Synopsis

Acrophobia is a research project which intends to expand our psychological understanding of fear. Through a central focus in the notion of fear in acrobats, Acrophobia seeks to dismantle the image of the fearful and the fearless character and explore the different kinds of fear cohabiting in humans.

 

Objective

The central aim of the project is the production of a documentary film which depicts the diversity of fears cohabiting in the human being. The work will centre the attention on the life and personal experiences of acrobats, who seem to be immune to the dangers of risking their physical integrity. If fear of injury or death is absent in these people, what are they actually afraid of? Is there such a thing as a fearless character?

The material for the documentary film will be gathered by filming two acrobats in Berlin, conducting interviews with them and engaging a range of other physical and non physical workers in questionnaires. Through the conversations in interviews, a collection of personal opinions and stories will provide the material for the narrative body of the film, whereas the data collected through questionnaires will offer a scientific assessment on the subject, adding a dimension of objective information to the entire work.
By combining breathtaking images of acrobats challenging physical limits, a glance into their psychological background, and the results of a carefully conducted research work, the film will be an astonishing artistic creation seizing the interest of diverse audiences.

 

Research

What makes someone a thrill seeker? 

What fears reside in an allegedly fearless person?

What personality traits are related to lack of fear? How does that influence our decision making?

How do these fears influence our social behaviour and thus dictate social dynamics?

 

The research process will be divided into two stages. The first one is the exploration of the notion of fear in acrobats and their conception of risk. The second one is focused on a comparison with individuals that have lower-risk occupations (e.g. manager, stage technician, office worker).

In the first stage, acrobats will be interviewed on their thoughts about their personal relation to fear and, with the help of a questionnaire, a psychometric evaluation (i.e. scoring) of their fears to heights, injury and death, pain, failure, social engagement and uncertainty will be assessed. For these means, we will develop a survey designed for our specific purposes called Fear of Risk at Work Questionnaire (FRWQ). The questionnaire will be based on similar research tools applied in the field of psychometrics for evaluating fear (e.g. Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ), Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III (FPQ-III)). 

 

An example interview format for an acrobat would be:

1. Do you still get nervous before shows?

2. Are you scared by the risks you take for your living?

3. What aspects/ tricks/ disciplines scare you the most?

4. What motivates you to do it anyway?

5. Are you afraid of pain?

6. What kind of pain are you willing to tolerate for your job?

7. Have you had any injuries that have put your job at a risk? 

8. Are you afraid of losing your job?  

9. What would you want to do if you didn’t do this for a living?

 

In the second stage of the project, a similar interview will be conducted with and the same questionnaire applied to people involved in occupations different from acrobatics and compared to the results of the first group.

 

An example of the format of such interview would be:

1. Do you get nervous while performing your tasks at work?

2. What aspects worry you  the most at work? 

3. What makes you get up and go to work anyway?

4. How concerned are you with the likelihood of failing at your job??

5. What do you consider the highest risk factor in your job?

6. Does your work assume any form of pain? Does that scare you?

7. Have you had any work-related injuries or illnesses? Would you reconsider continuing your work if you suffered from one?

8. What would you want to do if you didn’t do this for a living?

 

The interviews will be captured in video and notes will be recorded in a journal. The answers to the questionnaires will be saved in files for their further analysis. The integration of this material will be done with a twofold purpose in mind: 1) the narrative aspect for the artistic development of the documentary piece. 2) the scientific aspect for the generation of reliable data which will be reported in the documentary .  

 

Production

Collaborators such as Lasse Buchoff and Rainer Werner from the German film and stunt industries have already shown great interest in the film. They will assist us to create the documentary and present it for film festivals and arts festivals in Berlin.

 

Future development

The material generated in this production is envisioned to be further disseminated in the form of seminars.

The performances that the acrobats develop for the visual material of the documentary will be shaped to create a show under the same name, ‘Acrophobia’. 

 

Relevance

No matter how the world changes and what are the paradigms that break and those that are newly formed, there is always a threat to life and to our integrity for us humans. Currently, it is the outbreak of war and ecological collapse due to over consumption that threatens humanity as a whole. And just recently it was the social shifts that came with the pandemic. In saying this, life is easier for most of the developed world than it has ever been.. so why are people still, if not more, afraid now than ever before?

 

There are many things to be scared of; food shortage, global data sharing, economic collapse, world war, climate crisis. Our fears are varied, but no matter where they come from, they cripple our activism and leave us feeling helpless. It is of paramount importance to understand the nature of fears that paralyse our existence in order to conquer them and move forwards. 

​

Understanding is the conscious association of facts. The understanding of fears can be achieved by a conscious observation of people’s relation to fear. This project is about digging at the core fears that govern one’s life and one’s decisions. One can learn to control, relate and speak about our fears in rational and progressive ways, thus overcoming what we initially thought was impossible.