A deadly shooting on a New Mexico film set involving actor Alec Baldwin has raised questions about safety procedures during film production.<\/b>
\nA deadly shooting on a New Mexico film set involving actor Alec Baldwin has raised a number of questions about safety procedures during film production. For one film expert, the tragedy underscores the importance of training and oversight during sequences involving firearms. \u201cWith the sets I work on, I work with very large crowds, up to 500 people,\u201d Paul Biddiss, a former British Army paratrooper turned-military advisor, told Task & Purpose. \u201cWeapons safety is always going to be paramount when you\u2019re working with any sort of weapon.\u201d Baldwin, a producer and the star of the western film \u201cRust,\u201d fired a prop gun while filming at Bonanza Creek Ranch, in Santa Fe County, around 1:50 p.m. on Thursday, killing Halyna Hutchins,42, the film\u2019s director of photography, and injuring director Joel Souza,48. \u201cThis investigation remains open and active,\u201d the Santa Fe County Sheriff\u2019s Department said in a statement. \u201cNo charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.\u201d The New York Times reported on Friday that the shooting took place during a scene that was either being actively filmed or was rehearsed. \u201cMy heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna,\u201d Baldwin said after the incident, adding that he was \u201cfully cooperating with the police investigation. Such incidents are rare in the film industry due to extensive safety protocols typically followed during film sequences involving firearms, and has resulted in a flurry of discussion about safety measures on set when firearms are used. To get a better sense of those safety protocols, Task & Purpose spoke with Biddiss, who served 24 years in the British Army before segueing to a career as a military advisor in film and television. Biddiss has worked on numerous action, and firearms-heavy projects, from the World War I epic \u201c1917\u201d to the crime caper \u201cWrath of Man\u201d and \u201cFury,\u201d which followed a tank crew in World War II. While some sets use prop weapons that don\u2019t fire anything at all, many of the weapons used are actual firearms that have been modified to fire only blanks, Biddiss said. Blank ammunition has all the components of a normal round, except for the projectile, and the shell casing is crimped at the round\u2019s tip. But even though a weapon can only fire blanks, they can still be dangerous, and so film crews take extensive steps to ensure the safety of the crew. \u201cAlthough they\u2019re blanks, there are still bits and pieces that will come out \u2014 sparks and bits of dust that will fly out, and some pressure,\u201d Bidess said. \u201cA blank can actually do you a huge amount of damage. If it was pressed right up against your head, it could probably kill you.\u201d When filming with semi- and fully automatic weapons that are gas-operated, meaning the combustion gas from firing a round is what reloads the weapon, the barrel typically has a mechanism called a \u201crestrictor.\u201d. Restrictors function similarly to the blank-firing adapters (BFAs) used in the military, except that the device is internal, rather than attached to the exterior of the muzzle. \u201cThey have it down the barrel to conceal that there\u2019s an actual restrictor,\u201d said Biddiss. \u201cThat helps to recycle the rounds so you\u2019ve got the automatic effect and the recoil and everything else.\u201d Devices like BFAs or restrictors do two things: they help prevent debris from escaping the barrel through the muzzle when a blank round is fired; and they help the weapon chamber another round by preventing the combustion gases from escaping the barrel. But weapons that are not gas-operated, like revolvers, don\u2019t require a restrictor to help chamber another round. Which means that there is no physical barrier between the blank round fired and whatever the weapon is pointed at. \u201cSo there\u2019s always more safety measures on those because you need to make sure that the barrels are completely cleared because they don\u2019t need restrictors in them, because obviously you actually recock the weapon and reload another round in yourself,\u201d Biddiss said. In March 1993, actor Brandon Lee, son of renowned martial artist Bruce Lee, died in a firearms incident on the set of \u201cThe Crow.\u201d During filming, a prop gun \u2014 a revolver \u2014 had been loaded with dummy rounds for a close-up shot. Dummy rounds have \u201cthe casing and it\u2019s got the bullet inside, but it doesn\u2019t have the gunpowder and the percussion cap has already been fired off, so there\u2019s nothing inside that,\u201d Biddiss said. After filming the sequence that firearm was used again to fire blanks. But one of the projectiles from the dummy rounds had come loose and gotten lodged in the chamber, Biddiss said. \u201cWhat they didn\u2019t do, is they didn\u2019t look at each prop round that came out of that weapon because one of the rounds was missing the actual lead bullet,\u201d Biddiss said. \u201cAnd that lead bullet, for whatever reason, had managed to wedge itself into the chamber of that weapon.\u201d When the trigger was pulled, the pressure from the blank propelled the projectile from the dummy round out of the weapon. \u201cEffectively that was like a live round,\u201d Biddiss said. \u201cThe same can happen if, for whatever reason, an actor has just put the barrel into dirt and there\u2019s a stone\u2026 and it only has to be a very small stone that\u2019s managed to get into the barrel and it\u2019s not been checked, or someone didn\u2019t see it,\u201d he continued. \u201cThen he fires a blank: that little stone will act as a projectile.\u201d Film sets for major effects-driven features like war dramas can sometimes involve an army of extras. \u201cSaving Private Ryan,\u201d for example, required 1,000 extras for its opening D-Day landing sequence \u2014 in addition to the core cast of characters \u2014 all armed with rifles and charging across the camera\u2019s view doing mock battle. If poorly executed, it could result in a chaotic and potentially dangerous situation, which is why many films follow a strict set of guidelines, Biddiss said. \u201cI train guys in the safe use of weapons and trigger discipline, muzzle discipline, never pointing the weapon in jest, always making sure they know the state of their weapon. All those things,\u201d Biddiss said. \u201cAnd I do that with actors, I do it with stunts, and that\u2019s one of the processes.\u201d In many ways, preparing for a firefight on screen is similar to training on the range in the military: Weapons are carefully inspected to ensure the chamber is clear prior to being issued; rounds are allocated and counted; weapons handling and muzzle awareness are enforced; and weapons are cleared and inspected prior to being handed back in and cleaned. It\u2019s also become par for the course for war films, in particular, to put the cast through a very compressed version of boot camp, during which time they\u2019re trained by the film\u2019s military advisors on weapons handling. In addition to military technical advisors, film crews also typically have armorers on hand to oversee the production\u2019s weapons and provide oversight during sequences that require the use of firearms. According to Insider, the armorer for \u201cRust\u201d was among the witnesses interviewed by police in their investigation into Thursday\u2019s shooting on set at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to filming a scene that involves the use of blanks, the cast will typically do a dry rehearsal, during which time the film\u2019s armorers will observe and make recommendations. \u201cThe armorers are there to make sure that everything is safe: that people are a safe distance when firing a blank in close proximity to another person,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s like the range safety officer. \u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a time consuming process and sometimes directors can be \u2018oh Christ, come on, hurry up, hurry up,\u2019 but I\u2019ve always known armorers to turn around and go \u2018I don\u2019t really care about your time schedule, I need to make sure everything\u2019s safe,\u2019\u201d he added. Of Thursday\u2019s shooting incident, Biddiss cautioned against speculation about what happened until the investigation is complete, saying that \u201cIf there\u2019s lessons to be learned by everybody, then there\u2019s lessons to be learned. I\u2019d like to think that the whole industry, globally, will take those lessons on board.\u201d Want to write for Task & Purpose? Learn more here and be sure to check out more great stories on our homepage.<\/p>\n