losing wedding footage

Silas Barker · May 27th, 2010, 01:36 AM

Hey everyone.

I thought the tape was a fresh one when I went to the next event. Horrid.

Guess its just my luck but I for the first time acidentally erased over some footage from an event on my b roll camera. Good thing I had 2 other cameras going basically the whole event otherwise it would really suck.

As it is it looks like I lost the part where the couple is having their pictures taken but that's about it as far as I know so far.

Solution:
ALWAYS lock your tapes when you pull them out.
Always mark them ASAP with the date.
ALWAYS run more then one camera.

I plan to give the couple a discount, throw in photos from the photographer for the part thats gone, and call it an experience.

Kelly Langerak · May 27th, 2010, 10:55 PM

I've done this a few times.

1. The footage had stayed on my hard drive for a few months and the first half of the wedding was deleted.
(How to prevent this?) Back up to more than one HD. I had to give 50% of my fee back.

2. During the ceremony I did it with all one take from when the bride got the the alter to just before the kiss.
FCP locked up during the transfer of that long take. I looked at all the files and saw it was their so I assumed it had completely transferred over but it did not. I had to give 50% of my fee back. (How to prevent?) Allow FCP to transfer while you go make coffee or have dinner. Make sure all the clips have a "thumbnail". Edit the video. Then delete the footage.

3. Outdoor wedding. Wind was very loud and I was nowhere near the speakers. We did a mic check just moments before the ceremony started, not kidding, like 2 minutes. I didn't notice but the pastor turned off his mic and forgot to turn it on before the ceremony. My second videographer didn't turn on this mic on his 7D and the H4N was hooked up to the sound system that we weren't' able to monitor. Luckily I had my mic on and captured the sound.

4. My footage on my 7D for the B&G introduction / first dance disappeared. Luckily my other videographer Kevin who in training, was recording the event with another camera and saved my ass.

I haven't had a problem since. I make sure my audio is covered from head to toe and two cameras are running during the special moments, even if they paid for one camera. At least I have that safety net.

Hameed Aabid · May 28th, 2010, 12:36 AM

I deleted a partition (not formated) on a 500gb external HDD.... wanted to get the data back didn't have enought storage space to copy. So went and bought a 1TB HDD while installing it, I stuffed up another HDD. (I HATE SATA PORTS). While trying to fix it, I broke a pin. Hence lost all footage for the wedding I was working on. Now the problem is not with footage because I have them all on tape but I had deshaken certain clips and now, I basically have to redo the whole thing again.

It will cost me several hundred dollars to get the data recovered, since I have all the project files in another drive, I just have to transfer the footage, use the same file names but the hard part is getting the right clips to deshake. That'll be painful.

Anyways, I am seriously thinking of RAID now.

Hameed Aabid · June 2nd, 2010, 05:43 AM

I fixed my HDD when I thought there was no hope left.

If you ever broke a SATA pin or the plastic L-shape thing from the power or data connection... just before giving up try one of those SATA power + data cables.
http://www.pccasegear.com/images/rc5055sata.jpg

Because it has both connection joined together it holds the them even if the L-shape part is broken.

I was seriously not hoping that it will work but I am glad I tried it anyway. Right now I am copying all the data from the faulty disk to my new 1tb HDD. I think I will still keep the faulty disk and install new version of Fedora to play with... but do I want to take the risk with a faulty disk... guess not... they are pretty cheap nowadays anyway... and I am running low on SATA connections.

Anyways... I am very glad I sorted out my problem. There is nothing scarier than losing data that hasn't been backed up.

Christopher Figueroa · June 9th, 2010, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silas Barker

Solution:ALWAYS lock your tapes when you pull them out.

This is most important in my book. I'm surprised at how many videographers I know don't do this. Why take the chance of recording over something? And I never rewind the tape until I'm just about to capture it. These $2 tapes turn into $500 tapes very quickly.

May 27th, 2010, 01:36 AM	#31
Silas Barker Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 577	Hey everyone. I thought the tape was a fresh one when I went to the next event. Horrid. Guess its just my luck but I for the first time acidentally erased over some footage from an event on my b roll camera. Good thing I had 2 other cameras going basically the whole event otherwise it would really suck. As it is it looks like I lost the part where the couple is having their pictures taken but that's about it as far as I know so far. Solution: ALWAYS lock your tapes when you pull them out. Always mark them ASAP with the date. ALWAYS run more then one camera. I plan to give the couple a discount, throw in photos from the photographer for the part thats gone, and call it an experience.

May 27th, 2010, 10:55 PM	#32
Kelly Langerak Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bay Area Posts: 522	I've done this a few times. 1. The footage had stayed on my hard drive for a few months and the first half of the wedding was deleted. (How to prevent this?) Back up to more than one HD. I had to give 50% of my fee back. 2. During the ceremony I did it with all one take from when the bride got the the alter to just before the kiss. FCP locked up during the transfer of that long take. I looked at all the files and saw it was their so I assumed it had completely transferred over but it did not. I had to give 50% of my fee back. (How to prevent?) Allow FCP to transfer while you go make coffee or have dinner. Make sure all the clips have a "thumbnail". Edit the video. Then delete the footage. 3. Outdoor wedding. Wind was very loud and I was nowhere near the speakers. We did a mic check just moments before the ceremony started, not kidding, like 2 minutes. I didn't notice but the pastor turned off his mic and forgot to turn it on before the ceremony. My second videographer didn't turn on this mic on his 7D and the H4N was hooked up to the sound system that we weren't' able to monitor. Luckily I had my mic on and captured the sound. 4. My footage on my 7D for the B&G introduction / first dance disappeared. Luckily my other videographer Kevin who in training, was recording the event with another camera and saved my ass. I haven't had a problem since. I make sure my audio is covered from head to toe and two cameras are running during the special moments, even if they paid for one camera. At least I have that safety net.

May 28th, 2010, 12:36 AM	#33
Hameed Aabid Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Virgo Supercluster Posts: 83	I deleted a partition (not formated) on a 500gb external HDD.... wanted to get the data back didn't have enought storage space to copy. So went and bought a 1TB HDD while installing it, I stuffed up another HDD. (I HATE SATA PORTS). While trying to fix it, I broke a pin. Hence lost all footage for the wedding I was working on. Now the problem is not with footage because I have them all on tape but I had deshaken certain clips and now, I basically have to redo the whole thing again. It will cost me several hundred dollars to get the data recovered, since I have all the project files in another drive, I just have to transfer the footage, use the same file names but the hard part is getting the right clips to deshake. That'll be painful. Anyways, I am seriously thinking of RAID now.

June 2nd, 2010, 05:43 AM	#34
Hameed Aabid Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Virgo Supercluster Posts: 83	I fixed my HDD when I thought there was no hope left. If you ever broke a SATA pin or the plastic L-shape thing from the power or data connection... just before giving up try one of those SATA power + data cables. http://www.pccasegear.com/images/rc5055sata.jpg Because it has both connection joined together it holds the them even if the L-shape part is broken. I was seriously not hoping that it will work but I am glad I tried it anyway. Right now I am copying all the data from the faulty disk to my new 1tb HDD. I think I will still keep the faulty disk and install new version of Fedora to play with... but do I want to take the risk with a faulty disk... guess not... they are pretty cheap nowadays anyway... and I am running low on SATA connections. Anyways... I am very glad I sorted out my problem. There is nothing scarier than losing data that hasn't been backed up.