If you've got a project you're working on that includes some gunfire, one of your biggest obstacles is making sure that those gunshots look believable. If using squibs and blanks isn't really an option for you, you can always try to sell the effect in post, but you'll want to know a few techniques before you start dropping a bunch of smoke, spark, and blood spatter elements into your timeline.

Axel from HitFilm provides a bunch of great advice on all the things you'll need to create a realistic gun battle, including gunshot impacts, blasts, and muzzle smoke. Check out the tutorials below!

Getting the VFX right is important for selling the illusion that a real gun battle is going on, but there are also other vital elements to consider. Make sure the lighting and color grade matches throughout all of your elements; ensure that you have good sound effects (gunshots, pops, falls, ricochets, impacts, etc.) that help sell the effect; and, finally, make your touch subtle enough so as to not draw attention to the VFX elements.

If you want to follow along with the tutorial, HitFilm has made the project file available in each video description, so feel free to download them and get started.

Source: HitFilm

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Editing & Post-Production