSE
For Performers & Filmmakers

Brandon Lee would certainly be alive today
If the filmmakers had taken this course.

With the majority of motion pictures employing firearms, all career performers and filmmakers will work with guns at some point in their careers. But with the proper training and education, tragedies and other life-changing accidents can be prevented in the workplace. Taught nowhere else, this intensive two-day, hands-on course will prepare performers and filmmakers to responsibly and safely conduct operations employing guns of all varieties on set and on location in their motion picture productions.

Understanding the differences between the types of inert and blank firing weapons, learning what to look for when inspecting them, with an emphasis on learning time-tested industry safety procedures will help filmmakers send their cast and crews home in the same state of wellness in which they arrived on set. When it comes to this often ignored subject, now forbidden by law from being taught in film schools anymore, ignorance can kill, making this important and potentially lifesaving course an off-campus requirement for performers and all student or career filmmakers.

Before taking this safety course, please download and review the Course Material to familiarize yourself with the information you will be required to understand to become safety certified. You will need Adobe Reader to open this PDF file. Click the button below to download the Course Material right now:

The HANSEN FILM INSTITUTE currently sponsors the course fee for UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Media Arts students to attend this seminar. Please check with the Institute on campus for more information.

Feature film director and visual effects supervisor James Arnett of A.I.A. Productions, with weapons expertise from the independent film scene in Los Angeles, has choreographed over a dozen large scale shootout sequences on the streets of downtown Tucson, expending more than 5,000 blank rounds, using every type of weapon from fully automatic rifles to handguns in his feature film, Mary Shelley’s “The Last Man”. Author of the widely read filmmaking textbook, “Guide Book For Guerrilla Filmmakers”, James Arnett teaches the safety disciplines of weapon usage and gunfight choreography from the liability and budget-conscious filmmaker’s perspective, with ten years experience teaching the full spectrum of university level filmmaking courses in Los Angeles, California.

ARTFARE THE MUSE (a 501C3 organization),
55 N. 6^th Avenue, Third Floor, Tucson, AZ 85701 USA

Saturdays and Sundays, beginning at noon each day.

Next dates: Saturday 2 June 2007and Sunday 3 June 2007.

Tuition is just $30 with a valid student I.D. and $50 for individuals.
Materials fee is $30 for blank ammunition

Call or email Gabriele Andres at (520)982-0520 for dates and to enroll.

DAY 1 - LECTURES (5-6 HOURS):

• Introduction to movie guns: Legal, ethical and operational liabilities.
• Operational judgment: When to employ blank firing "real" guns, when to employ non-guns, Airsoft guns, replica guns and rubber guns.
• Firearm types: Automatic, semi-automatic and manual actions.
• Nomenclature: Familiarization with firearm parts and function.
• Non-adapted firearms: Which guns do not require modification.
• Blank fire adapted firearms: Which guns require modification.
• Gas reduction methods: Inspections and safety caveats.
• Ammunition identification: Selection, inspection, usage and safety caveats.
• Maintenance: Inspection, cleaning and barrel obstructions.
• Safety briefings: Establishing safety procedures and protocols.
• Firearms handling on set: Custody, distribution and collection.
• Actors handling firearms: Training, discharging and stoppages.
• The 15+ degree rule: Avoiding catastrophic accidents.
• Discharge of debris: Potential injuries from a "blank fire" discharge.
• Choreography: Safely setting up a gunfight for film.
• Working with the Police Department: Procedures and responsibilities.

DAY 2 - LAB WORK (6-8 HOURS):

• Action: Inspection of all blank ammunition.
• Action: Inspection of all weapons.
• Action: Executing a familiarization discharge.
• Action: Training actors/operators.
• Action: Applying the safety briefing.
• Action: Choreographing a gunfight.
• Action: Executing the choreography with “hot” weapons.
• Evaluation: Instructor and peer evaluation.

• You MUST be 18 years of age or older to handle rifles and shotguns.
• You MUST be 21 years of age or older to handle handguns.
• You MUST NOT be a Prohibited Person as defined by Federal and State law.
• You MUST NOT be under the influence of alcohol, prescription or illicit drugs.
• You MUST NOT bring any firearms whatsoever onto the course premises.
• You MUST NOT bring any ammunition whatsoever onto the course premises.
• You MUST show identification in the form of a valid, State issued Drivers License or ID.
• You MUST sign a Disclosure & Release Agreement in order to attend.

 

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