Cinematographer
Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured when actor Alec
Baldwin fired a prop gun on the sets of the film ‘Rust’. The incident occurred at
the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico on Thursday.

Police have
said that there have been no arrests made or charges filed in the case so far,
but it remains an “open and active” investigation while production of ‘Rust’,
an independent Western film for which Baldwin is a co-producer, has been halted
indefinitely, Variety reported.

While such
incidents are rare in filmmaking, there have been cases where actors or crew
members have died because of the firing of a prop gun. In 1993, actor Brandon
Lee – the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee – died after being shot.

The
28-year-old was filming a death scene for ‘The Crow’ when he was shot by actor
Michael Massee with a prop gun. In 1984, actor-model Jon-Erik Hexum shot himself
with a .44 Magnum while playing with the gun as he was bored amid repeated
delays in filming for the television series ‘Cover Up’.

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What is a prop gun?

While prop
guns are referred to as fake guns that are sold as toys, in filmmaking, they
can also be real guns that shoot blank rounds, according to a report in The
Print.

A 2019
article by Canada-based professional firearms instructor Dave Brown for the ‘American
Cinematographer’ magazine explains in depth why real guns are used as props, what
is a blank round and the various measures taken on a film set to ensure safety.

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“If the
cinematographer is there to paint a story with light and framing, firearms
experts are there to enhance a story with drama and excitement,” Brown wrote in
the article.

He said
that a blank is a cartridge that is fired from a real or blank-firing gun. It
contains no bullet, but is loaded with enough gunpowder to create a flash at
the end of the barrel, which is known as muzzle flash, and convince the
audience that the gun has been fired.

The blank
is loaded with paper wadding or wax to keep the gunpowder in place to create
the muzzle flash.

However,
these blanks can also be dangerous, as was the case in Hexum’s death – who shot
himself from point-blank range to cause a bone fragment in his skull to push
into brain, leading to his death.