|
Human Kindness A Psychology Project Back in May of 1972, seven of us UCLA students made a movie for a psychology class project, a movie about human kindness. The basic idea was that one of us would keel over in some busy spot in Los Angeles, and the rest would film what happened. The camera was hidden in a cereal box held some distance away. The audio pickup was in a shopping bag carried by the interviewers, who would ask leading questions about what the unwary participants thought of the injured actor. For different episodes, the actor would dress affluent or poor, and the location varied from the poor parts of Venice to the wealthy parts of Beverly Hills -- all to elicit and then analyze the different reactions. We also had a lookout ready to run over to the actor and revive him if the cops showed. In digitizing this movie, it was impossible to synchronize the audio with the video, both of which were unrelated tapes and without queues about which audio snippet went with which video episode. Having put the digitized components together myself, all I can say is that the audio was recorded as part of the project and may have tracked with the video sections where I placed them. As an actor, I remember the reaction to my collapse eliciting the tenderness of a woman who offered to buy me some soup since she suspected I was starving. In another episode in front of a discount market in Venice, no one would stop, so I revived, trudged over to the entrance, and collapsed again on top of the automatic door opener. An older lady carrying a full grocery bag did a giant stride to step over me and continued on her way. In another episode, a fellow ran over as soon as I collapsed, and I had to keep my butt writhing in pain after I felt his fingers trying to lift my wallet.
  |
       |