Visiting Artist Cara Friez Brings Industry Experience to Cinema Program

Meet Visiting Artist Cara Friez

Cara Friez, of Pittsburgh, joins the Department of Cinema Arts as a visiting artist for the 2013-14 academic year. Friez received her M.F.A. in film and television production from the Academy of Art University and her B.S. in communications with a focus in media production from East Carolina University. Some of her most notable production opportunities include work for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, As the World Turns, NightTalk on PCNC and a short film Moving in Together, which was selected to screen at the 2011 Broad Humor Film Festival.

What do you like best about teaching at Point Park?

Working with the students is my favorite part about teaching. The passion and the excitement they bring to every project is contagious and helps keep my passion for the industry alive. Also the class sizes are small, which allows me the opportunity to get a better idea of what each student knows and where they want to go within their production path.

What types of projects can students expect in your classes?

Students will have a lot of hands-on experience with both Avid and Premiere Pro editing a variety of footage. Editing exercises will focus on media management, storytelling, dramatic build of a scene, finding and creating rhythm of a film, using sound and music to enhance their story and many other elements that are important to the post-production process. In the digital tools and visual effects classes, the students will have the opportunity to work with several different software platforms to create motion graphics and various visual effects using digital compositing to bring different aspects of their films to life.

What classes are you teaching?

Advanced Editing
Intermediate Digital Tools
Intermediate Editing
Intermediate Visual Effects

What makes Point Park's cinema arts program unique?

The fact that students are shooting and cutting movies in their first year is fantastic! This allows them the opportunity to really develop as an artist and get comfortable with a production workflow. The more comfortable they can be with the technical aspects and basic skills of production will allow them the opportunity to get very creative with their storytelling by the time they graduate.

How do you bring your professional experience into the classes you teach?

The best way to learn something is to mess up or have something go wrong. After working in the industry for several years, I've had my fair share of things go wrong and needing to quickly find a solution, whether it be not backing up a project or a client asking for something I have no idea how to create. I hope that I can share these lessons with the students so they don't find themselves in a similar situation, or if they do, they will be able to handle it quickly and professionally.

Back

More About: Conservatory of Performing Arts, cinema arts, cinema production, faculty