Screw ups don't necessarily have to be mistakes you make whilst filming some times the biggest screw up is accepting the actual assignment!
I accepted a job which meant filming a day in the life of a skipper who runs a fishing boat (a prawn trawler) and was persuaded I would enjoy the assignment. Well, I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy anything whatsoever, to sum it up it was f*****g awful. I only managed less than an hour’s sleep and had to get up at 2am. It takes an hour to drive over to Stornoway harbour hence the early start as I had to meet the skipper of the boat at 3:30am. We finally set sail at 4:15 am and yes by 5am I was throwing up over the side. This was the story of my day.
It took three hours to get out to the trawl position and I was told the trawl would take three or four hours, my heart sank and I threw up again. I was then told they planned to do three trawls that day, that meant over twelve hours in the middle of ‘The Minch’ (the area of sea we were in), my idea of pure hell. I became severely ill and absolutely weak and felt utterly wretched.
I carried on throwing up frequently (even with nothing left to throw up!) for over nine hours, it was horrible. I tried drinking water but I threw it up and couldn’t eat anything. At around 7pm the nets were hauled in and we set sail for Stornoway finally arriving back just after 10pm. Throughout the day I really had to try and be professional when it came to the moments for filming but it was very hard, I could hardly stand up with nausea and the pitching of the boat. I think I got most of the required shots, not made any easier by some dickhead in London who had obviously never been on a prawn trawler writing out a list of shots they wanted, ha!
Despite being ill, the crew was good and though amused at me vomiting all day were quite nice to me and accommodated the inconveniences of doing things to suit the camera. I finally arrived home just before midnight and had a mammoth teeth cleaning session before collapsing into bed, at last a moment that was pure heaven.
Anon in Scotland
