Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

I just wondered if any of you would like to share your D'oh moments... did you ever lose a memory card, forget to press record, drop your camera in the cake...? Anything that taught you a valuable lesson?

I made a few n00b mistakes early on... when single shooting with multiple cameras I had 2 occasions when I forgot to press record on one camera (thankfully it was only the backup camera) so had to save with some creative editing. Another time I DID press record but didnt tighten the tripod enough and so a few minutes into the service the camera tilted back and filmed the ceiling for the rest of the ceremony. D'oh!

I also once set up my camera at a perfect angle to capture the brides entrance, only to have the officiant say "let us stand for the bride..." and everyone got in my way. So I had to scramble and move like a mad thing to catch the very last minute. Serves me right for not checking. Now I always check if there are any special instuctions like that!

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Thinking I could do it all myself.

As always, YMMV.

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At one gig, my A-cam was pointed at the B&G's asses for the first 8 minutes of the (fortunately long) ceremony. I managed to edit my way through it, somehow.

Newbie mistake.

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The worst mistake I've ever made? Hmmmm, probably taking this one particular job in the first place.

Pressing the red button on my B camera 2X without realizing it.

Asking the president of a fortune 100 to please hold for a minute while I changed batteries in the mic pak because I had forgotten to do that before the job. He was not a patient man. BTW, I never did get to work for that company again. :-(

For the life of me I couldn't remember the B&Gs names. I just blanked. I looked at the paperwork and still forgot their names. I wrote them in ink on the palm of my hand so I wouldn't look like a total idiot.

Shall I go on?

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

James, I think anything I write is going to come back to bite me. But anyway...

To any bride reading this, let me just say -- (1) I haven't made a mistake in a long time; I've learned from all the stuff ups I've experienced, thankfully; (2) the horror stories you're about to read are why you don't hire inexperienced people...

Where to start...

-- The double-tap, on a single-camera shoot, before speeches at reception. Thankfully, it was a low expectations job, with no suing by couple involved (for free, for a friend, and speeches were entirely impromptu, unplanned, unexpected -- barely had time to grab the camera and go).
-- Not being ready for reception to turn all the lights off for first waltz. Not a good situation at all...
-- Using inexperienced second shooter. The problem is that, at some part of the day, you're going to be relying on their shots.
-- Assuming second shooter had the shot during a first dance, so it was safe for me to move around and change lenses. As it happened, he'd double tapped. Lesson: when it's go time, even if you're not quite ready, just shoot it as best you can with what you've got, and as if you're the only camera in the room.
-- Not switching out cards before ceremony/reception, and missing the ending part of entrances. Happened to me twice. Remember -- on DSLRs, there's no indicator, at least while you're recording, to tell you how much recording time you've got left.
-- Recording a groom's speech out of focus. Another joy of DSLRs.
-- Missed the boat the reception was held on. To try to explain, bride didn't request that we follow her to photoshoot; she wanted us to stay with guests at the pub. Reception would be on a boat that would pick up the guests, and then sail to a different location to collect the bride. We figured the guests weren't doing anything interesting. So we decided there was enough time to get some footage of the photoshoot before we were due back again. What we didn't account for was Friday peak hour traffic. Plan nearly worked, but literally missed the boat by 30 seconds; it sailed away as we pulled in. Thank God for smartphones -- I googled the boat company, called their office, which in turn called the captain, and he turned the boat around. However, bride was very not happy.
-- Forgot to switch groom's wireless mic on.
-- Forgot to switch audio recorder on. (For people not using DSLRs, who run the sound into their camera, this wouldn't be an issue.)
-- Car ran out of petrol (second shooter's fault).
-- Car broke down (photographer's fault).
-- Recorded at 360p (thankfully, on a safety net camera that didn't need to be used; I'd loaned the camera out to someone a few days before, and didn't check settings when they returned it).
-- Never used a 70-200 lens before; pulling my hair at trying to make the camera level. Took a shot of cake-cutting that had to be rotated in post. Didn't realise there was a screw on the lens that allows you to rotate it...
-- Forgetting to bring quick release plate; unable to use monopod for the rest of the day.
-- Forgetting to bring XLR cable (non-wedding shoot); had to use dirty on-camera sound.
-- Zoom H4N taking 30 minutes to boot up. Happened to me twice, and that's why I don't use them anymore.

I'm sure there's plenty of other mistakes I've made...

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

The last thing that terribly went wrong happened just a few days back, I arrived at the wedding, opened my camerabag and to my horror saw I forgot my camera, next thing that happened was me waking up in my bed bathing in sweat.

The wedding season is starting very soon and every year I get a few nightmares at the very beginning of the season about everything going wrong at a wedding, I guess my brain subconsciously is saying me to start preparing and stay focussed :D

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Back when I was shooting tape, my Sony Z1 decided to brick itself minutes before the bride came down to the chapel.

First thought was to go to the backup HF100, however the zoom rocker switch on it was stuck, so it would constantly zoom in.

I had a Canon 60D with me for shooting stills (at the time I had very little experience shooting video with it), but the battery was down to half.

When the photographers arrived, I thought of asking them to borrow a battery, but they were using all Nikon gear (of course).

Ended up gaff taping the rocker switch on the HF100 to keep it wide open for the cover shot, and did all the main shots with 60D (which miraculously survived the rest of the wedding on 1/2 battery power). First time I ever shot a wedding with an HDSLR.

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Holding my camera in hand, I bent down to fix the bride's train. RRRRIIIPPPPP my pants split from front to back. I ran to the bathroom and gaff taped the inside seams. Everything seemed fine for the rest of the night, but the next day my inner thighs were chaffed from the sticky tape.

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Panasonic "DSLR's" have a recording time indicator.

Yes, a big pain. I now only use the Zoom as a backup to my Roland R-44.

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Adrians list sums it up nicely :) However, not all dslr's don't show how much is left while recording, on my gh3 I can see it counting down during record, you just use the wrong brand of camera's ;)

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In the middle of "nowhere" in rural Kentucky the GPS on my phone stopped working on the way to the wedding ceremony...but not to worry! I saw the signs for the wedding and followed them for twenty miles.

So happy to arrive! Wedding was on a horse ranch, it had been raining all day, walking through very deep mud with equipment, but alas the wedding was already over! People leaving!

Finally figured out I was at the wrong wedding.

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Jeff - I literally have nightmares about that scenario.
(Reoccurring stress dream: driving endlessly while being endlessly lost while knowing I'm already missing the wedding I'm supposed to be filming ... Often the dream is about a wedding I've actually already filmed.)
The only remedy for this one: waking up from the dream.

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Apart from minor issues (yep the double press of the record button comes to mind and after 1 few minutes you glance into the EVF and the screen says "standby" ...that feeling in your gut cannot be described!

My recent "bummer" was on Friday .. I did the photoshoot at a big park and then jumped in and drove to the reception and half way there glanced at the passenger side floor. My entire Nikon stills bag plus my video light bag was gone!! I wondered why the driver window was down a tiny bit!! Some scumbag had grabbed both bags while I was just 100 yards away. Thank goodness they never forced the rear with the video cameras inside!! You are now at a reception at 6pm with no video lighting and no stills camera and no fast lenses....nice situation!!!!

Sure I have insurance but that doesn't help you at 6pm in the evening ...Luckily my Sony's have 16mp stills mode so I reshot the DVD cover shots ... I still had my CFL lighting kit so I ended up persuading the venue to keep the house lights up a bit for bridal entry and then during dancing I ended up using my CFL lighting bounced off the ceiling ..Not a nice feeling when that happens and you KNOW there is nothing you can do about it!! Maybe it's better to leave backup kit at home so if the worst happens you still have gear !

Chris

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Yesterday - accidentally turned off my main cam during the service - fortunately it was during a hymn and was covered by 2 locked off cameras! Funny on the Sony EA50 the handlt top power button has a lock but the main button on thr grip hasn't

I haven't double tapped however in a long time - on my b cams I ensure I see the counter moving before walking away and in my main cam I make a concious point of making sure the timecode is going round every now and then - I'm paranoid about it!

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

I have experienced about 80% of Adrian's. Never had the H4n problem but using mine more than ever - hope that never happens.

Twice now I have had the annoying problem of switching the camera off at the worst moment - once when the bride was coming down the aisle and once as the limo was pulling up. Both single camera shoots.

It was on my old Sony Z5 which has the stupid camera/off/VTR switch surrounding the record button. Each time it was as I whizzed around my thumb somehow slid the power switch off.

As a result missed 8 seconds of bride & dad walking past me (saved by editing in a CU of the groom from earlier).
Limo shot was easy - just asked the limo driver to turn around and drive in again after the ceremony. Tinted windows and low angle camera so you couldn't tell the limo had the entire bridal party inside!

I don't get much sleep the night before a wedding as all sorts of scenarios drift through my head.

Cheers,

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Here's a common sort of mistake -- being caught without a spare battery. I think, if you're a pro, you should have a couple spare batteries and cards on you at all times.

I've never actually made that mistake... that I remember anyway... but have seen plenty of other people I'm shooting with running in panic for the camera bags during middle of ceremony/middle of speeches, etc.

Not noticing when 12-minute DSLR times out... Has definitely happened once or twice. Thank God I'm not relying on 5DMk2s anymore.

Some more minor mistakes -- not having all cameras on same settings. Eg, one person is on auto white balance, another is balanced to daylight, etc. But, in the scheme of things, that sort of mistake is the least of what keeps me awake at night.

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

That seems to be an issue of memory card size.

A 32gb card will take a couple of min's to boot, but 4gb cards will only take about 25 seconds, 8gb and 16gb a bit more, but 32gb seems to be the killer.

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1) Relying on the Matre'D to tell us when Cake cut was happening, because he didn't and we missed it. Trying to recreate it later with a cake that was already cut didn't work! They only do that to me once...

2) Expecting that camera positions agreed with a rather grumpy catholic priest at the rehearsal would be good on the day, then having him stop the ceremony and tell us the we couldn't have a camera there for 'health and safety' reasons. Bang, that was the main camera gone and we had to edit from other fixed cameras since the new position was totally blocked by other people.

....and to cap it all, they both happened at the same wedding!

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Well its time I share this.
So it was one of my first or second gigs, doing it nearly for free for the experience.
Get to ceremony about 20 minutes early - go up to balcony/organ area to setup camera.
I suddenly realized I left my camera adapter plate at home. Back then I was only working with a single camera.

In the next ten minutes with the help of some bibles, duct tape and my jacket, I was able to prop the camera up at the perfect angle to be right where it needed to be and record the ceremony.

o.O

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

ditto! Lmao!

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Ugh... how much time do you have for my list?

*not hitting record
*hitting record twice so that I'm not anymore
*not having a spare battery ready
*not having a spare memory card ready (parent interview)
*battery going dead on external microphone during bride interview because I accidentally put an old one back in, instead of the new one
*losing a memory card from during the ceremony
*buying crappy tripods when first starting out
*not realizing that none of 3 cameras were setup to see the bride come down the aisle once everyone stood up
*not hitting record on groom's pocket recorder
*letting them setup a giant fan RIGHT NEXT to our camera, which was pointed right at the groom, ruining the audio from both (his pocket recorder)

And that doesn't even count technique, framing, picture profiles, exposures, et al.

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Jeff Harper's already told a similar story, but I've twice gone to the wrong reception venue. Reason: on each occasion, there were multiple venues of the same franchise.

Fortunately, on each occasion, the multiple venues were also on the same street, and I'd allowed enough time to correct for the mistake (I try to arrive at least 30-60 minutes before introductions at reception).

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Nothing major bad, but when I first got my Rode Videomic pro, (and before I realised the batteries last forever. I had been turning it on and off as I went. Forgot to turn it on for the entire bridal prep.

When I realised I just set the camera down in the room to record background noise for ten minutes to overlay with the footage.

Nobody seemed to notice that the hustle and bustle noise didn't match up with mouth movements! phew!!!

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Can this be moved to members section please??

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I recently had a frantic phone call from another wedding videographer asking if he could borrow my radio microphones (if I had any) as he had forgotten his.
I didn't know him, but he had found my company using Google so he knew I was local.
He had only 30 mins until the start of the service. Luckily he was filming not too far from me and I no longer use the radio microphones.( digital recorders now)
Of course I obliged and after frantically hunting for them, I found them in a drawer and drove over just in time to help him out.
It brought back unpleasant memories of having done the same thing myself a couple of years ago.
That sinking feeling I had when I realized I had left my bag at home with all my sound equipment, I will never forget and you never know, if I am ever in his area of the country I may need the favour returning. Although I really hope not!

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My buddy Chip used to tell me he had a big note stuck on the Rode body saying "Turn Mic ON!"

Phantom powered mics do take the worry out of that issue now. I shot an entire ceremony once with my Azden transmitters switched to standby!! Why they have that switch I have no idea ...it sends the signal to the receiver but mutes the audio! Both transmitters now have a generous amount of glue from my hot glue gun in the space on the slide switch so it cannot be turned off!!

Now, not to hijack this thread, so why don't we start a new thread about ways to "foolproof" various systems on our gear which would make it very difficult for us to forget to do something or accidentally turn something off ??? Any bright spark want to start a thread like that??

Chris

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Back in the day when I worked for other companies with my ¨trusty¨ Sony PD170 filming weddings as a solo cameraman, I had one freak nightmare day , all my shots were pixelated, randomly, for a few frames. Thank f##k big jeebus was shining his holy lamp of funk on me and I managed to edit the whole wedding with the good bits and a whole lotta sloooomo. In fact they loved the edit. I s#at my pants when I saw the tapes. The horror, the horror…..

Re: Worst mistake you made while shooting?
 

Early on when I started video, I had filmed a project over a period of weeks for a local school and during the opening of the project by the headmaster, I was happily recording his very insightful speech, the lighting, audio, focus etc was perfect.
About a third into the speech I noticed the cam was still in standby, I still cant figure if i tapped it twice or not at all, there were a few people who were thanked and praised that never made it onto the finished product.
I cut about half of the speech which wasn't the greatest edit in the world, I also learned that handling noise could actually drown out anything else in the audio dept.

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Back in the days of miniDV tapes, I took one out of my Canon XL2 too aggressively and ripped the tape in half.... (Yes, this was the main-cam tape and only copy of prep/ceremony).

Anyone else ever do that back in the day?

I sent the tape out to a company in California that mended it perfectly and sent it back to me. But I did not sleep very well those couple weeks as I waited....

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Had my backup camera on auto exposure. lol.

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I could not stop laughings. Sorry, but I could not help myself not to laughs. So what happen to the other wedding? They gotta be so pissed when they did not see you showing up.