Horrorshow shoot experience thread!

robmneilson

robmneilson

Veteran
Alright, let's tell some awful stories here.

I just got done with a shoot today for a news magazine type thing. They didn't bring enough cards for their camera (they were an hour late as I sat with the talent while they ran to radio shack to buy ONE 4gb card!), and for the last couple of hours they basically shot segments while "CARD FULL" flashed in the middle of the screen. I'm just there for lighting, so I pretended not to notice...but the last two hours of the shoot were pretty much just play acting. They had a laptop on set, but no card reader to dump footage. This show airs on a network affiliate weekly.

I don't know if the first two interviews were all they needed to accomplish, so they didn't care about the last couple. But man, I would have enjoyed wrapping at four.

Hopefully they don't post on this website. If they do, SORRY, but at least I did not blow up your spot in front of everyone.

Now the big dilemma...if I actually get a check in the mail, do I turn down their future work. It was easy money, so I don't mind setting up some lights and collecting a check when I have nothing better to work on.
 
Last edited:
Recently had a music video shoot in an executive suite at a hotel. Turned up with lights, Kessler cine slider, tripod, smoke machine etc to find they'd double booked and the room wasn't available. All the equipment was rented, it was the only day everyone's schedule lined up. Two hours of searching for another hotel with an appropriate suite available... Turned out cool though, and all's well that ends well - pain in the arse though.
 
Dan Pears said:
Recently had a music video shoot in an executive suite at a hotel. Turned up with lights, Kessler cine slider, tripod, smoke machine etc to find they'd double booked and the room wasn't available. All the equipment was rented, it was the only day everyone's schedule lined up. Two hours of searching for another hotel with an appropriate suite available... Turned out cool though, and all's well that ends well - pain in the arse though.
Click to expand...

I never understood how airlines and hotels can get away with double booking. In my experience I've made a deal with hotels for a shoot....and when I get there and they see the scope of the shoot and all of the gear have them demand double the money. Luckilly the place was seedy as all hell, so paying double was worth all the free production design.
 
I've filmed live, actual, non-FX'd decapitations, eviscerations, skinning, skulls being spit open, underdeveloped fetuses being torn from their dead mother's womb, brains and hearts being sliced like deli meat, and injections of cancer cells to slowly grow and kill.




It sounds slightly less horrific if I say they were lab rats.
 
haha I was a bit scared of you until I read that last line. When I was in college I had a teacher who videotaped crime scenes for the police when he was starting out. He said he was able to do it for a year until he had to put his foot down in order to be able to sleep at night.

Has shooting that stuff affected you in any way for good or bad? I know that after seeing the Body Worlds exhibit I really wanted beef jerky.
 
Last edited:
Prior to media freelancing, I worked in animal research for five years, have hunted and fished almost all my life, and spent a lot of time at my grandparents' beef farm growing up. I currently raise meat chickens and essentially do all the vet work for our pets. Animal parts n' fluids don't bother me.

Gory horror movies make me ill, though. Guess my mind never "bridged that gap." I'm fine keeping it that way ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top