I'm at the precipice.

I suppose I should write a new post. It's been awhile.

In my directing class, I'm directing a scene called Precipice. It's about a boy and a girl hiking on a mountain. It is getting to be the end of the day and a storm is on its way. They need to hurry down the mountain because storms on this mountain are deadly. They come to a precipice and need to jump across to the other side in order to proceed down the rest of the mountain. When they were hiking up the mountain earlier that day, they jumped across a precipice and the girl is convinced that this is the same precipice that they jumped across that morning. The boy is not convinced. It's a simple jump; only a couple of feet. The problem is that the storm has brought with it some terrible fog, therefore the boy and the girl can't see across the precipice. They can't see where to jump.

The girl has faith. She has been hiking on this trail all of her life and "knows in her heart" that she can jump across and be fine. Plus, she's willing to jump because after all, there is a terrible storm on the way and doesn't want to get caught in it.

The boy needs proof. He repeatedly asks her for proof that they can jump across and that this is the same precipice. He asks her how she knows that the other side is really only a couple of feet away. She says she "just knows." She then throws a rock to the other side and it hits stone, thus proving that the other side is there and it's not very far away. She then gets ready to jump across.

He: Unbelievable.
She: What?
He: You're really going to run and leap into the fog not knowing what's over there?
She: I know what's over there.
He: You don't know. You believe. You hope. You wish. You pray. You don't know the difference between what you know and what you hope.
She: You heard the stone land on that ledge.
He: Stone hit stone. Period. That's a typical you-ism. You hope a ledge is there, therefore a ledge's over there. No! There's rock over there. It may be flat. Or it may be round. It may be vertical. It may be horizontal. It's not a fact because you said it. It's only a fact when I can see it.

At the end of the scene, the girl decides that it is too much risk to try to jump where she can't see and that it may not be the same precipice they jumped over that morning. They decide to build a fire and take refuge in a fallen tree.

Before I began working on this scene with my actors, it was important for us to decide if this was really the precipice they jumped over that morning. We had to decide if the girl was right or if the boy was right.

We decided that the boy was right.

There is a popular TV series called Lost that my roommates LOVE. They watch it every Wednesday. I don't watch it so I'm not entirely sure what the plot is or the characters involved. But, a number of times, I've heard it said that Lost is about "men of science" and "men of faith." I've totally taken that theme and applied it to my directing scene, because, well, that's what it's about.

I think it's interesting that I decided to choose for the boy to be right.

I can't jump where I can't see.

Are you the boy or the girl?