"Didn't shoot this today, but back a few years. I'm a producer now
but still live vicariously through y'all. One of my more memorable
shooting experiences... Big story of the week: insurance claims through
the roof due to a high number of drivers hitting deer crossing hiways
etc. - I figured I'd work a few hours late, go out at dusk, see if
I couldn't get lucky and capture some deer-by-the-hiway kind of footage.
So I'm driving out in the middle of Butt%#*! nowhere, when I spy a
small herd of whitetail near the road. I pretend I'm joe nature photog
and creep around, (not easy with a 3/4 deck attached, but lucky the
front end is a chip), through hill and dale, finally positioning myself
so I have a great shot of deer and road directly behind. Super! Then
two cars about :30 apart come down and I get the b-roll I'd hoped
for. 2nd car even slows down, and deer cross in half headlights right
before it. So, everything's cool, and I'm thinking, hey perfect dusk
shots, serious story, throw in some crunch footage from the local
bodyshop tomorrow, etc... maybe something for my demo to help get
me the hell out of Swift Current, Saskatchewan and into a serious
market.
I'm driving back around 8:30, just dark enough to need headlights,
about 6 miles from the station, which is situated way out of town.
Wouldn't you know it, but I come across a dead deer laid out on the
right side of the hiway. Bonus! I brake, and back up faster than a
pissed-off Foreman at a big construction site. Just as I pass the
deer, it is coming back into my headlights, WHOOOOAAAA! It gets up,
falls down and then up again on it's forelegs, dragging it's back
legs across the highway right in front of my eyes. Oh-MY-GOD!!! I
can see tons of blood on it's hide, one leg is barely hanging on,
torn deeply at the hip, and this poor half-paralyzed creature is suffering
so badly... just dragging itself across the road...obviously in huge
pain.
So here I am all pannicky, trying to grab my camera, turn my deck
on (sitting in the back seat), and rolling... so it's nearly across
the hiway, I'm flicking on the hi-beams, using my van as a giant sun
gun, all thumbs and elbows, trying to put it in drive with my left
hand while shooting, changing filters, trying to focus, iris etc...
leaning way forward against the windshield, and desperately steering
behind the deer deep into the ditch where it flops down in the grass.
I repark the van on the right side of the road, and hit the hazards.
Trembling with adrenalin, I snap on the sungun and carefully go to
see what else I could get. The deer was gone. I followed the blood
for a while, but soon detoured to a farmers house to see if he's got
a gun to put the deer down. No such luck - the one farmer in Saskatchewan
probably to not have a gun around. So I call the RCMP and the reporter
working on the story from the farmhouse - they both show up 15 minutes
later. We looked for quite a while but never found Bambi. Poor thing
couldn't have lasted long anyway with all the blood loss... Good interview
at night on the hiway- blood-smell in the air, speedbar lights a-flashin...
I really only captured about 4-5 good seconds of video as it was creeping
by, and I'd freaked out so bad trying to get the van in drive, the
windshield wipers were still on in the footage. It's obvious I was
also having trouble driving and shooting at the same time -In the
final piece, it looked fantastic in slow mo though, real grisly and
heart-wrenching. That was just way too wierd finding a deer obviously
just impacted by a car or truck, on the same night I was looking for
b-roll for kind of thing.... and actually getting footage despite
my general rookie-ness and panic. Listening to my raving audio was
a hoot. Wish I'd kept the raw on that. I still can't help but wonder
who hit that deer and just kept a-driving."
More
Photog "Whatchashoot" Stories
-"I
watched a guy die today"
"I see a head move, then a hand. Both slightly
stained with blood, but not much. I figure the guy is coming to and
basically waking up from his drunk. Not the case.. he was gasping
for air."
-My Nightmare
"Come to find out a cop had been shot as well,
they killed a guy, and MY CAMERA ISN'T WORKING!!!"
-Aussie Gunplay
"The gunman turned away from us and walked
the other way up the street. PUT THE GUN DOWN! He started to raise
one of the guns he had and... CRACK CRACK CRACK......"
-Flooded Fido
"It was weird doing the breast stroke and
occassionally feeling your foot hit a car's roof or antenna."
-Chopper Crash
"He got to about a thousand feet and his
tail is cut off and the chopper starts a death spiral."
-"I watched a guy die today"
"I see a head move, then a hand. Both slightly
stained with blood, but not much. I figure the guy is coming too and
basically waking up from his drunk. Not the case.. he was gasping
for air."
