I am looking for a collaborator who is also an experienced documentary film-maker and/or camera operator who would be interested in working with me in my research, by making a documentary about my journey of developing on-camera interview techniques for film-makers with complex physical disabilities and speech impairments, such as mine. I'm a physically disabled PhD student at University College Dublin, but am based in London. I've also been a documentary film-maker for the last twelve years. The project is unique in its development of interview techniques and finding solutions to practical issues surrounding my disability.

I also feel that it will be important for any collaborator to take away as much as I do from this collaboration and while they will be the best person to know what they want from this, my initial thoughts are that, perhaps, a potential idea could be to make a documentary about the way I develop my interview techniques, almost like a film about the making of my interview techniques and looking at the problems and challenges that we face together in the process. For example, you might capture the way an interviewee responds and reacts towards myself as an interviewer with a disability. In your own documentary you could reflect on that experience and compare and contrast both my attitude towards my interviewees, how you, as my camera operator feel about that moment and their attitude towards me. Inevitably, as a filmmaker with disabilities I will have access issues while I interview people so this is another area that you might be interested in. This is just one of many ideas that you could develop into a documentary, though you would need to decide upon the focus of the documentary since it will be a film made by you. I would be delighted to discuss any thoughts you may have.

The MyTobii Eye Gaze System is a communication device that uses the movements of the eyes of its user to select letters and icons on the screen. I am currently developing a new piece of software specifically for the purpose of conducting on camera interviews. Here is someone that I found online using a simple set up of the system http://youtu.be/-6wO0Q_hrM8 . I will be using this technology as one of the methods of conducting interviews on camera as well as other low tech methods. It is an exciting project which will hopefully break new ground in the way documentary film-makers interview their subjects on camera.

Your thoughts and opinions will be taken into consideration and your knowledge and expertise will be a valuable part of this study. You will be credited in the final thesis which will hopefully go on to assist other film-makers with similar disabilities in their film work. The film-maker should be genuinely interested in documenting my discovery, implementation and development of new on-camera interview techniques, rather than making a documentary portraying triumph over adversity. You, as the maker of this film, will have the right to the footage, however I will have full access to the footage for the purpose of documenting my practical work as a part of my PhD.

This work is flexible and I would be happy to work around your schedule where possible.

Please see below links to some of the documentaries that I have made over the last few years:

Links available upon application


Should you wish to have further information about either myself as a film-maker with a disability or my PhD then please do get in touch for an informal chat.