TV and Movie Cops and Guns - Page 2

BarryLee · December 11, 2012, 03:29 PM

I suspect a lot of these errors get added in by the sound editing crew after the fact. I’m not sure why a Director or Technical Advisor would not catch it, but maybe it’s just too far into the process to make a change.

Dr Big Bird PhD · December 11, 2012, 04:24 PM

"I suspect a lot of these errors get added in by the sound editing crew after the fact. I’m not sure why a Director or Technical Advisor would not catch it, but maybe it’s just too far into the process to make a change."

In response:

"Who permitted them to do it? No particular man among the dozens in authority. No one cared to permit it or to stop it. No one was responsible. No one can be held to account. Such is the nature of all collective action."

BlueTrain · December 11, 2012, 05:28 PM

How many productions do you think have technical advisors?

BarryLee · December 11, 2012, 08:28 PM

Quote:

How many productions do you think have technical advisors?

Well, I have no real idea, but don’t most studios have specific people to handle the various prop guns? I mean they don’t just go down to the local gun shop pick up a new handgun and a box of blanks. There has to be someone that knows at least a little bit about firearms. The problem is many of the sound effects are inserted later by an entirely different team, so it would seem that is where the problem occurs.

BlueTrain · December 12, 2012, 08:56 AM

My son works in the motion picture industry. There are a few companies that rent out guns and equipment to the movie business. Only the very largest studios have much in the way of their own props anymore. But being qualified to tell people how to handle small arms is not quite a technical advisor.

Many films do have technical advisors, of course, but I suspect that the advice given is of an overall nature--and sometimes ignored. Gun handling is probably a small detail in a film, though I'd have to say it was often featured in the Westerns of the 1950s and some of the TV Westerns of that period. I believe actors sometimes received fast draw instruction, because that was sort of the thing at that time, but I wouldn't go so far as to claim it was historically accurate.

The movie "He walked by night," from 1948, was about the police trying to track down a killer in Los Angeles. There was a technical advisor on the set named Marty Wynn, who was or had been an LA police detective. One of the actors in the movie was Jack Webb, who in addition to being married to Julie London, went on to bigger things in television. Wynn supposedly suggested to Webb that a TV show based on real life stories from the police department (only changing the names to protect the innocent!) and that's where the idea for Dragnet came from.

I don't suppose too many war movies had technical advisors who were privates or riflemen during the war.

Edward429451 · December 13, 2012, 01:40 PM

Didn't Kojak carry a pair of snub 38's? one in each pocket as I remember.

Glenn Dee · December 14, 2012, 08:15 PM

Kojak carried a (one) S&W model 49 bodyguard. Always pulled it from his overcoat pocket. I never saw him wear a holster in any episode. Stavros carried an M&P 2", Crocker carried a Chief special.

December 11, 2012, 03:29 PM	#26
BarryLee Senior Member Join Date: July 29, 2010 Location: The ATL (OTP) Posts: 2,157	I suspect a lot of these errors get added in by the sound editing crew after the fact. I’m not sure why a Director or Technical Advisor would not catch it, but maybe it’s just too far into the process to make a change. __________________ A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

December 11, 2012, 04:24 PM	#27
Dr Big Bird PhD Senior Member Join Date: October 26, 2012 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 722	"I suspect a lot of these errors get added in by the sound editing crew after the fact. I’m not sure why a Director or Technical Advisor would not catch it, but maybe it’s just too far into the process to make a change." In response: "Who permitted them to do it? No particular man among the dozens in authority. No one cared to permit it or to stop it. No one was responsible. No one can be held to account. Such is the nature of all collective action." __________________ I told the new me, "Meet me at the bus station and hold a sign that reads: 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life.'" But the old me met me with a sign that read: "Welcome back." Who you are is not a function of where you are. -Off Minor

December 11, 2012, 05:28 PM	#28
BlueTrain Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 5,809	How many productions do you think have technical advisors? __________________ Shoot low, sheriff. They're riding Shetlands! Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, and return us to our own beloved homes! Buy War Bonds.

December 12, 2012, 08:56 AM	#30
BlueTrain Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 5,809	My son works in the motion picture industry. There are a few companies that rent out guns and equipment to the movie business. Only the very largest studios have much in the way of their own props anymore. But being qualified to tell people how to handle small arms is not quite a technical advisor. Many films do have technical advisors, of course, but I suspect that the advice given is of an overall nature--and sometimes ignored. Gun handling is probably a small detail in a film, though I'd have to say it was often featured in the Westerns of the 1950s and some of the TV Westerns of that period. I believe actors sometimes received fast draw instruction, because that was sort of the thing at that time, but I wouldn't go so far as to claim it was historically accurate. The movie "He walked by night," from 1948, was about the police trying to track down a killer in Los Angeles. There was a technical advisor on the set named Marty Wynn, who was or had been an LA police detective. One of the actors in the movie was Jack Webb, who in addition to being married to Julie London, went on to bigger things in television. Wynn supposedly suggested to Webb that a TV show based on real life stories from the police department (only changing the names to protect the innocent!) and that's where the idea for Dragnet came from. I don't suppose too many war movies had technical advisors who were privates or riflemen during the war. __________________ Shoot low, sheriff. They're riding Shetlands! Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, and return us to our own beloved homes! Buy War Bonds.

December 13, 2012, 01:40 PM	#31
Edward429451 Junior member Join Date: November 12, 2000 Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado Posts: 9,496	Didn't Kojak carry a pair of snub 38's? one in each pocket as I remember.

December 14, 2012, 08:15 PM	#32
Glenn Dee Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2009 Location: South Florida Posts: 1,439	Kojak carried a (one) S&W model 49 bodyguard. Always pulled it from his overcoat pocket. I never saw him wear a holster in any episode. Stavros carried an M&P 2", Crocker carried a Chief special.