User talk:ProtoAuthor

I'm sorry to inform you I had to delete you Watchmen (Comic) page because we do not document comics on this site, period. If you don't want your comic pics wasted, I guess it would be okay to compare to the facts on the MOVIE watchmen page I built. If you don't know how, I'll do it for you, but we don't do comics here, just movies, television, anime, and video games. Again, I'm very sorry. - Gunmaster45

Arggg, did a Frankengun Fix

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

FIXED in Photoshop Podbyrin 9.2mm pistol (merged a rounded Beretta 92S trigger guard onto the handgun to make it look more like the movie gun)....

I spoke to the original gun owner, and suggested a 'frankengun' fix in PS, and surprisingly, he said he 'thought it was cool'. He was intrigued to see what the pistol would look like with the 'correct trigger guard', so I took a photo of a Beretta 92SB and 'merged' the rounded trigger guard onto the Podbyrin. How does this look? I usually try to avoid doing a lot of photoshop on a gun pic, other than lightening shadows or darkening highlights or fixing scratches or (obscuring SNs). It's still not the screen used gun, but now it's closer to the real deal. MoviePropMaster2008 21:09, 4 June 2009 (UTC) Looks really good, man.-protoAuthor

VG

Send your comment to Excalibur1, since he was the one discussing strength ratios. I don't play VGs so I don't know anything about that. My only gripe was that they commonly use weapons that are rare or experimental or 'just released' that no Movie Armorer anywhere in the world has, thus we have to have these stupid gun pages for these weapons which no one physically has. MoviePropMaster2008 18:37, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I probably should do that. On it.-protoAuthor

RE: Commentary

Thanks. Most people avoid commentary on this site because it is more personalized and not very "Wiki-style", but I do my best to make it impersonal so I can include it. I envy Legion's of Fate's site for being able to personalize his comments as he pleases and list all the goofs as the story progresses. Unfortunately that isn't IMFDB format. I bet I'll probably get yelled at for using 17 screencaps for the Model 27 though, even though I think the commentary justifies it. - Gunmaster45

Screencapping system

Congratulations. I brighten and high pass sharpen my screencaps so they look really nice. I don't know what type of editing program you have, so play around with it and see what works. Never brigthen an image 100% though, it will always look like crap. - Gunmaster45

...I have MS Paint, that's it.-protoAuthor

Oh, I have Corel Paint Shop Pro. - Gunmaster45

Leon

I hope you aren't redoing Leon (The Professional), I bought the special DVD just to screencap it. BTW, when you screencap, crop out the widescreen bars. Images with widescreen bars are subject to be replaced. - Gunmaster45

I don't know how to do that, I think it's the disc. I'll leave it to you, though. I thought you had forgotten about it. -protoAuthor

Incidentally, to answer this; you have to load the image manually in something like Photoshop or GIMP, drag a selection box to include the middle of the image but not the widescreen bars, and then use the 'crop' option to trim it down to just the selected area. It's rather boring work for a lot of screenshots, but it makes the page look a lot better. Vangelis 05:26, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, started doing that, as you can see with my Red Dragon screenshots. I brightened them a bit, too. And added a few pretty awesome captions, if I may say so myself. Used GIMP.-protoAuthor

Weaponlight

Is actually correct, it's what Surefire call the thing. See http://www.surefire.com/weapons_overview Vangelis 05:18, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh. Okay. Thanks for the info.-protoAuthor

'K. Changed it back.

Morita rifle

Who was this person who quoted this? the M41A pulse rifle was built at Bapty's of London. the Morita Rifles were built at Propper Effects in North Hollywood. though there may have been some influence, it does not merit a mention since it is not a direct descendent of the weapon and the Moritas are based on the Muzzelite MZ14 stocks and the M41 is a totally custom piece. MPM2008

Quoted from John Richardson, the special effects department head on Starship Troopers. Quoted from the book "The Making of Starship Troopers": "However, I'd previously worked on a little film called Aliens," Richardson continues. "And on that film, I'd been sort of responsible for getting Aliens's weapons up and running."

Want me to keep quoting? -protoAuthor.

And that doesn't mean squat, sorry to say. I work in the industry, you may have missed that about me. the Special Effects Supervisor (which Richardson was listed as) is just that, the SHOP HEAD. He has tons of designers and artists working underneath him. We ran into a problem with a few other films where the head of SFX or the head Prop Master was the big honcho who was interviewed on the DVD extras ... but these guys didn't know their asses from a hole in the ground. I worked with three guys on Starship Troopers, one in the Model Miniature Dept at Sony Thunderstone and two at Propper Effects Ltd, who built the Morita Shells. The Shells were designed a built SEPARATE from the guns, which were procured by Chris Davis (from either ISS or Stembridge, I will check next week when I have lunch with those guys). In Sci Fi guns, there are two specific guys working on the weapons, the guy in charge of 'the sci fi mockups' with all the LED read outs and attached plastic parts, and the armorer who makes sure the live guns are cycling blanks and working. MoviePropMaster2008 07:48, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Don't use PNGs

PNGs are frowned upon at IMFDB because they are too large and slow down the system. Convert your images to JPEGS please. MoviePropMaster2008 07:48, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Alright, I'll try. Please don't delete my PNGs until I'm through converting.

Alright, got them all to jpegs. You can delete the PNGs with your magical moderator powers. I just needed them to stay so I could keep the format.

anonymous

I purposely did not shout of my resume because when I first started on this site in early 2008, I wanted the freedom to talk freely about the idiots in hollywood. Certain directors, Art Directors, Producers ... without fear of reprisal. That is impossible when they can blacklist you. Don't know if you've noticed but the other armorers who have been active on the site, Al V, Bill Davis, Steve Karnes ... play it very close to the vest. They limit what they say to guns and IMFDB. They are discrete and don't talk ill of anyone else in the biz. That is essential to keeping your job. I wanted to be able to say "Hey, this director is a complete idiot about guns" or "This famous actors is a moron about guns" without losing work. I will maintain that to keep the freedom alive. Thanks for the interest. MPM

Gotcha. I probably should have thought of that.-protoAuthor 23:08, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Komodo

That's not the right SKS image. That's an SKS-M. The gun used in the film has a factory thumbhole stock. 76.201.169.84 04:43, 16 October 2009 (UTC)