A hilarious video has emerged from the US of a graduation cap throwing ceremony going wrong.

The footage, captured at Mitchell High School in Bakersville, North Carolina last week, shows the graduating students failing to throw their caps at the right moment due to the PA system not being loud enough.

In the video, the students are told to go to a flag pole at the end of the school field, where the countdown to the cap toss is due to happen.

When the countdown reaches zero, the students - having not been able to hear it - can be seen standing around and looking rather awkward.

The school principal then runs towards the graduates waving his hands around, prompting them to begin the cap throwing.

"As I shot this video, I thought the students were pranking the principal by not throwing hats - but my niece, Rachel Glenn (one of the graduates) told me they couldn't hear anything as the administrator continually shouted "THREE". Only when he came toward them waving his hands did they understand that they should throw the hats," the filmer wrote online.

This high school class in the mountains of western North Carolina, USA was told to go to a distant flagpole, where the high school principal would give them a countdown for the customary cap toss. The PA system had very limited power, so when the graduates got to the flag pole, the wind and murmur of the crowd drowned out the countdown. As I shot this video, I thought the students were pranking the principal by not throwing hats - but my niece, Rachel Glenn (one of the graduates) told me they couldn't hear anything as the administrator continually shouted "THREE". Only when he came toward them waving his hands did they understand that they should throw the hats. Shot on June 11, 2016. Mitchell High School is in Bakersville, NC.