Our Common Mistake
 

I am trying to collection a list of common mistake made by us as a Wedding/Event Videographer. By listing those mistake, it may help us to improve our production value.

I'll start one.

# Forget to start/stop recording
Normally happen while I was distracted in a middle of recording. The next thing you know, all the those you 'think' you are recording wasn't captured and you end up with some rubbish footage. I am the operator of a JVC GY-HD101 with a Harddisk. So when I press the rec, there was no time code running. The only thing indicate the camera recording is a small icon turn from white to red.

My biggest mistake when I started shooting events (not weddings) was not investigating and understanding how events were going to unfold before they began. This would leave me playing catch up in following the action resulting in partially missed shots. It still happens when the participants occasionally go "off script", but at least I have the basics now. This underscores for me how critical preparation and planning are.

As to forgetting to hit the record button. I did that... once. I mentally flogged myself for that so hard that I'm now completely obsessive about seeing that little red light.

Perhaps lots of us have done that. I know I have, and with the same reaction as you. I once very artfully and carefully taped an entire first dance with the camera on standby.

How about forgetting to shoot lots of cutaways, then kicking yourself when you struggling to find material in the edit.

Always change battery and tape at the beginning of the ceremony. I forgot to do this ONCE, and of course that's the time the battery dies right in the middle of the vows.

Map out your day to make sure you know where you are going. The first wedding I ever shot I was riding along with the photographer who "knew" where we were going. He got lost on the way to the ceremony and we literally ran into the church when the bride was half way up the aisle.

Always shoot the entire ceremony. I am continually getting tapes from other shooters who think "Oh, long prayer. I'll just stop recording for a minute." Then they miss the beginning of a reading or some other important moment. WTF? Tape is so cheap, why would you ever stop taping in a ceremony. What about the couples that are serious church goers and maybe WANT to hear those prayers?

Okay, rant off...

Stopping and starting multiple times instead of letting it run straight through. Then you have too many places to sync instead of syncing one.

once or twice forgot to keep extra tapes in my pockets during the filming of speeches. bad mistake. quite unprofessional to go off stage to get more :)

the last wedding i did, the B+G PROMISED me the speeches wouldn't exceed 25 minutes, as it was all planned out in advance. thank god i had extra tapes coz at my last look of the timeline the speeches exceed 1hour20.....

I make a list of mistakes after every shoot, Forgeting to hit the record button is probably at the top of everyone's list. Here are some others that I've made.

1.) Forgot to switch audio from onboard mic to XLR out (for wireless) - or vice versa.
2.) Didn't bring enough tapes
3.) Didn't shoot enough B-roll (you can never have enough)
4.) Didn't change tape and came close to having to make a change in the middle of an important shot
5.) Forgeting to white balance
6.) Plugged in but didn't screw in the mic cable into wireless tranmitter - fell out during ceremony when groom fixed his jacket.
7.) Didn't scope out alternate shooting positions in church and got boxed into a bad spot
8.) Focus not sharp enough ( got myself some eyeglasses!)
9.) Pans too fast ( especially for 24P)
10.) Forgot to reset gain switch when moving between indoor and out
11.) Shooting myself in windows and mirrors
12.) Forgot to bring snacks!

Totally agree on this one, always have the addresses of the church, the park, reception, etc. Don't ever have the mistake of following the limo, first on the highway they are pretty fast and 2nd during the wedding season there's a bunch of limos on the highway on any given time. I made the mistake of following the wrong limo one time, I made it in the nick of time at the reception never got footage of the receiving line. And please get the cel number of the Maid of Honor or Best Man, the B & G do not carry their cell phones with them.

My 2cents

I have on several occasions thought I was recording only to realize I wasn't when I hit the Rec button to stop but then it started to record. I was too concentrated on the framing and focus to realize the little dot was green instead of red..

The worst occasion was when I missed the ENTIRE introduction of the wedding party at the reception!!! yikes! But that was years ago... ;)

Not giving myself enough space for handles at the beginning and end of each shot. Though that apply's to any production, yet I have done it at wedding more often than I would like to admit.

Not having enough battery power. I have never run out, but I hate charging batteries at the reception because it's another thing to keep track off. Now I take the number of batteries I need for the shoot and double it so I don't have to worry at all.

Not labeling tapes beforehand.

Although it's been mentioned, don't stop recording during the ceremony. I have edited many tapes from other shooters who constantly turn the camera on and off during breaks. It is a huge pain to sync.

Similarly, during speeches, if you're shooting for reactions, begin the take by shooting the speaker. I often receive tapes where the B cam is entirely pointed at the couple. It's easier to sync if you simply record ten or fifteen seconds of footage of the speaker and wait for a flash or something distinctive to use as a sync point, rather than going by audio.

One I'm guilty of: Devoting too much time on inanimate details to the point that you miss the real personal moments that are happening all around us.

Not a common mistake but a mistake none-the-less
 

Forgot to monitor the hired operator of camera "b", and during the 5 hour layover, they found their way to the bar. Let's not even go there on what the footage looked like for the 2 hours afterward.

Not a common mistake, more like a horror story.

That reminds me when - years ago - and nothing professional , just me and my camcorder. I went to the Earls Court Motor Show in London, I wanted to see the new James Bond car. I had this huge Pansonic shoulder mount full VHS camera (very much the poser!) but it had a problem, the red light in the viewfinder that says 'recording' was very low and most of the time you didn't see it. Somehow I must have pressed record by accident, so when I actually wanted to record something I hoisted the camera to my shoulder, pressed record, and...of course... that switched it off. When I finished recording I pressed the button again and...well, you know the rest.

The end result almost two hours of people's legs and feet!

Changing tapes
 

Recorded a recital (for a friend) and there was a lull in the action, I did not change the tape, half way through the third movement the muisc stops for 30 seconds & there is a note on the finished DVD that says, "changing tape".

I offered to re-record the music, but it never materialized.

- The first time I used my HD camera for a short film, I had left it in SD (from doing re-shoots for an older project). Didn't notice until I loaded the short film footage in my NLE three days later. Thankfully it was all to be output to DVD anyway; :-)
- forgetting to white balance (common I take it);
- reflections in glass.


J.

It happens to me sometime at reception. I miss first couple sentences of the speech.

I've got a new one
 

# too lazy to set up a tripod and think your hand is steady enough to do a zoom in low angle close up. The result footage is too shaky to use. It looks like uncle Bob handy cam footage.

I've recently gone back to working more off a tripod for that same reason. I like having the freedom of handheld but the benefits of a well composed, non-shakey shot outweigh my aversion to being tied down. We still do a lot of movement with the stedicam, just not as much handheld as before.

I'd say the #1 mistake is undervaluing your work.

As a side note, my parents use to refer to me as "our common mistake".

I could sign under many of those mistakes already mentioned.

And I have few new ones to add:
* forgot to take headphones one time - and that time the cable from wireless mic wasn't plugged correctly and I couldn't hear it... I was mad as hell at myself, don't even want to mention B+G.

Since that event I started to pack and test everything few days ahead of the event. Charging batteries few days ahead, then day before putting all equipment together to test and make sure it's complete.

* forgot to double-check in the contract about special instructions regarding video format (4:3 or 16:9). I was sure they wanted to 4:3 - ended up doing everything in 16:9. Luckly I changed it before reception.

# try to walk away from the camera while my headset still plug into the camera.

That's painful :-)

Those first few times out when you get your hands on a steadicam and end up using it way too much! I've been guilty of about everything listed previously as well at one time or another. Forgetting your tripod plate can also make for a bad day as well, I did this once and had to call my landlord to give my friend a set of keys to my apartment to retrieve it and deliver it to the church, he made it just in the nick of time. Thank god for good friends!

Lowering volume while band/dj is playing loudly, then forgetting to readjust levels during a tradition (cake cutting, toasts, departure) once the music has shut off.

jones

I have two. One was forgetting to switch off the ND filter when coming back into the church from some outside shooting. I was shocked at how dark it was in there, but didn't catch the mistake until the entire ceremony was over. I felt pretty stupid.

The other was the day I forgot my tripod. I will never forget that. It was 3 hours from my house so I had no way to get it - I didn't realize it until I unloaded the car. Luckily there was a Circuit City right next to the reception hall, so I rushed over there and bought the best one I could find (total crap!).

I felt really stupid then.

i've a new one just happened yesterday.

# accidentally touch the shutter speed wheel. Both of my camera XHA1 and GY-HD100 have a wheel to change shutter speed and it really easy to change with knowing it. I accidentally change the shutter speed from 1/50 to 1/500. Some of my preparation footage too dark to use.

Lots of this stuff has happened to me in the past.
Its why we are all, as pro's, now so dependable as service providers- we learnt the hard way.
I leave all my sturdy gear in my car boot all the time. Tripod, monopod, figrig, steadicam. That way they cant be forgotten.

As for this reverse trigger. It happened to me again only recently after years of it not happening. Im totally paranoid about it now.
I still wonder why we cant have a tapeless device that will constantly record everything the camera lens sees when its switched on. In other words automatically start recording as soon as the camera switches on and stop only when the cam switches off. And seperately record a tape to my liking (stopping and starting when I think I should be). That would be ideal.

There's a firmware upgrade worth paying for eh!

Production: Moving from the cold to warm and fogging up the lens.

Plenty of production stories but I should mention beginning to capture an hour long tape and come back after vegging out for an hour to see that 2 minutes in there was an error message and it stopped recording.

Seeing typos after you burn the DVD and not before. Setting first play to the menu and not the first video on the DVD.

A mistake I made over the weekend:
-HVX-200-

While shooting, I was zooming in manually and accidentally pressed the AWB while framing the subject...this was after I already set the whitebalance with a card prior to the shoot. So for the rest of that particular clip, the white balance was different.

JS

Yep we have all been there on that one. last year I was waitng for a firework display to start. I had 45 minutes to kill. I had filmed all the interviews, dance floor action....everything. Just waiting for it to get dark. got everything ready, and then two extremely attractive, and drunk girls started flirting with me. My head was turned for a split second....well a few minutes actually, and I had already hit the rec button. The fireworks started and I hit the rec button. Again. So I had the firworks filmed on standby.

Never again. Ever. They could strip and spread naked in front of me and all will care about is that little red light in the viewfinder. luckily I got away with it, because I quickly realised what had happened and after towelling the gallons of sweat off, I spoke to the firework guys, who said they were back there a couple of weeks later with the same display. I got it second time around. Thank god the weather was the same!!

Reminds me of a wedding where I was being fed in a separate room from the reception. At meal time, I stuck my camera in my bag to eat. It wasn't till weeks later when I was capturing the footage that I realized my camera was recording at the time.

20 minutes of footage of the inside of my camera bag....

Here's one
 

Put my camcorder on my monopod but failed to make sure that it locked in. The result.. a broken camcorder light.

Ouch! That could have been a lot worse.

Happened to me two weeks ago. I failed to tighten my Bogen quick release and it was not pushed past the safety latch. The Canon XH camera slid out of the monopod and crashed onto a curb and the result:

1. Broken light
2. Broken plastic shoe mount on my Sony wireless
3. Broken cold shoe extender
4. Bogen quick release on base of the camera pushed into base of camera cracking the camera body.

My new Sony MRC1 was unharmed

This all happened in the middle of the outdoor reception. After cobbling the stuff togther, it all worked so I could complete the evening. Other than the base of the camera being not flat any more, the camera still works. Could have been much worse.

seems like XHA1 is a tough camera after all...