So as much as I was embarrassed in class about not having that file, I learned a valuable lesson but wish it didn't have to happen at the age of 21. Now that our equipment is digital taking SDHC cards, it is important manage your content. here are some ways to prevent missing files and always prepare for the worst.
1. Bring more than 1 SDHC card. Even though you won't be getting enough material to fill a whole 16 gig card, it is important to make sure your content is spread out enough incase you have to reformat. For example, I only had one card on set and because no one else had cards or volunteered to use them, or on my end of not being able to find my second card, we had to reformat it for the next day to make room for more footage. Now that we've reformatted it and didn't double check to make sure that all the contents were backed up on a drive, we're missing a valuable clip.
2. Bring drives. I brought two drives with me, the one I would be editing on and a second one to back up the footage incase the drive was to crap out.
3. Keep a document on set to make sure you have all the clips (ie. Google Doc, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.)
This annoys me that I lost a clip because this is exactly what I did on set at my internship and forgot the value of carrying extra cards. As embarrassed as I am and annoyed, I won't forget this incident. Thankfully it was on a smaller scale and not the real world.
I strongly believe that mistakes are some of the greatest learning tools, they are what we call "experience". I am glad you posted about it and hope that everyone feels more comfortable sharing more of their "mistakes". Paying attention to them and documenting them helps all of us grow. So, keep on tripping!:-) just not on the same stone, and let everyone know of the pitfalls, they usually don't mention them in the manuals (besides, who reads them?)
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