Inspire or Damage: a Documentary Film about Travis Eberhard

Authors

Brad Barber, Brigham Young University
Thomas Lefler, Brigham Young University

Keywords

documentary film, Travis Eberhard, wheelchair, film

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Theatre and Media Arts

Abstract

In making this documentary film, my original intent was to document Travis Eberhard’s personality, humor, and goals as a recently BYU-graduated film student. Specifically, I wanted to achieve this by not asking him any questions about what it was like to live with a wheelchair. This was not to be what I consider “a typical film” highlighting how Travis overcomes the obstacles life has dealt him, or how he deals with being treated differently. However, I believe the project was unique in that I still wanted to achieve some of the same goals such a film might seek after. By not addressing the subject of Travis’ wheelchair or physical condition in any of the interviews I hoped to draw more attention to Travis’ true personality and perhaps lend him the same presence and expectations that people tend to give anyone.

Recommended Citation

Barber, Brad and Lefler, Thomas (2014) "Inspire or Damage: a Documentary Film about Travis Eberhard," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014: Iss. 1, Article 544.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/544