Created for my UCF Digital Video Fundamentals Class, adapted from the parable by Ambrose Bierce of the same name.

A man to Whom Time Was Money, and who was bolting his breakfast in order to catch a train, had leaned his newspaper against the sugar-bowl and was reading as he ate.  In his haste and abstraction he stuck a pickle-fork into his right eye, and on removing the fork the eye came with it. In buying spectacles the needless outlay for the right lens soon reduced him to poverty, and the Man to Whom Time Was Money had to sustain life by fishing from the end of a wharf.

For the bedroom, we re-ranged a guest room to allow for the camera to circle around the bed, and be facing a window. If you pay attention you’ll notice that the bed is actually blocking a closet. I did tests with different lighting and was able to achieve a set that appears entirely naturally lit. I wanted this to contrast the harsh lighting of the kitchen.

For the broken phone(s), I purchased a lot containing 8 smashed phones for $5. Two of the phones were the same model, so I used the less destroyed one in act 1, and the worse one in act 2. The problem we ran into was you couldn’t see that the phone was smashed, so my best boy, assistant cinematographer, site coordinator, and art lead, Missy Turbeville, had the idea to paint the cracks gray. This resulted in a much better image.

During the first take of the mug breaking, we threw it and the phone at the ground and… The mug didn’t break. This was a concern I had, so as a backup I brought a hammer. I took it outside, smashed it, and then glued it back together.