Shooting... myself.

What a weekend! I was shooting this years Easter movie over the weekend and... actually, I should say I was 'trying' to shoot this years Easter movie over the weekend and had all sorts of problems.

Bunny in a chroma-key setup. I didn't like the results of this lighting test
so he ended up being shot on a black background for a luma-key instead.

I've never had a film shoot like that before. All my shoots have been fast paced well organised finish early thanks for coming affairs.

But not this one. We had all sorts of delays. Sets took longer to put together than we expected, there were props (like a calendar) that required files to be downloaded and printed off that wouldn't download let alone print off, one of my new lights containing a bulb I had specifically rung the company about before purchase to ensure it wouldn't overheat the light housing decided to overheat and completely melt the light housing almost causing a fire, the Fluoro strip light (seen above) I was using as a fill instead of the melted lights decided to jump out across the room and land directly under my bare foot as I walked past so that it shattered into a million glass shards (yeah, OK it didn't jump out. I was just stupid enough to step on a light) rendering my foot very sore and making it impossible to shoot the puppets because we didn't have enough light without a replacement fluoro tube.

This was how I felt after a few hours - Burnt out! Although it's hard to see in this photo the
bulb is actually drooping downwards because the glass got so hot it melted slightly.

There was more than that as well, like Brun's head flying off two seconds before wanting to shoot with him, but those were the insurmountable problems that when added up meant that the shoot had to wrap without finishing the required shots.

I did, diligently with one other person, stick it out until 2 in the morning shooting backgrounds... Now, I'm all tired and want a sleep. Well, I have replacement fluro tubes now so the shoot will recommence this evening. Barring further disaster we'll knock it over tonight. Oh, and the company I bought my lights from had better replace my melted light for free or... well, we'll see.

What did you do with your weekend?

UPDATE: The lighting company will replace my melted light and reimburse me the cost of the bulbs I cannot use because they're too hot for the light housing. Now I can look at it as just an unfortunate inconvenience rather than an expensive stupid mistake and an inevitable no holds barred fight to the death. I just love it when people/companies do the right thing by their customers, don't you? Good for them!