Ten Meter Tower - Maximilien Van Aertryck + Axel Danielson

A group of people peer over the edge of a 10 meter high diving tower. Would you jump? This is the essential question being asked and if you didn’t, how would you feel about yourself afterwards?

It’s a simple conceit but emblematic of how all humans deal with doubt and fear.

As the filmmakers Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson ask “What do we look like when we hesitate and when we make a decision? What does it look like when we overcome our fear?”

Talking about their process, the filmmakers had this to say “Through an online advertisement, we found 67 people who had never been on a 10-meter (about 33 feet) diving tower before, and had never jumped from that high. We paid each of them the equivalent of about $30 to participate — which meant climbing up to the diving board and walking to its edge. We were as interested in the people who decided to climb back down as the ones jumping.

We filmed it all with six cameras and several microphones. It was important for us not to conceal the fact that this was an arranged situation, and thus we chose to show the microphones within the frame. Ultimately, about 70 percent of those who climbed did jump. We noticed that the presence of the camera as well as the social pressure (from those awaiting their turn beside the pool) pushed some of the participants to jump, which made their behavior even more interesting.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Press on the image above to watch their film. We guarantee you will be asking yourself the quintessential question “Would I do it?”