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VIDEO: HEAT: The need for training!

Posting lite today. Bust my hand, going in to get it fixed up this afternoon. Don’t ask.

Following on from the recent video post on fighting through, here is an interesting video on the making of the movie HEAT. What is interesting is the training that the actors underwent in order to create such excellent shootout scenes.Note that the director considered the sound of blank firing in the city so horrifying that he replaced it with production sounds!

Here is a great clip for its own sake. DeNiro and Pacino face-to-face. If only your upcoming interview with the feds was quite so glamorous! I don’t think that IRS agent will be quite so cool ;-)

 

Till Valhalla!

Max

5 responses to “VIDEO: HEAT: The need for training!”

  1. Hey Max,

    Respectfully, You got it backwards. The director kept the terrifying sound of the blanks in the film and rejected the studio work of his sound effects artists.

    Production sound is sound guy jargon for sound filmed on location.

    Thanks for all you do,
    Bret

  3. Actually, the interview with the production crew indicated that the director found the live blank-fire sounds in the city much more horrifying and vivid than the “canned” SFX.

    So he changed his mind about using the canned sound and instead went with the live-recorded sound of the blank-fire gunshots that they had from filming the scene.

    Found a YouTube link to the interview. Sound director says as much on camera. That specific comment is about 1 minute into the linked video. Even the director (Michael Mann, who is notable in Hollywood for getting gun-handling details as correct as showmanship permits) comments to that effect.

    • Can’t edit my previous, but Max’s video shows this too, starting at about the 4 minute mark.
      Slightly different video (I found a shorter version, so I thought it was a different interview–mea culpa!) but the same point is made:
      The “live” sounds were so horrifying, but that’s the effect the director wanted. So he kept those and ditched the idea of using canned production SFX (which would have been the usual practice)

  4. I think the main take-away from this iconic scene is it illustrates the primary use of full auto fire: for use for a small team to break contact with a larger force. Although you need gobs of ammo to pull it off. With belt-fed being a plus. Not to mention a deep logistical supply.

    Disclaimer: Don’t believe full-auto fire is practical not to mention legal for us so I am NOT advocating it. I am merely stating this is one of very few scenarios where it is effective. Versus the vast majority of the time where aimed semi-auto fire is much more effective.