I was cleaning some old files off my computer the other day and stumbled upon a short movie I hadn’t seen in a while. It’s a five minute teaser for a film my brother and I were trying to get off the ground eight or nine years ago. The project was called A Brief History of Jeff, and the teaser contains some footage shot with a video camera we’d mounted on Jeff’s wheelchair. Thinking about it now, this was where the idea for the BCSDM first took root. We were looking for ways Jeff could tell his story about growing up with cerebral palsy. This is how we put it in a pitch we shopped around to broadcasters and funders in 2002:
“A Brief History of Jeff is the story of what happens when a self-described “gimp”, who can’t stomach the thought of being the subject of yet another teary-eyed inspirational video, takes control of the camera himself.”
The Jeff-Cam was pretty simple, just a Sony Digital8 camcorder locked in place over Jeff’s right shoulder. It provided an interesting perspective though, and on an even surface the video was silky smooth as long as Jeff didn’t spasm. Newer, smaller equipment and modern technology will soon lead to more sophisticated tools for him to use, but the Jeff-Cam was a good start
