Where to put muzzle flashes on character?

[Nathan Quattrini]

I haven't ever attempted making the flash of light that 'shines' on a person while shooting a gun, so given this angle I'm not sure where a realistic flash of light would fall on him. Can anyone that has knowledge in this field give me some direction?

[Edward Carlson]

The flash comes directly from the barrel, so most of his face would be lit up, the right more than the left. It would not be much, since it is daylight.

BTW, he's closing the wrong eye for shooting right handed. Although technically he should have both eyes open.

[Will Mahoney]

Originally Posted by Edward Carlson

BTW, he's closing the wrong eye for shooting right handed. Although technically he should have both eyes open.

True, but he's most likely a street thug or some other ne'er-do-well and probably never had pistol training. So this is probably how a "real" person would shoot a gun, with no training, in the heat of the moment.

And maybe we're both over analyzing it. :)

[Jim Andrada]

Well, I'm not a street thug or ne'er do well, but this is sort of how I shot in pistol league competitions many years ago - not because I thought it was good technique but because I'm right-handed and have terribly poor vision in my right eye. It was easier/cheaper to adapt by cocking my head a bit than to spring for custom left-handed grips.

And yes, it does make it hard to use my JVC110 on my right shoulder, but what the heck!

[Nathan Quattrini]

Street thug yes, eye closed, no. It looks like it in this frame grab, but neither of my eyes were closed ;) I was squinting from the sun as well as grimacing in annoyance at the character opposite me. As you can see the hood did no good in shielding the right eye from the sun, so it was up the my eyebrow to prevent me from going blind ;)

I am thinking to do the flash in AE, should I just make a matte to outline a bit of the right half of the face and play with a screen overlay's opacity?
Alos would the gun have any flash on it?

[Nathan Quattrini]

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Theres the progress so far. Looks funny to me. Should it be down the arm as well? or more spread on the face? I`m unsure where it'd actually cast if at all. Perhaps it should even be lighter? I know sound effects will help sell it, but I want to make it look the best I can.

[Jim Andrada]

Flash looks like it's lighting the wrong side of the face. Honestly, you might be better to forget the flashes and just go with sound effects for the shots.

Muzzle flashes aren't very dramatic in daylight unless you're firing a 16 inch naval rifle or something similar. I used to shoot in pistol league and I don't think I ever really noticed them - I'm sure they were there, but unless I was shooting something with a 2" barrel it just didn't leap out and grab my attention. I was more focused on putting holes through the little black dot in the middle of the target, I guess.

The heavy ordnance that used to get tested outside my office at the Naval Weapons Laboratory was a different matter altogether.

[Nathan Quattrini]

That could be why it didn`t look right. Perhaps your right and just the sound effects will do

[Paul Cascio]

Because a muzzle flash only last for a couple of frames, is it really necessary to light the face? The flash will grab the viewer's eye, so I don't think the face will be the focus.

[Steve Oakley]

having actually done this....

1. muzzle flash lasts less then one frame, therefore you only need to paint ONE frame

2. fastest eastiest way is to export one frame to PS, go in a open up the shadows with the burn tool, and insert that one frame back into the TL. thats it, that simple. highlights can be painted into night scenes along areas that naturally would be exposed to the light. its not that hard.

3. in daylight, as noted, unless its a seriously HUGE weapon, ie NOT the one shown, muzzle flash wouldn't show up anyway. really only for night / dark scenes. just use SFX matched to motion of actor's shots and you're good for this shot.

[Paul Cascio]

Thanks Steve for the enlightenment.

[Nathan Quattrini]

thanks a bunch steve, sometimes I overthink and over edit things, need to learn to control myself :)