We know everything hasn't gone smoothly on EVERY shoot - how can it? Combine a huge amount of gear that would stagger a pack-mule with an assortment of conditions, clients, climate and conundrums - and calamities will happen... and they do.

The time has come to spill... and share with the world our video oops and goofs for our annual Videomaker Horror Stories. These are real horror stories from videographers shooting in all levels of the business, and this year I took my appeal to the trenches and solicited stories from the writers you read every month in the annals of Videomaker. Next time you see these names, remember the stories of how they fell from grace for a moment or two, and how they picked themselves up, (sometimes literally), dusted their camera off and continued to shoot, edit and produce video, because, after all, it's the greatest gig of all!

As tradition, I will start with a story of my own, so settle in and get comfy while we entertain you with more Video Horror Stories from the Deep.

Dawn Patrol

This story comes from my early days as a TV news shooter for a mid-market station. My reporter and I were given one of the coolest assignments on earth: tag along with a hot-air balloon crew as they fly in the Dawn Patrol event at an annual air show. 100 balloons would launch right before dawn, and the images of all these colorful balloons - lit only by the fire stoking their lift-off in the morning dark - was going to be awesome. The event was at a small airport out of town, and we'd have to get up at 4:00 a.m., so we left right after the 11:00 p.m. newscast the night before to camp alongside the balloonists and their crews.

We approached the dark airport 'round midnight and could just make out the silhouettes of long deep rows of tents as the balloonists slept. "There's a good spot," I said as I could barely make out an area in the dark with no other tents around it. We packed our gear to the site and using only a small pen-light for illumination, we set up our tiny tent then settled in to sleep.

About an hour later we were awakened by a loud roar overhead, and the brightest light I'd ever seen flashed across our tent and was gone. Moments later, we heard squealing brakes and our tent was again lit up, this time by car headlights. "Hey! Who the (expletive) gave you permission to camp on the tarmac?!?", a voice shouted from the dark. We popped our heads out of the tent and there, looking back at us, was the head of airport security, the coordinator of the balloon event, and a dozen balloonists peeping from their own tents - all in a state of surprise. Apparently that "good spot" was in the middle of the runway for incoming planes and that roar and bright light earlier was a plane that had to make an emergency diversion maneuver to keep from landing on top of us when the pilot spotted our little tent. Needless to say, we were the butt of the joke the rest of that event, but I still did get some killer shots of the Dawn Patrol.
Jennifer O'Rourke

Dirty Job

My first big job I worked on was as a still photographer on a documentary shot in the Australian Outback. Teams of one photographer and one videographer were sent 'into the bush' to shoot. At the end of a ten-day slog in blazing heat and deadly critters, my partner and I luckily caught a ride back to camp. Ten days sleeping in the bush made us really dirty. The truck had a full canvas cover so we were protected from the sun. There were others riding along, so we sat at the end of the truck. The rear canvas flap could close to keep out the thick dust, but if down, we had a three hour ride in a hot box with no circulation. Up, at least there would be air. We chose 'flap up' and clouds of dust poured into the back of the truck!

For three hours we endured the mini 'dust storm' - at least it was cool! When we arrived at camp, our producer waiting for the incoming teams saw us and the gear covered in dust. He was one who hardly ever cracked a smile but burst out laughing when I took my hat off. The top of my head was the only 'clean' spot on my entire body! After days of blowing dirt out of my nose (the videographer cried when she saw her tissues), I got the lesson of that experience. In production, there will be times you'll have to decide whether to ride with the 'flap up or down'.
H. Wolfgang Porter, Composite Media Producer, Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.