Unexpected Hurdles & Quick Fixes – A Filmmaking Survival Guide





If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this entire filmmaking experience, it’s that nothing ever goes as planned. You can schedule everything down to the last second, but the universe will still find a way to mess with you. Here’s a rundown of all the unexpected hurdles I faced and how I barely managed to fix them.

1. People and Their "Amazing" Time Management

The very first shoot day? Nobody showed up on time. I gave everyone a 3:30 PM call time, and by 4:30 PM, only my lead actor had arrived. As for my camera operator and lighting guy? They got into a bike accident and couldn’t make it (not their fault, but still—panic mode activated).

Quick Fix: I decided to take matters into my own hands and shoot everything myself. Bold move, right? Well...

2. The Case of the Missing SD Card

Just as I hyped myself up to shoot, I turned on the camera, and—boom. No SD card. My friend had brought the camera that day and forgot to check if the card was inside. This was my breaking point. Cue the waterworks. My dad,trying his best, rushed to buy an SD card, only to bring back the wrong one. So that was the end of Day 1.

Quick Fix: There wasn’t one. I went home and cried.

3. When Technology Decides to Betray You

For the second shoot, I was determined to get things right. I got biryani and drinks for everyone (because clearly, bribery works), and everyone actually showed up on time. Things were finally going smoothly... until my gimbal died. Completely. Refused to charge.

Quick Fix: I had no choice but to shoot handheld and with a tripod, which meant shakier shots than I wanted. But hey, at least I was getting footage, right?

4. The Horror of Grainy, Pixelated Night Shots

By the time we moved to the night scenes, I thought we were in the clear until I checked the footage later and realized it looked like it was filmed on a potato. The low-light ruined the quality, making everything grainy, pixelated, and absolutely unusable.

Quick Fix: Another round of begging and rescheduling later, we planned a third shoot, this time with proper lighting.

5. The Light That Had One Job And Failed

Shoot #3, armed with a brand-new light that was supposed to fix all my problems. And guess what? It kept turning off. One second it was fine, the next it just gave up on life. Meanwhile, I was injured from a football match, running on flu and fever, and one breakdown away from throwing the camera into a lake.

Quick Fix: Sheer determination (and the fact that this was my last chance to get it right).

The Final Takeaway?

Filmmaking is chaos, and no matter how much you prepare, something will always go wrong. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you just have to adapt, improvise, and keep pushing through. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is that I got it done.

(And that I never, ever forget to check for an SD card again.)

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