Your facepalm moments during filmmaking

Tinalera

Tinalera

Aside from the facepalms I probably get when people see my threads........(chirps)

*ahem*

Times you've slapped your own head in frustration during filmmaking:

One was after the fact: I was doing a school project, and I wanted to "be the stuntman" and jump down and "disappear" behind a hill (wasn't a cliff, just a small hill). Set the camera, ran and jumped, and disappeared-success! Well, not really, I sprained my ankle and tumbled down the hill and groaned in pain for awhile- call it a hindsight facepalm.

Then there was the time at school I offered to tape a speech at a community center. It was my first "live" shoot of any kind, and got the V-300 set up (nice cameras, those), external shotgun mic and away I went. Awesome. Afterwards, we took it back to edit and found I hadn't "set" the option for external mic, but also shut off the camera mic- therefore, beautiful pantomime that would have made Marcel Marceau proud-not a stitch of sound.

Fortunately they never followed up with us on it-so we dodged a bullet-it was a experience thing, and no money was paid...but I learned that day....
 
1. The light was placed too close to the sprinkler and the heat set it off. Everything was drenched and flooded in this old underground run down meet factory and the costumes, equipment and a whole lot of stuff was wasted. The location manager was nowhere to be found and it took 30 minutes to hunt him down, the set was flooded. And this was a set that cost $1,500 a day to shoot.

2. The first day shooting overseas and a typhoon hit us. It was pouring like no other, and we just sat there praying for it to go away. I lost a day and half of shooting and had to start editing the film in my head to figure out which scenes to cut out.

3. Guerilla filming in Burma, the weather conditions were so extreme that the small crew I had didn't show up the next day, I was on my own from then on. It was like filming in an oven, crazy stuff.

Maybe I was just too ambitious for my first film, I think I've been told by almost everyone I worked with "you're crazy!, you cant do that!". I question it sometimes.
 
I'm on a Kevin Sorbo film and this guy (i won't say his name) tells me to line the military up along the front of the rock wall. I get them all lined up outside, then the director comes over and says, what are these guys doing out here?

I tell him, "**** told me to bring them out and get them ready".

**** says, "No I didn't."
 
I worked on a short as both production sound mixer/boom-op and post sound editor/mixer. It was only two actors on one very cramped set. I put a lav on each - fed to the camera - a cardioid on the boom and a hidden cardioid to capture some incidental stuff to a DAT (affordable flash recorders weren't out yet). When the editor got the footage he erased all of the audio with the exception of the incidental mic. His rationale was A: he needed the disk space and B: since that was the mic where everything sounded the same that was the only audio I needed. The producer had to pay to have everything redone and, needless to say, retained another editor with explicit instructions regarding the audio from yours truly.

Some editors should NEVER be allowed near audio.
 
Okay, here's another one.

I was retained to work on a feature. During preproduction we went to one of the locations which was directly under the approach to an airport with a RR train switching station about 200 yards away and a major truck route about 50 yards away on the other side. Just imagine; jets landing, trains being switched and dozens of diesel tractor trailers going by every minute. The producer, the production sound mixer and myself all adamantly told the director in no uncertain terms that the location would be a nightmare for sound. He decided to shoot there anyway.

During the initial edit the director was screaming about how bad the production sound was and, during audio post, lambasted me for not being able to clean up the sound. He ended up having to spend a fortune on ADR. All of the talent had to be paid and fed, and I, of course, got my hourly rate as ADR was not included in my audio post budget. He actually accused me of purposefully not cleaning up the sound so I could make more money. (He called several studios and found out that the audio was totally unsalvageable.)

Of course, he accused the producer, PSM and myself of not warning him that the location was totally unsuitable for sound. What finally shut him up was the producers assistant; she recorded and transcribed every conversation that took place and we all sat around a table and played the tape for him.

It turned out that he had - God knows why - a sentimental attachment to the location.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Okay, here's another one.

I was retained to work on a feature. During preproduction we went to one of the locations which was directly under the approach to an airport with a RR train switching station about 200 yards away and a major truck route about 50 yards away on the other side. Just imagine; jets landing, trains being switched and dozens of diesel tractor trailers going by every minute. The producer, the production sound mixer and myself all adamantly told the director in no uncertain terms that the location would be a nightmare for sound.

During the initial edit the director was screaming about how bad the production sound was and, during audio post, lambasted me for not being able to clean up the sound. He ended up having to spend a fortune on ADR. All of the talent had to be paid and fed, and I, of course, got my hourly rate as ADR was not included in my audio post budget. He actually accused me of purposefully not cleaning up the sound so I could make more money. (He called several studios and found out that the audio was totally unsalvageable.)

Of course, he accused the producer, PSM and myself of not warning him that the location was totally unsuitable for sound. What finally shut him up was the producers assistant; she recorded and transcribed every conversation that took place and we all sat around a table and played the tape for him.

It turned out that he had - God knows why - a sentimental attachment to the location.
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I wonder if that happens more often than not-directors (or whoever) picking places because of that:lol:


I would think that people hired for, you know, the SOUND would have the idea of what would work and what doesn't. The director in that case sounded like he thought he knew better than his sound staff (and didn't) I can see his mindset now: "I mean, you're just a "techie" for sound, what do you know about VISION?!") :rolleyes:


I hope when the time comes that I hire a sound person, they'll have something akin to your experience-you could work on my set any day (though I probably couldn't afford you ;)) Of course, if you feel an overwhelming need to do some pro bono charity work for me....
 
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I got to direct a live news broadcast for communications tech. We had four periods (an hour and 15 min each) to practice, and then had to do it on the fifth one. Anyway, turns out, in my group, I was the only one who actually was into filmmaking. My camera people, switcher, lighting person, and audio person all learned how to do their jobs in 15 minute sessions on the first day :P

Anyway, it was quite frustrating but everyone pulled through at the end and it actually turned out pretty good.
 
Tinalera said:
I hope when the time comes that I hire a sound person, they'll have something akin to your experience - you could work on my set any day (though I probably couldn't afford you ;)) Of course, if you feel an overwhelming need to do some pro bono charity work for me....
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I'm more affordable than you think; low/micro budget is my particular niche. I very rarely do production sound anymore, although I do a fair amount of preproduction consultation in addition to my audio post work. Obviously I would like to take a few steps up. Hell, I'd fetch coffee, clean toilets and polish shoes if I could spend some of the time sitting in with Randy Thom; he's my hero. Check out his IMDB & Google him up and you'll see why; he's a living legend in the audio post community.
 
Another "war story" for y'all...

I was mixing a feature and the director - who also wrote and starred - kept wanting the sound of him/his character landing on the hood of a car to be louder. I had six layers for the impact. No matter what I did - more volume, more aggressive EQ, compression - it was never loud enough. The only way to make it louder was to reduce the sound of the rest of the film which, of course, was unacceptable.

It turns out that when he did the stunt he cracked a couple of ribs and wanted the sound to "really hurt" so the audience would know that he had "sacrificed" himself for the film. He eventually came around - it helped that the producers came to the mix session the next day and yelled at him for me after I sent a surreptitious email to them.
 
I got one for you,

So the first night I had my camera, me and sean decided to make a short on the spot. Got the costumes, got the sets up etc. I filmed probably 25 shots (1 take, mostly), but then when I was putting it together on the computer, I get a few shots in, and, what's this? A clip of me setting up a shot? A clip of me moving the camera to another location? That's right, I had at some point gotten backwards on my record switch. whoops

Total facepalm. I'm actually still really pissed at myself about that.
 
aceofspades70 said:
I'm on a Kevin Sorbo film and this guy (i won't say his name) tells me to line the military up along the front of the rock wall. I get them all lined up outside, then the director comes over and says, what are these guys doing out here?

I tell him, "**** told me to bring them out and get them ready".

**** says, "No I didn't."
Click to expand...

People like that ensure I will probably never quit smoking.
 
Dreadylocks said:
I got one for you,

So the first night I had my camera, me and sean decided to make a short on the spot. Got the costumes, got the sets up etc. I filmed probably 25 shots (1 take, mostly), but then when I was putting it together on the computer, I get a few shots in, and, what's this? A clip of me setting up a shot? A clip of me moving the camera to another location? That's right, I had at some point gotten backwards on my record switch. whoops

Total facepalm. I'm actually still really pissed at myself about that.
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See, I first read that, and it didn't totally click, and I thought -okay, she accidently recorded the shots-then it hit me-with the "reverse" recording, all the times you thought you were "on" you were off, and vise versa!

You're lucky you only did face palm, I may have used the camera instead of my palm!:lol:

How much time was spent "shooting"?

I know I constantly have to check (because I use the flip screen)-it gives one "beep" for rec, and 2 "beeps" for stop. But the beeps are so quiet I have to check "is it recording, okay"-hence my outake footage involves my mug, masked or otherwise, staring in the camera:lol:
 
I've since learned about the beeps and the readout on the display, like I said, it was my first night with the camera. We only filmed for a few hours, but the loss still hurts. I think it would have made a nice short. I'm still planning on remaking it.

The silver lining is of course that I will do it better next time since I made a few mistakes I could learn from.
 
Dreadylocks said:
I've since learned about the beeps and the readout on the display, like I said, it was my first night with the camera. We only filmed for a few hours, but the loss still hurts. I think it would have made a nice short. I'm still planning on remaking it.

The silver lining is of course that I will do it better next time since I made a few mistakes I could learn from.
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I've been debating doing a reshoot for Delivery Day (at least the indoor scenes, with decent lighting), but I ask sometimes would it be the same/ have the same effect as the original takes? I mean it would look nicer and tidier, but do I lose the "personality" and energy of those shots?

I know all about first day stuff, figuring out what the camera does-I only pointed out the beeps because even WITH them, I still have to check, so that's no guarantee either.

Oh yea, I've learned through face-pamistry about making sure I don't record OVER footage I haven't recorded to computer yet....ugh! Done that too many times...
 
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Realizing I recorded an A-list actor in figure-8 mode and not cardioid. Spent a few paychecks on that one.

But hey, that's how you learn and everyone makes mistakes. Just make them early enough and as inexpensive as possible.
 
ROC said:
Realizing I recorded an A-list actor in figure-8 mode and not cardioid. Spent a few paychecks on that one.

But hey, that's how you learn and everyone makes mistakes. Just make them early enough and as inexpensive as possible.
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I agree, it's how we all learn-but when I've done mine (thinking "hey, I know how to do this!"), it kept me honest. (My ankle still been the same since that day :lol:)
 
When I was staffing at TNN, every now and then we'd get a rush job for Prime Time Country, a Dick Clark production that was recorded live. Every now and again an artist would screw up in a song or a dead interview would need some cleaning up and they'd rush the tapes accross the parking lot and we'd do a quick fix before it aired, always without the artist there.
Steven Seagal was the guest this day (it's an off-broadway version of the tonight show). He was promoting a new film as well as his blues band. The thing was he simply played terrible and was the front man. (more than terrible) Sour notes, bad timing (and several cutaways to hide the dear in the headlights vibe).
After his performance, two producers shuffled in behind me to see if I could make him sound better. This was in the linear days, mind you. I knew I wasn't gonna improve this thing but I had to appease. I explained that all I could do was trigger speed changes and make slight timing alterations. I wrestled with the first part of the song while more people trickled in behind me. After making a few more-than-obvious edits, I turned to the room saying "Guys, ya can't polish a turd." There before me stood Dick Clark Jr., a team of producers, a shocked audio dude and one very pissed off lookin'...
Steven Seagal.

doah!
 
grinner said:
When I was staffing at TNN, every now and then we'd get a rush job for Prime Time Country, a Dick Clark production that was recorded live. Every now and again an artist would screw up in a song or a dead interview would need some cleaning up and they'd rush the tapes accross the parking lot and we'd do a quick fix before it aired, always without the artist there.
Steven Seagal was the guest this day (it's an off-broadway version of the tonight show). He was promoting a new film as well as his blues band. The thing was he simply played terrible and was the front man. (more than terrible) Sour notes, bad timing (and several cutaways to hide the dear in the headlights vibe).
After his performance, two producers shuffled in behind me to see if I could make him sound better. This was in the linear days, mind you. I knew I wasn't gonna improve this thing but I had to appease. I explained that all I could do was trigger speed changes and make slight timing alterations. I wrestled with the first part of the song while more people trickled in behind me. After making a few more-than-obvious edits, I turned to the room saying "Guys, ya can't polish a turd." There before me stood Dick Clark Jr., a team of producers, a shocked audio dude and one very pissed off lookin'...
Steven Seagal.

doah!
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Nice. Piss off Steven Segal-guy who could break you in half!:lol: At least honest....that counts for something.....


right? RIGHT?! (I'm impressed you lived through the experience!)
 
My friend wanted to do a fight scene for a college project recently, I volunteered to act in it.

During the fight I was fueled with adrenaline, when the guy was meant to throw me I properly launched myself, missed the door, I flew across the bonnet, clearing the car, Oh how we laughed :)
 
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