Once Upon a Time

F.2004-02-0058

1978

A humorous short student film using stop motion and time-lapse photography. When a Clayton College student doesn’t seem to have enough time in his day he turns to Time-Out Time Release Tablets in order to solve his problem. Unfortunately, the effects of the pills are not what he anticipated.

00:08 - Three title cards. Once Upon a Time 1978 Kevin Dole and Marion Kramer- A Cinesong by Kevin Dole and Marion Kramer- with Kevin Dole and our many friends whose appearances we give special thanks for. The sound of a ticking clock.
00:28 - Var. views of a school campus in winter, snow on the ground. A sign hanging on a stone entry arch reads “Clayton College”. ZOOM IN on a window and dissolve to the next scene.
00:43 - A student’s alarm clock rings and bounces around the table in stop motion. He hits it with a mallet and music begins to play. Montage with var. MS of the student waking up and getting ready.
01:23 - Group of six students in MS sitting together in a classroom as they take notes. LS of the professor at the blackboard, teaching what appears to be chemistry. The main character is asleep at the end of the scene in MCU as students exist past him.
01:32 - MS montage of an elevator, people entering and exiting. When the main character finds himself alone in the elevator the numbers indicating the floor go wild, reading 23, 97 and tilt. He falls out of the elevator into a startled group of people. Includes CU on main character’s reaction shots in elevator.
01:58 - Montage of var. chores that fill the main character’s day. Mostly in MLS and MS centering around the character and a limited view of his surroundings. Includes footage in a library, cafeteria, laundry room and a grocery store. In the grocery store there is CU of the main character standing under a sign that reads “Express Lane.” Stop motion and fast motion, as well as quick editing, contibute to the sense of time passing too quickly.
02:52 - Character sits on his bed in MS. A Time magazine with Einstein on the cover is next to him in CU. He opens it and reads an ad about “Time Out- Time release tablets”. CU cuts between the ad and his reaction followed by var. shots of him going to the drugstore and buying the pills.
03:12 - He takes the pills and immediately time around him moves faster, indicated by the accelerated hands of his clock. Montage of the character coping with everyone around him moving faster in stop motion and time lapse. There is a humorous sequence of the character trying to use a revolving door and an escalator. Scenes of the sky indicate time passing as the day fades to night and back to day.
04:59 - MS of the character laying on stone steps after getting knocked down. He notices a large clock tower with the hands moving wildly. CU of his outrage as he gets up to run into the building. Cut between shots of the tower, a campus building as clouds roll across the sky and the character climbing through a window and out onto a ledge.
05:12 - CU of character trying to catch the wildly turning minute hand of the clock. He catches it and is spun about the face of a clock in a HA MS. LS as he is flung off the tower and into the sky as the clouds continue rolling in fast motion.
05:17 - Fade to blank screen as “The End” title card appears.

5 min 33 sec

16mm

200 feet

Color

Optical

1/1

Yes

English

Comedy

Short

Students
Universities and colleges
College Students