Adapted from an article on: www.matthawkins.co.uk

There are three key elements in producing a convincing gunshot in your movie:

All three elements should be considered as important as each other. Mess one of the elements up and your gunshot will look shit. The trickiest part is the muzzle flash which is what will be covered in the most detail here, but even that part isn't all that hard. You will require some semi-advanced software though to perform this which has layers and keying abilities (blue/green-screen/luma) such as offered in Adobe Premiere, Media Studio Pro or After Effects.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I am going to assume you got a copy of Adobe Premiere knocking around (preferably Pro versions) but if not, I'm sure you can adapt this tutorial to your own software.

STEP 1 - YOUR FOOTAGE

There are a few things that you need to do prior to any effects work in order for you to pull off your gunshot.

First thing is acting. If your actor looks like they are holding a toy gun, then that's it - game over. Forget about the rest. You're screwed, However, if you get your actor to pretend there's a bit of weight in the gun and to have a reflex in the wrist for each shot, then you're off to a good start. Lots of replica guns are weighted so this should help but the reflex action, that's why God created actors. I'd suggest that you watch a couple of action films if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Also consider the lighting of your footage - is the gun going off in broad-daylight or in a darkened alleyway? Did you want the room to light up with each shot Hollywood style or will a simple muzzle flash suffice? If your script does require the room to light up, then you are going to have to be creative with a camera flash or similar whilst onset as you won't be able to achieve the same effect using your computer. Remember, timing is the key so it may take several [hundred] attempts to get the lighting to match the trigger pull.

The other consideration for your footage is the type of gun you are using. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly to some) the gun you use isn't all that important unless you are doing close up work. A cheap £1 gun with a paint job may pass-off just as well as a £100 replica so once again, consider the application of the gun in your movie and save money where you can.

SAFETY TIP: Do not use blank-firing guns - they can still kill your actors if used improperly. And real guns, big "no-no". Use either a toy gun or a replica (preferably which has a movable trigger but fires fuck all - even a cap/gat/BB gun can take an eye out)

STEP 2 - THE MUZZLE FLASH

Overview: Import footage into Editing Software ---> Import Muzzle Flash image/footage ---> Mix the two together

1. Import your footage: Depending on the footage you've shot and the number of gunshots within it, you may only need as little as a couple of seconds of video footage to work with. Only you will know how much footage you need to work with but, if you have a low-end system, extract only the footage you need, add the muzzle flash to it then insert it back into your project. This isn't essential but may helps things run more smoothly.

2. Import your muzzle flash: You can get muzzle flashes in two main formats - animated or still - both of which look about the same in the finished product.

An animated muzzle flash may take the form of video footage (e.g. mpg, AVI etc). A free source for such material is at Detonation Films where you can download full-resolution footage (NTSC only). The drawback of working with an animated muzzle flash is that the file size is bigger and is less customisable.

A still muzzle flash takes the form of a image file (jpeg, bmp etc) and so the file size is tiny. The net has many of these knocking around so a simple Google search should yield some results.

Remember, for both circumstances you will need a muzzle flash that is suitable for the direction at which the gun will be pointing. A gun pointed towards the camera will need a different shaped muzzle flash than one pointed to the side. You can flip and rotate the images within most semi-pro editing software, however, this will only work for some shots.

And don't forget, your muzzle flash will also need to have a matte colour (a colour that will later be removed) around it. Typically, blue or green are the most common backgrounds but you will find lots with black instead. This is where a still flash can work better at creating a good, clean matte and may be easier than using potentially blocky or fuzzy camera footage.

3. Mix the two together: Your footage will need to go on one layer (Video #1 in the case of Premiere) whilst the the muzzle flash goes on another. What we have to do now is tweak the muzzle flash by first making the background transparent, then setting the rotation and scale and finally the duration.

Drag your muzzle flash to the "trigger point" on the timeline. The flash should start the moment the trigger is fully-pressed. Depending on the type of muzzle flash you imported, you may not be seeing a whole lot so now is the time for tweaking. Within Premiere Pro by selecting the muzzle flash on the timeline and then opening the effects controls you should see the options for tweaking the scale and rotation. Tweak away! [consult your video editing manual for further information on this].

So far, you should have a muzzle flash over your footage which starts at the exact time of the trigger and has been scaled/rotated correctly. Now we have to get rid of the unsightly box around the flash so that only the flash can be seen.

If you have a black matte for your muzzle flash, I would suggest using a luma key (within the Video Effects>Keying options). You simply need to select this from the effects menu and drag it onto your muzzle flash. With any luck, it will take no further tweaking however as what I experienced, I still had very light outline of the original box. Messing with the control bars within the luma controls soon eradicate this. I also increased the Brightness (in Video Effects/Adjust) to try and soften the edges of the muzzle flash. But that was just me being picky. If you have a green/blue/some other colour background, use another one of the keying options. One is bound to work.

Finally, set the duration of the muzzle flash to two frames (you can do this by right-clicking on the muzzle flash clip on the timeline and selecting duration).

All this work for less than one-tenth of a second!

STEP 3 - THE SOUND

Okay, your muzzle flash is in the right place and starts and stops at the right time. But it needs some life - it needs sound!

It is really down to your own personal preference as to what sound you want, how loud, how sharp, how much it echoes. Just remember to pick a good, clear sound that is appropriate for your gun (i.e. your hand pistol doesn't sound like an air-rifle or sub-machine gun).

If you search the net, you will come across many free sound files (of varying quality) for your gunshot. Personally though, if the project you are working on is to get you noticed (for the right reasons) I would consider purchasing a professional sound file from a company such as Sounddogs. The file will only cost you a couple of quid (at most) but it will be so worth it.

Within your editing software, it should just be a case of drag-and-drop onto the timeline. Here you can preview all your glory! You may wish to tweak your clip to get the timing spot-on but once you're happy, you can export your clip and be proud of your work!

...and that should be it.