Sometimes when you’re on a shoot, the first day can be the hardest. Everyone is trying to get familiar with the locations, the client, the gear, and with one another. The demands of loading, unloading, and transporting gear can become relatively quick and easy, but it takes time for the crew to develop a good system that is both safe and efficient. It might take some time to get into the groove.
Today marked day one of shooting a promotional video for one of my clients. This current job is very exciting. First, the client is easy to work with - always a plus. Second, the project involves not only the promotional video, but a series of four TV spots. Two of the spots have been completed and approved, so over the course of this week and one week in March we hope to get all the footage necessary to complete the final two commercials and the long format piece.
Even though my crew and I had worked for this client before, we still fell victim to the first day quirks. The first incident occured at the very first location. As we were unloading the gear I was telling one of my crew members that I brought along a different monitor, because the video connection on my previous monitor went bad. As soon as I finished mentioning the new monitor, the hand truck (upon which all of our gear was stacked), collapsed and the monitor went tumbling end-over-end across the parking lot. The housing was scratched and chipped, but it still worked.
Just before lunch we found ourselves shooting in a large industrial building. We tucked the gear aside before breaking for lunch, but I wanted to take the camera with me. We were half-way out of the building when I realized I left the camera behind. One the guys on my crew ran all the way back to get it. We loaded it in the car and took off for lunch. Upon returning from lunch, we walked back into the industrial building and had almost reached the location when I realized I left the camera in the car. Again, we had to run all the way back to get it.
Just before wrapping out of the industrial location, one of my crew members went to unplug one of my lights from a cube tap breakout box and received the electrical shock of his life. The jolt literally burned a small chunk of skin off his middle finger, resulting in a large, bleeding sore. He rushed down to the infirmary to get it bandaged.
While he was gone to get medical attention the rest of us wrapped the gear and took it out to the car. It was only then did I realize that my wounded grip still had my car keys. We had to wait for him to return so we could load up. When he finally arrived, he had so much gauze on his finger he had to keep it straight out. He was giving people the finger for the rest of the day.
Hopefully the rest of the week will pass without a major incident.
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