I'm currently a student filmmaker, and let's be honest, this is where the majority of the horror stories are. Anways, we're shooting an action film, a rather ambitious action film for budget and time. I think 4 Los Angeles locations in one day was our record and our average. If you get what I'm putting down. I operated camera, working with a good (but slow) DP, and a 1st AC who is one of those guys that doesn't know how to find work, or even take a damn camera off my shoulder. Resulting in me deserving a 1 AC credit as well.
Excuse my ranting... We were shooting in the San Gabriel mountains and had to climb down the mountain for a stunt where a man was jumping off a cliff into the water. To the point, we got 7 of us to stand chest deep in freezing water (mid-January), and pass the non-cased JVC HD 250U with a rented 40,000 dollar lens setup across the river. The director then wanted to rig a line that the camera could follow the stuntman off the cliff. With no thought of mentioning this or preproduction work, the DP and I drew the line.
I will never forget shooting knee-deep in freezing water, soaking wet after crossing the river. There are plenty more stories from this set alone.