I like the deadpan, and the silence makes it kind of eerie. Not sure if I believe it though. Maybe it took a hundred tries for each scene.

How to fake it.

The music is still there on the original -- or perhaps it's authorized music and the ganked one Miko linked to used some other track. [mefi]

OK, I totally appreciate the clues in piratebowling's link, and thought it had to be something like that. The last bit, though - technically, how do you 'erase' the guy dropping the item into the cup and replace it with what looks like an empty room? Is that just an easy video-editing-software trick?

Is that just an easy video-editing-software trick?

Yeah, it's pretty easy - you're using two different "frames" - one is just a small slice that contains the cup with the pens falling in it, which is overlayed on the rest of the room. MuddDude took a film production class in college that heavily utilized After Effects to make videos with similar tricks. It's not really erasing the second guy per-se - it's just he only uses enough of the video frame to edit out first cup and the end of the pen flight.

I don't know if I'm making any sense... notice how in the Second Take the guy is standing pretty far away from the cup and leaning over? That's so he can put the boundary somewhere in that region to cover up the First Take Pen without any part of his Second Take Body getting in the shot.

Also notice that liquid never splashes out of the cups, even though the balls are often thrown from quite far away.

Well, there are a few droplets here and there, but that would be easy to fake. Hard would be a spilled cup or a spreading pool of water.

So this is what... ten guys, one cup?

/sorry

Triode, nice slinking in for a drive- by snark!

Thanks for the description, muddgirl. I feel so satisfied that there is such a clear explanation for this.

Adding to muddgirl, after 20 takes of the original guy throwing the object, one of those takes should be close enough to edit in the money shot.

Awesome. I have to admit I was boggled by the original film: I appreciate having the tricks explained.