Report: Actor may have been shot with blank round

Johann Ofner, 28, died from two chest wounds. Photo / Instagram

An actor who was shot dead while filming a music video at a Brisbane bar may have been shot with a blank round, industry sources say.

Johann Ofner, 28, died from two chest wounds on Monday while filming a video for the hip hop band Bliss N Eso at the underground bar, Brooklyn Standard, in the CBD.

Police haven't said what kind of weapon or ammunition was involved, but industry sources told the ABC Ofner was shot at close range with a blank round.

The Queensland Police investigation is focusing on whether workplace health and safety laws governing the use of weapons on film sets were followed.

Just a few hours before he died, Ofner uploaded a video to Instagram of props - including two guns and stacks of cash, being used for the film clip and made an apparently light-hearted reference to "faulty props".

Friends posed tributes to his Instagram account.

"RIP. Gone too soon. Thinking of your partner and your little girl during this horrific time," Brooke Seppi wrote.

Weapons specialist John Bowring warns blanks - a type of cartridge has no bullet but contains gunpowder - are still dangerous when fired.

"It is a requirement by law that if you have firearms, even imitation, having a licensed armourer (is also required) under film safety code, which falls under health and safety act," he told the ABC.

"You then also normally have a safety officer, who oversees things that are happening on a film set when any stunts or hazardous procedures are underway."

A number of guns were used in the filming and the Courier-Mail reports an armourer supplied plastic replicas and a real shotgun with blanks with a warning not to point them directly at anyone.

Australia's film and television union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, says the death will spark a review of the film safety code, which is not legally binding but sits alongside enforceable workplace health and safety laws.

"This is a wake-up call for those safety guidelines to be reviewed and extended into for example online productions, music videos, the whole other raft of screen production sector," the union's Zoe Angus said.

Bliss n Eso band members Jonathan Notley, Max MacKinnon, and Tarik Ejjamai weren't on set when Ofner died. "The three of us are extremely upset and shaken up by this and our hearts and prayers go out to the victim's family and friends as well as the cast and crew who were involved in the clip," the band said on Facebook.

- AAP