Director Adam Friedman, who has worked on music videos and biographical films on cable television, donated $10,000 to the School of Communication along with an advanced video-production camera on Wednesday. The money will be added to the dean's discretionary fund and be used to purchase more advanced equipment.
Friedman visited campus Tuesday to speak and formally donate the money. Clips from various films, commercials and music videos Friedman has created were shown, and Friedman received a framed illustration of the McKinley Building.
Friedman, an alumnus of SOC, cited Larry Kirkman, dean of SOC, as the most influential person in his career.
"He not only taught stuff, he gave me a kind of ethos for the world of film and television," Friedman said, adding that Kirkman encouraged him to pursue diverse film studies when many other professors encouraged specialization.
Kirkman, who rose to the position of dean after serving as a professor in SOC, remembers when SOC expanded to include video production and related studies 27 years ago. Now, Kirkman said he plans to utilize this donation, along with the other energies of the department, to pursue the next generation of equipment and encourage opportunities for students in "major professional outlets."
Kirkman said he hopes to spend the money on new equipment that will support advanced student and faculty-coordinated projects. The new camera donated is a model "that is a gateway to digital cinema. ... The camera allows video to take on the look and feel of film," SOC professor David Reiss said.
The camera is already in high demand by students for varied projects. Laura Waters, a student who tested the camera over spring break, is already using it in India to film her independent study, a documentary on Indian culture and class caste system. "It's insured," Reiss said, laughing.
In April, a team of students in the Master of Fine Arts program will use the camera for a thesis project, a short narrative film called "The Finnian Cycle."
Along with his donations, Friedman has participated in the SOC mentor program, working one on one with master's students as well as speaking in classrooms. He is also setting up a new internship program in Los Angeles for SOC students.
Debbie Kaplan, a first-year student in film and video who has been mentored by Friedman, heard him speak Tuesday.
Kaplan said Friedman was "extremely accessible and a pleasure to work with."
Patrick Bevilacqua, a second-year student, got a job from Friedman shooting footage of the Capitol for a segment on the History Channel that ran last May. Friedman began their relationship by inviting him onto the set of a current project. "I never met him before, but after 10 minutes he made me feel like a little brother on the shoot," Bevilacqua said.
