Scholar Stories: Frost Focused on Future Behind the Camera
12/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Every Wednesday during the 2016-17 academic year, MGoBlue.com will highlight a different student-athlete and their academic path. These are our Scholar Stories.
When it comes to film students, Maddy Frost wants to set the record straight about one particular stereotype.
"People think you have to like Quentin Tarantino to do this," she said. "I know I'm supposed to say my favorite movie is Pulp Fiction, but it's not. I freaking hate that movie."
Quentin, if you are reading this, our apologies, but don't click away. If you're in need of a bright, young mind with a passion for cinema and video editing, please keep reading.
Frost, a senior on the women's swimming and diving team, is on track to get her degree in screen arts and cultures this spring. Though she doesn't see many movies in theaters these days -- not with practices twice-a-day and classes in-between -- Frost was an avid moviegoer as a kid before swimming took over. She saved the ticket stub of every movie she's ever seen, over 400 in total. She still has them somewhere.
When she meets people and talks about her major, the typical assumption is, "You get to watch American movies all day and talk about them? That's so cool!"
Not so fast. In The Art of Film, a prerequisite, Frost watched Swedish and German movies. In one example, she had to write a paper explaining why filmmakers made certain choices in production because of the setting (1950s Spain) and what was transpiring politically at that time.
It's because of this class that she's able to see movies differently. Editing errors, plot holes and character flaws rarely go unnoticed anymore.
"Some people think that class ruins movies," she jokes. "They mindlessly watch and either can't or don't want to draw connections. There's always a purpose for every single thing. It forces you to think."
Truth is, Frost is most comfortable behind the camera rather than in front of it. While taking Intro to Media Production, she learned how to work a three-camera set-up, trying every role from director to producer to technical director.
For the class, she put together a video on former U-M diver and teammate Nicole Honey. Outside of it, she and Emily Browning (water polo), one of the other (few) student-athletes to study the same major, co-created a video for Athletes Connected on mental health.
The key to editing, Frost says, is finding the right sounds to accompany the visuals. For the Athletes Connected video, Frost found the eventual music while listening to the "Deep Focus" playlist on Spotify. She grew attached to the song "They Move On Tracks of Never-Ending Light" by the band This Will Destroy You and knew it would be perfect, but also knew that she couldn't use it without the rights.
So she ended up e-mailing the band to ask permission. To her mild surprise, they said yes.
"Sometimes I hear songs and I know what kind of images will go with it," Frost said, hinting at ideas for the team's annual training trip in the Florida Keys. "You want to make people feel something when they watch."
Outside of production-based courses, Frost is making sure to expand her portfolio. This semester, she's taking TV Sketch Comedy on the recommendation from former men's swimmer Will Raynor. She's not acting or trying her hand at stand-up ("Other people are way more talented than me."), instead choosing to develop digital sketches a la Saturday Night Live. Over the summer, Frost was able to take a six-week documentary photography course in Paris with the help of U-M associate professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Turnley.
After graduating, Frost hopes to apply to ad agencies in New York City, but don't expect her to take a Don Draper-like approach to the business. Her dream job? Creating movie trailers.
Her favorite movies list crosses quite a few genres. Among them: Elf, Dirty Dancing, Inception, The Imitation Game, Casablanca. But No. 1 on that list is the Christmas-themed romantic comedy The Holiday, a movie in which Cameron Diaz's character owns a movie trailer business.
Suddenly it all makes sense.
"She has the life that I want," she said.
Though you'll never see or hear her, Maddy Frost will soon be coming to a screen near you.
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