THE CLOCK

Independent Films, Art

An early experimental short film from director Ben Warner. SYNOPSIS: Rob is just like everyone else. But he suffers from one unendurable affliction: The Clock. Every day is the same. The clock keeps ticking. There are clocks everywhere. He feels he cannot escape. No matter where he goes a clock is always there.

Transcripts / Production notes / Scripts

Original shooting script for THE CLOCK by Ben Warner, 2000.

FADE IN.

Images of analogue and digital clocks fade in and out of the frame. The fades increase in intensity until the frame is filled with white light.

DISSOLVE TO –

The man is lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking, inter-cut with shots of clocks spread out throughout the room.

The man looks at his alarm clock. The clock ticks over to 6.25am and the buzzer erupts in to consciousness. The buzzing alarm is very annoying. The man hits the clock to switch it off.

The man lies back and continues to stare at the ceiling.

Close in on the alarm clock and the man’s face. Five minutes pass on the clock and the alarm buzzer goes off again, annoying the man even further. The man picks up the clock and throws it across the room. The clock crashes on the other side of the room, destroyed.

The man lies back again on the bed.

Seconds later, the alarm on his wrist watch (sitting on the dressing room table) goes off. The man shakes his head in frustration and reluctantly gets up. He walks to the dressing table, picks up the watch and puts it on.

The man looks around the room and sees time ticking away on various clocks: the Hi-Fi stereo, the VCR, the wall clock. He looks at his watch and sees time continue to tick away rhythmically.

DISSOLVE TO –

WHITE.

DISSOLVE TO –

The man is sitting on a deck chair in his back yard. Everything seems peaceful, the man is enjoying the tranquillity.

But the ticking of the clock comes back. The watch on his hand continues to annoy him. He takes the watch and throws it on the ground.

The man storms off back to the house.

CUT TO –

The man grabs the clock on the wall in the kitchen and throws it into the bin.

CUT TO –

The man grabs various clocks throughout the house and destroys them.

CUT TO –

The man runs in to the kitchen, grabs his car keys and runs to the garage.

The man jumps in to his car and drives out.

CUT TO –

Various shots of the car driving fast along the road.

CUT TO –

Man starts to relax.

There is a clock on the dashboard of the car. The man notices it and starts to tense up. The man increases the speed of the car.

The man hits the brakes. The car screams to a stop.

The man stumbles out of the car. He walks and walks, coming across a park. He stumbles across the grass and eventually lies down, giving up.

CUT TO –

Shots of the trees, grass, sounds of birds singing.

DISSOLVE TO =

WHITE.

Man appears, surrounded in white light. In the distance a dark spot appears. The man squints, trying to identify the object.

It is a clock. It keeps coming closer and closer and closer. Eventually the clock engulfs the man, despite efforts to avoid it.

DISSOLVE TO –

Close up of man’s alarm clock. Pan across to man, his eyes are wide open. Track in to man’s eye.

FADE OUT.

THE END.

Tags

• short film
• film
• the clock
• drama
• ben warner
• digicosm
• small wave films