What's the dumbest thing you ever did on a shoot?!
- Thread starter bustak
- Start date
Was shooting back stage interviews at a fashion design awards show. The show was being recording live to tape. Sixteen camera shoot with jibs, steadicams, the works.
The audience had about three thousand people. The stage had about thirty large screen monitors.
About ten minutes into the show I plugged one Arri 650 into an outlet and it popped a breaker. All the monitors on stage went out. :violent5:
They had to restart the show from the top.
The audience had about three thousand people. The stage had about thirty large screen monitors.
About ten minutes into the show I plugged one Arri 650 into an outlet and it popped a breaker. All the monitors on stage went out. :violent5:
They had to restart the show from the top.
Prairieboy
Veteran
Man there are so many, the best two happened at film school. We has some 1Ks shinning through some windows in the atrium at school. As we are about to start rolling we hear this loud cracking noise. Then another. It turns out they were the winodw with metal inside. As the metal heated, it expanded, and shattered three windows. Not so good.
I was directing a ice climbing film, we drove for almost two hours showed up to shoot with a professional climber, and realized we had no take up cores (film camera). So we could not shoot one foot of film.
\Good times.
I was directing a ice climbing film, we drove for almost two hours showed up to shoot with a professional climber, and realized we had no take up cores (film camera). So we could not shoot one foot of film.
\Good times.
DC
Cinematographiliac
Late 90's, Boston area . . .
My friend, Brian, asked me to assist him in shooting a wedding. Brian was asked by his boss, Kevin, to shoot this particular wedding. You see, the wedding was for very good friends of Kevin and Kevin employed Brian at his production company.
So Brian and I go to the office to prep the gear on the morning of the wedding. We tested our main camera and our backup camera. Both were fine. This was in a nicely air-conditioned building and outside was extremely hot and humid. So then we loaded the gear into the car and took off for the 1st location about 20 minutes away.
The 1st location involved the bride and her family prepping at their home. We pull out Camera A, turn it on and try to record. Nothing happened. There was just this mysterious little waterdrop-looking icon flashing in the viewfinder. Neither one of us had any idea what that meant. We struggled for about 10 minutes with the camera and then said, "Ah, no problem! Screw it! Get backup Camera B!"
So we tried to shoot again but this time with Camera B. Same thing - nothing happened when we tried to record! But that little flashing icon showed again!
At this point, he sent me back to the production office to try to grab a 3rd camera. I found this really cheap one that looked pretty crappy. Better than nothing though! So I rushed back to the bride's house only to find out that everyone except Brian had left for the wedding. We jumped in the car and headed for the church. Of course, we had trouble finding it because we had only planned to follow the bride's family to that location.
By the time we found the church, I somehow managed to get one of the cameras to actually record. We ran into the church as the bride and groom had just completed "the kiss." They were starting to both walk away as husband and wife. I don't think we were able to get many usable shots in at all!
During the ensuing chaos, the wedding party was leaving to go to Boston Common where the newlyweds were taking pictures and riding the Swan Boats. Somehow we managed to lose the wedding party procession of cars as we attempted to follow them.
We arrived at Boston Common and could see the wedding party off in the distance. We hurriedly parked, grabbed the gear and ran up to the wedding party. Only problem, it was the WRONG wedding party! So we rushed back to our vehicle and kept driving around to the other side of the block. We saw the wedding party off in the distance and jumped out of the car. We ran up to the wedding party and AGAIN it was the WRONG wedding party!!
Down, but not out, we jumped back in the car and continued driving around the block. We FINALLY found the right wedding party and started shooting some video as they were leaving the Common.
We went to reception hall right after that. I remember we took some footage but I also vaguely remember that there were more technical difficulties that prevented us from shooting anything substantial.
In the end, Kevin and the families were, um, not overly happy with how things turned out. I remember that in lieu of a wedding video, they were given a video montage of photographs from their lives. Along with a few minutes of actual wedding day footage.
Ugh, it was an awful experience but looking back on it I can laugh. Hey, I was just the assistant! Neither one of us had the knowledge of the dew drop icon and what it meant. We later found out that when you go from hot/cold and cold/hot environments, many cameras automatically shut down the record heads to prevent damage from precipitation. The only way to remedy this is to let the camera adjust to its environment for at least an hour or more.
So when all was said and done, I swore to myself I would never do another wedding. Now guess what I shot this past August? Yep, another wedding. My friend begged me. I eventually caved and this time it was different. I gave him a wonderful wedding DVD in HVX 720P glory. No problems, no drama, just a happy couple.
p.s. Brian somehow remained employed with Kevin's company for some years to come!
My friend, Brian, asked me to assist him in shooting a wedding. Brian was asked by his boss, Kevin, to shoot this particular wedding. You see, the wedding was for very good friends of Kevin and Kevin employed Brian at his production company.
So Brian and I go to the office to prep the gear on the morning of the wedding. We tested our main camera and our backup camera. Both were fine. This was in a nicely air-conditioned building and outside was extremely hot and humid. So then we loaded the gear into the car and took off for the 1st location about 20 minutes away.
The 1st location involved the bride and her family prepping at their home. We pull out Camera A, turn it on and try to record. Nothing happened. There was just this mysterious little waterdrop-looking icon flashing in the viewfinder. Neither one of us had any idea what that meant. We struggled for about 10 minutes with the camera and then said, "Ah, no problem! Screw it! Get backup Camera B!"
So we tried to shoot again but this time with Camera B. Same thing - nothing happened when we tried to record! But that little flashing icon showed again!
At this point, he sent me back to the production office to try to grab a 3rd camera. I found this really cheap one that looked pretty crappy. Better than nothing though! So I rushed back to the bride's house only to find out that everyone except Brian had left for the wedding. We jumped in the car and headed for the church. Of course, we had trouble finding it because we had only planned to follow the bride's family to that location.
By the time we found the church, I somehow managed to get one of the cameras to actually record. We ran into the church as the bride and groom had just completed "the kiss." They were starting to both walk away as husband and wife. I don't think we were able to get many usable shots in at all!
During the ensuing chaos, the wedding party was leaving to go to Boston Common where the newlyweds were taking pictures and riding the Swan Boats. Somehow we managed to lose the wedding party procession of cars as we attempted to follow them.
We arrived at Boston Common and could see the wedding party off in the distance. We hurriedly parked, grabbed the gear and ran up to the wedding party. Only problem, it was the WRONG wedding party! So we rushed back to our vehicle and kept driving around to the other side of the block. We saw the wedding party off in the distance and jumped out of the car. We ran up to the wedding party and AGAIN it was the WRONG wedding party!!
Down, but not out, we jumped back in the car and continued driving around the block. We FINALLY found the right wedding party and started shooting some video as they were leaving the Common.
We went to reception hall right after that. I remember we took some footage but I also vaguely remember that there were more technical difficulties that prevented us from shooting anything substantial.
In the end, Kevin and the families were, um, not overly happy with how things turned out. I remember that in lieu of a wedding video, they were given a video montage of photographs from their lives. Along with a few minutes of actual wedding day footage.
Ugh, it was an awful experience but looking back on it I can laugh. Hey, I was just the assistant! Neither one of us had the knowledge of the dew drop icon and what it meant. We later found out that when you go from hot/cold and cold/hot environments, many cameras automatically shut down the record heads to prevent damage from precipitation. The only way to remedy this is to let the camera adjust to its environment for at least an hour or more.
So when all was said and done, I swore to myself I would never do another wedding. Now guess what I shot this past August? Yep, another wedding. My friend begged me. I eventually caved and this time it was different. I gave him a wonderful wedding DVD in HVX 720P glory. No problems, no drama, just a happy couple.
p.s. Brian somehow remained employed with Kevin's company for some years to come!
Last edited:
Captain Pierce
Veteran
A couple of years ago, one of my first experiences with the company's DVX100A, I was doing a show where we were doing I-MAG as well as video roll and PowerPoint, and dumping the whole thing to DVD for archival purposes. Well, having had the camera for a while before the show, I'd been goofing around with it--ERRRRRR, I mean, familiarizing myself with it 
--and of course about the first thing I did was put it in letterbox mode.
Guess what I forgot to switch off before the gig.
PowerPoint slides--4:3. Video--4:3. I-MAG--16:9. I was probably about halfway through the gig before I noticed it. The recording was just so the organizers of the event could take a look at it, so nobody really cared, but brother, did I feel stupid.
--and of course about the first thing I did was put it in letterbox mode.Guess what I forgot to switch off before the gig.
PowerPoint slides--4:3. Video--4:3. I-MAG--16:9. I was probably about halfway through the gig before I noticed it. The recording was just so the organizers of the event could take a look at it, so nobody really cared, but brother, did I feel stupid.
filmmaker1977
Carbonite Member
good topic..
Two years ago I was in Tibet doing a documentary. It is strictly forbidden to shoot inside the main temples, but I was able to get 25 minutes of good video from the Jokhang temple at the center of Lhasa. TRV900 in PortaBrace rain slicker hidden under arm and my wife getting the audio on MD.
Next day we repeated the same procedure in Potala palace, where the no-shooting rule is even more strictly encorced (huge monks/police eye you suspiciously all the time). I wrapped the camera under my Tilley hat under my arm and shot without looking, turning the camera on and off as needed.
I guess I got a bit confused at some point about the rythm, as now I have about 20 minutes of great footage decipiting the inside of my hat... Did not notice untill I got home.
(in those conditions I usually do not review the footage as I am afraid of getting a tape jam or something)
Next day we repeated the same procedure in Potala palace, where the no-shooting rule is even more strictly encorced (huge monks/police eye you suspiciously all the time). I wrapped the camera under my Tilley hat under my arm and shot without looking, turning the camera on and off as needed.
I guess I got a bit confused at some point about the rythm, as now I have about 20 minutes of great footage decipiting the inside of my hat... Did not notice untill I got home.
(in those conditions I usually do not review the footage as I am afraid of getting a tape jam or something)
They Live
Well-known member
Not asking this question before I did this multi camera shoot.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=82886
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=82886
About 4 months ago I was shooting a short with 16mm on an Arri16S. I had everything planned, everything was perfectly written down. We could get it done in like 3 hours, easy. We were down in Florida so we went out in the day and used available light. We arrived on location, a park.
The only thing you don't know at this point, is there are only 3 people there (MISTAKE.) Me (directing), the actor, and the AC. Well, the first two rolls of Plus-X go fine... we're measuring focus and light... doing some great tracking shots... everything that normally happens.
Or so I thought. The time comes to load in the third roll. Okay. Easy task. My effing AC takes the third roll of film out of the case, and goes, "Oh, well, look at this. It's backwards." So we ponder that for about 5 minutes and go, "Well, lets rewind it". So we feed the film in backwards and rewind it and get it going. We had a big black sheet so we threw that over the camera so it wouldn't get overexposed.
The film is rewound, and we shoot the third roll. Some pure genious. My actor has some great ideas on set... and we run with it. Great.
About a week and a half later I get the film. Im psyked! The first three minutes twenty seconds are great! Everything I wanted. Then, we switch reels. What- What- What's that? It looks like.... Like two images on the same roll of ffil--OH MY GOD.
After the initial thirty minutes of crying I realized that my AC had forgotten to tape up the second roll of film in it's box. We had the pre-shot film and the new film in one backpack. The first roll of film was taped up, and the second roll of film was just thrown in there. The new roll of film had been opened, but not taken out of the packaging.
AAAAAGH. Apparently my AC had managed to throw the roll of film in the backpack, and pick out the same roll of film. And then I managed to not realize what happened. We rewound the pre-shot film in the camera, and proceeded to shoot twice on the same roll of film. This means 6 minutes off film on one 3 minute roll.
This means not 1, not 2, but 3 rolls of film were wasted.
The first roll- shot and then rewound
The second roll- shot over the first roll
The third roll- never exposed to images
The mistake we all made was not realizing it happened. It cost us money and time.
Here are some grabs.
I know it's artsy and fartsy, just didn't work for our movie.
The only thing you don't know at this point, is there are only 3 people there (MISTAKE.) Me (directing), the actor, and the AC. Well, the first two rolls of Plus-X go fine... we're measuring focus and light... doing some great tracking shots... everything that normally happens.
Or so I thought. The time comes to load in the third roll. Okay. Easy task. My effing AC takes the third roll of film out of the case, and goes, "Oh, well, look at this. It's backwards." So we ponder that for about 5 minutes and go, "Well, lets rewind it". So we feed the film in backwards and rewind it and get it going. We had a big black sheet so we threw that over the camera so it wouldn't get overexposed.
The film is rewound, and we shoot the third roll. Some pure genious. My actor has some great ideas on set... and we run with it. Great.
About a week and a half later I get the film. Im psyked! The first three minutes twenty seconds are great! Everything I wanted. Then, we switch reels. What- What- What's that? It looks like.... Like two images on the same roll of ffil--OH MY GOD.
After the initial thirty minutes of crying I realized that my AC had forgotten to tape up the second roll of film in it's box. We had the pre-shot film and the new film in one backpack. The first roll of film was taped up, and the second roll of film was just thrown in there. The new roll of film had been opened, but not taken out of the packaging.
AAAAAGH. Apparently my AC had managed to throw the roll of film in the backpack, and pick out the same roll of film. And then I managed to not realize what happened. We rewound the pre-shot film in the camera, and proceeded to shoot twice on the same roll of film. This means 6 minutes off film on one 3 minute roll.
This means not 1, not 2, but 3 rolls of film were wasted.
The first roll- shot and then rewound
The second roll- shot over the first roll
The third roll- never exposed to images
The mistake we all made was not realizing it happened. It cost us money and time.
Here are some grabs.
I know it's artsy and fartsy, just didn't work for our movie.
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
zach,that is my biggest nightmare and the reason I will probably never shoot film on low budget - going through the WEEKS of pre-prod, spending, begging for locations, etc. And then not to get the shots. I think that would send me over the edge...
Eastside Parkway
Well-known member
The other night I was on a shoot and I put my camera down on a table and walked away, completely forgetting that I was tethered to it via a light cable. The camera fell about 3 feet onto a soft carpet. It was fine, but I was pretty embarrassed and mad at myself for being so absent minded.
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
Well, i guess I'm doing all right so far, because the dumbest thing I can remember is on BLOODY MARY, we set up the first shot, get the actor in place, the lights, everything. Then Timur turns to me and says: "You have the tapes?" "No, I thought you had the tapes!" And it quickly devolved into a "Who's on First..." We wound up shooting that day on the ass-end of a Man-Hole IV tape.
Zak Forsman
Major Contributor
:engel017:Mark Harris said:
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
no matter how I use that in a sentence, it comes out wrong...
you stepped into your own trap buddy.....
Timothy Harry
Active member
The biggest mistake I ever made was agreeing to film on a cheap tape. At school, I ran the Television studio, and as such we were required to shoot university events. these events had a little bit of pay to them and the university supplied the raw material (maxell mini dv tape:furious3: ) as well as a cheap, half-broken handicam to film the event on. I hated using the University handicams, and had my own XL1, so I shot on the XL1. I set up the shoot as I normally would, testing levels, checking tape, etc. Everything checked out fine on the camera. Recorded the event took the tape back to the studio, disaster struck. The tape played my check footage flawlessly...then the timecode on the tape reset and I had footage with three nice thick black bars across the screen. Discovered that cheap tape would reset the timecode on the tape each time the cameras power was cut, or went into standby mode. Took the info to my supervisor, and he took it to the head of the event. (he knew how i felt about cheap tape) The event people were really ticked, and I was blamed by my supervisor to save his ass. Their reason was because I didnt use the university equipment, regardless of my case about the crappiness of 4 year old handicams with missing buttons. I ended up quitting my job with the TV studio shortly after this to start my own company, and the school lost more projects to cheap tape even after I quit, resulting in the school's PR department purchasing their own equipment and cutting the studio out of the loop. Justice was served!
Capt Quirk
Veteran
On this one shoot, I showed up... It went downhill from there. Wannabe Producers/Directors that don't know Jack are bad enough. But when they never send you the cash they promised, that is the lowest.