For years we have been building non-explosive bullet hits for stage and screen. It started with a theatrical production of Martin McDonaugh’s “The Pillowman” in 2006 when we did our first live performance bullet hit. What now seems like a fairly simple straight forward effect, at the time was very difficult for me and took a lot of R&D. It was pretty successful and got some cool gasps from the audience and the director Stuart Carden and theatre production company PICT (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre) was very pleased with the results.
In fact it would appear to have emboldened Carden and PICT because at the end of the run they asked me to read a script for another of McDonaugh’s plays “The Lt. of Inishmore” and tell them if I thought the effects were possible for us to achieve. If you don’t know the play- it is hilarious and the effects it calls for are insane- specifically several very difficult on stage bullet hits. I read it, and having no idea how I was going to create the effects I knew that we could come up with a solution. So I agreed to do the show and told Carden and PICT that it was doable. I spent months developing a way to create the effects and eventually arrived at a cool solution.
The bullet hits were a hit and word spread about our bullet hit rigs. I have since been invited to work on “Inishmore” with 15 other productions all over the country and even as far as Lima, Peru. I have used them in many other productions since then from shooting Robert Englund in the film “Kantemir” to Stephen King and John Mellancamp’s “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County”. Every project we push ourselves to make the rigs more awesome. We are always striving to make them smaller or more dramatic or both. As a result have developed some of the most reliable, consistent, safe bullet hits out there. There has been a huge demand for these devices from the outset and has seemed to grow steadily. So we decided to create a new division of Tolin FX that deals just with renting and selling our bullet hits- Bullet Hit Rigs dot Com. We have several different styles to choose from and tons of information on using them. If you are looking for safe reliable affordable bullet hit rig that you can use for years to enhance your productions, go check it out! http://bullethitrigs.com
