The worst case scenario happened to me

M

Mixedcolors34

Member
I was hired from a friend to film a wedding for the mother of the groom. She wanted video/audio of the wedding to capture the event, I was more then happy to do it, I've never done a wedding before but have film other things. I was not hired through the bride and groom(infact she didn't know I was coming, but it was fine in the end). Well I get home and the footage looks great, I felt like I did very well, until I realize that none of the audio recorded. Believe me when I say my heart dropped a thousand feet into the ground, my microphone was on but it didn't go into the camera, a mistake that I certainly won't let happened again.

My question is, she paid me, and I offered her to cut the price down since I didn't fully get everything(no response back yet). Has anyone else run into this problem where someone paid them and their footage didn't come out 100 percent? How should I handle this? I feel bad, this is a mistake I should have never made and this was my first paid job, even worst. The only way I can feel a bit better about it is that the bride and groom didn't hire me, but that's not the point I was still hired to do a job for someone. :huh:
 
Someone is going to say it so it might as well be me. firstly, i did this once long ago on an unpaid thing when our sound guy who was very familiar with studio recording of music but new to video field recording was hooked up to a mixer that was not hooked up to my cam (he was monitoring mixer) . I didnt know better at the time.

That said you always want to be listenig to what youre recording or have someone who is. Get a pair of sony mdr 7506 headphones or a similar high quality set and always wear them when recording audio. This will not only ensure you know youre getting audio but also allow you to ride levels effectively and identify any problems like hum, interference, etc. Even if you have to be far from the recording device, too far for headphones, there are wireless headphone systems.
 
be honest and yes you should do a partial refund for the huge inconvenience, since there is no audio the only thing you can do is edit to music, that's what I would do
I don't know if you are trying to advance your video career and this is one of the things that can really hurt you, it's like they say, a satisfied customer will tell 4 people
an unsatisfied customer will tell 30
 
I'll have to do that, get a nice pair of headphones and always carry them with me when I know I'm recording audio. That's a good idea actually, never would have thought of it. This is one of the hard things about videography, you make really bad mistakes but you learn from them :/
 
Mixedcolors34 said:
I was hired from a friend to film a wedding for the mother of the groom. She wanted video/audio of the wedding to capture the event, I was more then happy to do it, I've never done a wedding before but have film other things. I was not hired through the bride and groom(infact she didn't know I was coming, but it was fine in the end). Well I get home and the footage looks great, I felt like I did very well, until I realize that none of the audio recorded. Believe me when I say my heart dropped a thousand feet into the ground, my microphone was on but it didn't go into the camera, a mistake that I certainly won't let happened again.

My question is, she paid me, and I offered her to cut the price down since I didn't fully get everything(no response back yet). Has anyone else run into this problem where someone paid them and their footage didn't come out 100 percent? How should I handle this? I feel bad, this is a mistake I should have never made and this was my first paid job, even worst. The only way I can feel a bit better about it is that the bride and groom didn't hire me, but that's not the point I was still hired to do a job for someone. :huh:
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I am sure the money is the least of anyones worries here. But I think offering some sort of refund is at least a good gesture. Also try to see if anyone got good cell phone video and such. WHY? well, most people do not save these videos properly, so getting that material asap is at least part of the documenting of the wedding.

At least most wedding videos are just music videos, and back in the day, many 8mm home videos did not have sound. Makes for more perfect memories (optimistic view...=/)


If you have this again, ofcourse you will make sure your audio is good, and ofcourse you will have headphones, but you should also buy a recorder that you can have running completely seperate from everything (maybe a one of those note takers, or second hand Tascams or zooms for $100. SOmething really basic so you are running audio for the entire wedding (may end up with 4hrs of audio), and that could save your butt. Because sometimes the audio is surprisingly good, and also, something is better than nothing.

Sorry. I had a similar situation before, but I was doing the practice footage the day before with the wedding people, and then realised the sound was off. So, the actual wedding day was fine. But a friend of mine told me the sound recorder is a great tool in the bag, and saved him before.

Good luck, and sorry to here about that. Too late for regrets, just make the best music montage you can. and definitely get those cell phone and other footages and images from the friends of the wedding. They will not have that footage maybe even a year from now. That is a great service in itself. They get moments you never could too.
 
Partial refund?
I wouldn't give you a dime!
But as a gesture of goodwill you might at least edit the video with some music.
Maybe interview bride and groom as they recount their wedding day, with a running of running narration.
You could shoot that as video (and Audio MXC) and cut away now and then to the couple with audio running under shots of the wedding.
But don't even think about charging, as you have not delivered.
Best you can do is numb the sting a bit.
Does anybody else get this?
 
^^^

I have to agree with Peabody. Give what you shot free of charge, and throw in some editing. The suggestions on interviewing are also good.

The other thing you can do is ask if any of the guests at the wedding were recording video with their little cameras. Ask for all copies of footage. You *might* be able to pull some audio off of some of it. Even if the whole thing wasn't recorded by others, you might get lucky and at least get the exchange of vows through the kiss.

Having said that, let me put on my super serious hat for a moment and offer some info and advice you won't like:

The fact that you were paid means you had a contract. You breached the contract and they suffered a big loss. If you had a written contract (I'm assuming you didn't), you could have limited your liability (normally up to the contract price). But because you had only an oral contract, your liability is not limited. So, how is it that you can be liable? Well, under common law (the basis for contract law in the US) there are all kinds of implied warranties, but the big one for you is the implied warranty that you'll shoot the video in a workmanlike manner, i.e. to the standard of the average/normal wedding videographer.

You failed to do live up to that standard and so you could be held liable should they choose to sue for breach of contract. They'd probably win. And damages? Isn't too hard to see how a jury might be pretty sympathetic to the plaintiff here. Damages could be not only the money they paid, but punitive damages for the harm you caused and the loss they suffered.

So don't charge a single penny for anything. The least best course of action is to at least give them the raw video free of charge and hope they'll sign a waiver that states that both sides agree to terminate the contract with neither side owing the other anything more. Better is to do something like Peabody or I have suggested.
 
I told her I didn't expect her to pay me anything, I insisted that I will finish the video with the song she wanted and she doesn't own me anything. But she feels she should pay me SOMETHING for making the hour trip there and for my time spent, but I don't care about that. All she wanted was the audio of a few speeches, she could care less about the rest of the video, but like I said I told her I will send everything I have to her and I don't expect anything. She told me she'll call me back when she makes a decision. I think she feels she needs to pay me something regardless but I don't feel I deserve anything regardless of the video work I put in.

I did suggest to the women who is a relative that if she knew some of the people at the wedding to see if they had footage, I'm sure I could add it in, that I did already think of.

This was a very last minute deal, (not an excuse for my screw up). I've never done a wedding before but I'm perfectly capable of doing videography and have never had trouble with audio. It was bad enough the bride and groom didn't want me there in the first place, but any thoughts I had of contracts or liability was none existence since this was the first time I got paid for video. Someone was willing to pay me, I took it, not thinking of the consequences of what could happened if I failed because I didn't think I would.

I do appreciate the advice from everyone, none of it was harsh as its true, trust me I have learned from this and I'm still biting the wound, its embarrassing and I really feel bad I even cried when I got off the phone with her tonight. I made a stupid mistake that I still can't believe I made and I won't forgive myself for a while for sure.
 
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I would say keep the headphones with you at all times, probably put em in the cam bag and make that their permanent home. I try to get in the habit of keeping things in "kits" so you always know whats where. So your cam kit, your audio kit, etc. maybe you dont own that much and you can keep all that stuff together in the same bag/case. I would also get in the habit of bringinf more than you think you need in case surprises pop up. More cables, more mics, (if you have em) more lights ( if you have em). Just think of it like if your so and so broke, do you have a backup with you.
 
Now here is a thing.

A photographer asked me recently to 'record the ceremony and speeches' (a more limited brief than a wedding video). I was seriously concerned about my ability to do it and gave many limitations on agreeing the task.

I own 2 XLR cams (EX1 FS100) a sound devices 702 and had the photographers H4n too. But only a couple of lavs and a couple of shotguns.

I also own cans and carry a spare set, because I assume I will break the lead.

I was assuming that the H4n would conk out with flat batts, I was assuming the groom would somehow disconnect the Lav from his body. There was a PA for the speeches - I was assuming that this would constantly feed back or the groom/bestman would come off the handheld mic or hold it so close as to clip that potential source of audio.

Making these assumptions I felt worried about my ability to do the job because I did not have enough mics and enough kit to cover my bases. I did the job with lots of limitations in my 'contract' and I guess it was fine - it was a dump the cards job.


Now. What videographer takes on this job without even taking cans... and what client employs someone for their most important day without doing a little investigation of the crew they employ.

A sad situation all round.
 
Mixedcolors34 said:
I was hired from a friend to film a wedding for the mother of the groom. She wanted video/audio of the wedding to capture the event, I was more then happy to do it, I've never done a wedding before but have film other things. I was not hired through the bride and groom(infact she didn't know I was coming, but it was fine in the end). Well I get home and the footage looks great, I felt like I did very well, until I realize that none of the audio recorded. Believe me when I say my heart dropped a thousand feet into the ground, my microphone was on but it didn't go into the camera, a mistake that I certainly won't let happened again.

My question is, she paid me, and I offered her to cut the price down since I didn't fully get everything(no response back yet). Has anyone else run into this problem where someone paid them and their footage didn't come out 100 percent? How should I handle this? I feel bad, this is a mistake I should have never made and this was my first paid job, even worst. The only way I can feel a bit better about it is that the bride and groom didn't hire me, but that's not the point I was still hired to do a job for someone. :huh:
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Stick with what you have: cut an amazing silent video that'll be better than their memories. Don't cop out with sappy music like 100 million wedding videos out there, please.
 
aly324 said:
Stick with what you have: cut an amazing silent video that'll be better than their memories. Don't cop out with sappy music like 100 million wedding videos out there, please.
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Huh? What's wrong with music? Those 100 million videos use music for a reason...it keeps the viewer engaged and helps to move the story, establish mood, etc. Truly silent movies that aren't boring are hard to make.
 
Definitely do it to music!

My friend had a similar thing happen, which was actually made worse by the hired videographer.

Originally she was just going to setup her own camcorder to video the ceremony. I loaned her a Zoom H4 recorder with an attached lapel mic. I told her to put the Zoom in the groom's jacket pocket, and clip the mic to his tie. This would most likely give her better sound than the camera was going to get.

Then she hired a video guy -- a guy who is also a skilled sound guy. And he gave her bad advice. He told her not to 'mess with' the Zoom recorder -- that he was pulling audio from the sound board. So she didn't use the Zoom. And apparently he didn't turn on the sound on his camera. Guess what? The SD card in his audio recorder (connected to the sound board) turned out to be corrupted, so what she wound up with was NO sound at all.

First off, always have sound turned on on every camera. Have as much redundancy as you can, including having something like a Zoom H1 in the groom's pocket with a lapel mic. Have a second mic (wireless) if you can, and MONITOR it! I've even placed an extra Zoom recorder close to the ceremony. You can never have too many cameras or too many sound recorders.

Sorry this happened to you. Hope you come out of it okay.
 
Don't tell me you were using a DSLR with an external recorder? If so then I can fully understand why this happened - for run and gun - weddings, speeches and the like I'd never use my GH2 even though the picture 10x better than my little Panny HMC40. But don't worry mate, we all screw up - if it were me I'd offer a 100% refund and see what she says. I'd also edit some of the visual pieces to music and show the mother that. The mother also won't be quite as miffed if you offer a full refund and also come up with a nice little video with music behind it and I'm sure if she likes it she'll pay something. (my buddy screwed up a wedding by leaving the camera in the sun and frying the tape!).

Remember you screwed up, you **^^*)*)* up! Take personal responsibility as I am sure you will as you seem like a decent chap, no excuses and just move on and don't be hard on yourself, I swear if I used my DSLR and an external audio recorder I would of done the same thing a long time ago but thanks to my crappy little HMC40 with built in XLR jacks, the low light sucks, I have not buggered up yet. I have always has a $15/hour helper with me too and ALWAYS used two plus cameras (for my own I used 5 with 3 on tripods) that way you'll always have one that has some of the audio even if it's bad and from the on camera mic.


(for the love of God I can't understand why Panny or even sony can't standardize on a $1 XLR connectors on all of their cameras, even the GH3 does not have a locking audio jack but at least you can monitor the audio)
 
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