Hey everyone, what are some of your most memorable moments (funniest, scariest, most embarrasing, most exciting, most challenging, most poignant) while shooting? Or in any stage of the production for that matter.

You know...the kind of stories you tell at the pub over a beer or two or six.

well i was searching for some information on a camera during pre-production and i met this guy named John Locke, ever since then he has asked and answered many questions, then showed me a kick ass site, that made my site look really crap.

I think i have had too many beers already for a beer chat.

kermie

Funny you should ask. Just about a week ago we had our first real snowfall of the season. Nothing torrential, just nice white flakes falling gently through relatively still air.

I am working on a short on the changing seasons on Chicago's Grant Park (across the street from my home). Seeing this as a good opportunity to get my first winter shots I put a rain cover on my GL2 (and one on myself) and strolled across the street. Being the middle of a workday the park was empty. The new snow muffled the distant sounds of traffic along Lake Shore Drive. Sounds of a few winter birds and a nearby squirrel foraging for nuts were all that I heard through my headphones as I set-up the most serene shot through a grove of whitened ginko trees.

Suddenly, wham! The peace was shattered by thundering strains of the old song "YMCA" blaring through the air and into my headphones. Startled witless for a moment I jerked the headphones off and stood rigid, searching for the source of the suddden cacophony. Apparently there are loudspeakers placed throughout that end of the park and someone thought it would be hilarious to patch a local oldies station through the speakers. Very funny. The look on my face must have been priceless.

I was shooting a paintball tournament 2 months ago with my XL1. Usualy I stand right on the sidelines, which is a pretty dangerous place to be, although since I play alot, I can tell where to stand to stay out of stray fire.
I was tracking one guy running up the field and accidently ran right into someones line of fire as he shot at the guy I was following. POW, I got shot right square in the right testicle from about 40 feet away. I went down in agony, but at least didn't drop the camera. At least the camera was rolling so I have a permanent memory. Great clip, me swearing and the referee standing beside me laughing his a$$ off at me. It only hurt for about 30 minutes. :P

>>I am working on a short on the changing seasons on Chicago's Grant Park (across the street from my home).<<
I like FL, but I miss Chicago. I used to live right across from Mothers' many years ago. Only a few blocks from Lincoln Park in
the Gold Coast area. Do you live in the one of the Towers?
Many a great festivals in Grant park.
Does Marshall Fields still do the Christmas windows? Is Heaven on 7 still in the Garland bldg?

I was shooting at the local beach. A woman stepped in front of the camera decided to go topless just for me ( I did not ask her to).
I got aroused and had to sit down. It took awhile to 'calm down' because she sat down next to me and continued talking. She asked if I was shooting for one of those girls gone wild videos and wanted to know how much she could get paid to appear in one.
I told her I was just trying to get some generic beach shots. I apologized and said I wouldn't use the video for anything. I still have it though. Can't seem to bring myself to erase the tape.

Don't bother asking for a copy. She was Puerto Rican and beautiful.

The wildest moment happened when I was filming at a Gothic party. I was shoting some video of a woman out on the dance floor who had no shirt on under her suit-like jacket and her partner opened her jacket and then they ended up rolling on the floor kissing while everyone danced in a circle around them.

This is somewhat normal behavior, but when she was out in the front entrance with her friend, I showed her the video I was shooting of her, she liked it and asked if I could shoot some more of them. I thought maybe some more rolling around on the floor like before. But they led me to where there's a small space near the bathrooms and then she then totally strips off her clothes while her friend starts kissing her(not just on the mouth but mainly you know where) all the while asking me if I had a good angle. Pretty soon a crowd of people gather around me and watch the show they are putting on.

Same sort of thing happened at another party but instead two women started wrestling with the same guy and took off his clothes, it was very funny in the fact that he wasn't able to rise to the occasion even though he had two goth girls attacking him, lesson to be learned, don't drink so much when attending gothic parties. I'm not using this footage in the gothic video I'm making, I have to keep it rated R.

I travelled all the to Virginia to shoot a watercraft story. Left my wife to run the cam while I was with the manufacturer setting up the craft at the dock.

Next a boat with a blue canopy pulls up between the cam and us in the adjacent slip. Not realizing she wasn't looking through the EVF, I ask her, "Are you getting this?

Well you get the idea. She's got both our heads and 5 minutes of the blue canopy.
----------------------------
The other goody was being volunteered to shoot a wedding of a work friend of hers and only being told 2 weeks in advance.

Well my anniversary comes up in a little over week. I guess I'm OK since I still remember it!

Happy Holidays,

I was filming a scene in front of a department store in my city, and it was meant to be a staged snatch and grab of a breifcase, well it was 6.30am and i was very tired and not to familar with the script, well the scene comes the guy runs in, steals the briefcase and they ran after him... well security ran out of the store chased all of them, then an actor comes and says "sorry i'm late".


To make a long story short, the briefcase really was stolen.


kermie

Joe, Rik


I hate you guys.

Just kidding.

Mostly.

No... no... I DO hate you guys.





;)

Following Dylan's monumental stuff-up post, A few years ago in New Zealand this guy who though himself a bit of a hot skier paied me $120 to follow him round the mountain for a couple of hours and film him. I hooked up with him the next day and her was wearing a pink Decent ski suit. I should have just bailed right then and there.

I had been following him around as he did all these poxy 80's ski moves thinking he was just the s%#t and he said he wanted to do the mogul run. I shot him from the side, then from the bottom of the run. Then he said he wanted me to follow him through the moguls. This is the second time I should have bailed.

Anyone who has ever tried to snowboard through moguls knows it's a bloody difficult thing to do at any great speed, but this guys wasn't real good at them so I though it wouldn't be a problem. Off he went with me following. He got about 3/4 of the way down and went over a jump and did some starjump twisty kinda thing, landed crossed-up and went arse over. I got the whole thing on tape. What I also got was about 1/2 a second later was me hitting one of his lost skis and also going arse over. when we watched the tape later all you could see was snow, sky, snow, sky, snow, sky. The sound track was the best, $%&%&#$&$ %'$&$ skiers #%&%&#$&# losing their #$&$&$ kit $)#&)#.

The guy said the last couple of minutes was worth every dollar.

Joe,
Ah, an ex-Chicagoan! Yes, there's much to miss. Despite the weather (which is greatly overstated) Chicago is definitely the most liveable of the big U.S. cities. Best kept secret around.

"Do you live in the one of the Towers?"
Actually, yes I live in a highrise condo but further south (from the Division Street area) along Monroe Harbor across from Grant Park.

"Many a great festivals in Grant park."
You betcha! Everything from Gospel Fest, to Jazz Fest to Taste of Chicago to Celtic Fest, to... Not to mention the weekly Grant Park Symphony concerts and the new weekly "drive in" movies. (Mid-week free showings of classic flicks like "The Birds" and "Casablanca" projected on a giant screen.) Every week throughout the spring and summer, right in my back yard!

"Does Marshall Fields still do the Christmas windows?"
You betcha!

"Is Heaven on 7 still in the Garland bldg?
You betcha! There's even a 2nd Heaven on Seven restaurant now located just off the Mag Mile.

>>You betcha! There's even a 2nd Heaven on Seven restaurant now located just off the Mag Mile.<<
Ken....

I spent 6 years up there. It will always be my second home no matter where I live. Darn I miss the culture and people (the ones who live in town, not the suburbs). Facets was where I got my exposure to classic and foreign film. Surprisingly, there isn't any think like Facets down here in Multi Cultural FL. Arggh.

Mind you, I eventually had to move to Gurnee and hated it, but Chicago proper? Nothing else like it in America. You're right, it is the best large city to live in. Another great town to live in and around is Orlando FL. Great film and music town.

If I could, as much as I like FL, I would move back to Chicago proper (not the suburbs) in a New York minute. The film scene both mainstream and independent is stronger there than down here.

They must have started the film in the park stuff after I left in 94.

My job took me down here to Boca. Maybe it's time I looked back up there. Or at least Orlando. hehehe.

UT Austin, 1990. Class: Electronic Field Production. Event: my first field training excersize, with a Panasonic 200CLE. My very first time ever with a full-size professional shoulder-mount camera. With two fellow students, in a park at 9th & Guadalupe. Lots going on... people enjoying the noon hour on a fine spring day. I choose my shot, a young lady sitting beneath a tree, holding her baby. I'm not used to the B&W EVF. Trying to properly compose the shot, framing it up. Everything we shoot will be reviewed and critiqued by our instructor, Dr. Ira Abrams, in front of the entire class later. My classmate, Frank Barnas, who went on to become a successful documentary videographer, can't stand it anymore and taps me on the shoulder. "You might want to point that thing somewhere else," he advised. "She's breast feeding."

As embarrassed as I was at that moment, it was nothing compared to re-living it with Dr. Abrams and the rest of the class, who probably took me for some kind of leering, tasteless pervert. I had to explain how difficult it was for me to discern exactly what was happening in that viewfinder. Needless to say it was a red-faced moment.

Now that would make a very funny short. Call it "Black and White Redface".

As a matter of fact, all of these stories would make make a good series of comedic shorts.

I was shooting a short film with a few friends, and we were in the kitchen doing a scene that involved the character waiting for a piece of toast to pop. I had him covertly place his hand near the toaster so he could pop it himself when the time came. The first take, he had his face a bit too close to the toaster, and he put a bit too much force on the lever! Up comes the toast, hits him in the chin and bounces straight into a bowl of milk. We got it aalll on tape. That's how I came up with 'Milktoast Productions' for a little fake production company :)

Kermie, I love the briefcase story, that's priceless!

We were on a shoot last summer in a town (not to be mentioned here) in Alaska. The town was a launching point for our boat/gear/crew where we had to travel up river 7 or 8 miles to our location.
The original shoot was set for 1.5 days and turned into 3 days because the fishing was absolutely hot, the weather was perfect, and we couldn’t pass up the footage we were getting.

This is one of our favorite locations, and we are in and out of there 6 or 7 times a summer

Every night we were going into town and terrorizing the local “watering holes” with my partner and 3 of our crew. Most of the locals and guides knew we were there shooting, and would stop by to see how we were doing throughout the day.

The whole time my wife was visiting her parents in Denver for a mini vacation with our youngest boy………….

There is a fishing guide who is 22 years old, blonde, and lets just say she’s a “bombshell” which is not typical of the whole “Alaska guide stereotype”. She looks like she belongs as an icon on a California or Florida beach. My oldest boy (who is 18 tomorrow) is so in love with her it’s not funny. I’ve known her for years, and my son and I went on a guided fishing trip with here when she was 18 to scope out the area.

We were at the bar terrorizing the locals, when one of them mentioned we should get out the mighty canon and film the party. Of course we obliged. It got completely out of control and I was filming the whole thing. My partner was leading them in bar songs/chants/and more stupid stuff. I also was interviewing people and getting some good footage, and there ended up being a line of people awaiting their alleged 15 seconds of fame.

I needed to take a break, and handed the camera to one of our crew…….he has literally zero time behind the camera, but is a decent sound/scout/prep guy on our shoots.

When I came back the “bombshell” started up a conversation with me, and was showing me the newly healed tattoo she had on the small of he back just above her waist line. I mentioned that it was a little dry due to the skin healing. She breaks out the lotion the tattoo artist gave her and squeezes some in my hand. I look up at my partner (I’m sure with a blushed face) and immediately the camera started rolling while this was all going on.

While she is lifting up the back of her shirt she has her hand on my shoulder to keep her balance…..
Here I am rubbing lotion on her tattoo…………XL1s rolling………
I thought nothing of it while it was all going on, and she was posing for the camera the whole time arching her back flipping her hair etc. We were all kind of chuckling about the whole thing and it was all innocent at the moment. Half the bar is cheering me on to make it worse.

I ended up talking and drinking a beer with her for about 15-20 min’s before they handed the camera back to me. Of course, I know now that I shouldn’t be in front of the camera when I’m buzzed on beer….with a hand full of lotion, and a new tattoo on some female……hehe

I get back home and about a week later I’m going through all the footage to see what we could use, and what was crap. I completely forgot about the whole situation I described above.

My editing box is upstairs in our family room where my desk is, and the wife’s desk is about 6 feet away. I was mentioning to my wife about how crazy it is when you break out the camera in a bar scenario, and what a prosumer camera does to people. She was kind of watching the footage out of the corner of her eye, kidding with me, and saying how much of and idiot my friends and I are to get people to do stuff like that in front of our cameras……when both sides of the camera are influenced with too much beer.

Up pops the footage of bombshell with the new tattoo arching her back and little ole me rubbing lotion on it while she is gyrating to the whole thing as described above.

I immediately shut off the camera, but now I’m busted……….the wife swoops in like a hungry bald eagle with an impressive wingspan…….whoosh……literal near death experience…….

Of course I had to turn it back on to satisfy her curiosity, and come to find out after the whole “lotion thing” our bombshell is standing facing me the whole time we are standing with about a beer bottles distance between the 2 of us. To make it worse, the camera zooms in close on her breasts to make the distance between us look even closer.

Now, the wife’s focus goes to the audio……..which is probably the only thing that saved me…..
Luckily I’m talking to her about nothing but “hooking up” with my son sometime………hehe

To make this long story short, after the wife blew off some steam she forgave me, and this “short” ended up with a happy ending (but quite the woman’s scorn =).

Back when I was 19, I was shooting a short kuung-fu comedy for fun in a friend's back yard. We were choreographing the first sequence between the Evil Khan Dom (my best friend, 6'4" 260lb bodybuilder at the time) and, I forget the hero's name, who was played by me. For the very first shot, I explained in very small simple words to him that he would punch the air about 12" from my head to my left. I'd dodge my head to my right, and make it look like he socked me hard. Well, I think you can figure out what happened next. It was my fault for thinking he would understand the difference between MY left and HIS left. Next thing I know I'm spitting blood out and checking to see if my teeth were all still there (thankfully they were). We laughed it off, had some beer and completed the shoot.

The sad part? The shot of me actually getting punched looks fake compared to the shots we choreographed, which looked real, so I didn't end up using it. :)

I was shooting a vet in his home. This guy is about 82 yrs.

During the last couple of min in the interview I walked away from the cameras and used the bathroom. When I came back the interview was complete and the host was not in the room. The vet was sitting in his favorite chair.

In post I was working with an intern and she (about 19 yrs) came to the end of the shoot where I had left the room.

The good ole vet unzipped his pants and used his emty coffee cup to drain his lizard. The intern's eyes popped open and said, "Gee that's big".

Question. Should I keep this a secret or let the vet know????

At 82 I'd bet he knows how big it is.