Audio student Kat Frazier finalist for Cinema Audio Society Student Recognition Award

Formed in 1964, the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) fosters community among sound mixers and highlights the profession’s contributions to the entertainment industry. Each year, CAS nominates five students for the Student Recognition Award, selected from undergraduate and graduate students across the country.

“This year’s finalists embody the incredible creativity and innovation shaping the future of our industry,” Peter Kurland, the president of CAS, said on the society’s website. “The Cinema Audio Society takes great pride in celebrating these talented students and the remarkable contributions they are already making. Their achievements and work inspire us and reaffirm the bright future of our craft.”

One of these finalists is OHIO senior Kat Frazier. Frazier, who is part of the OHIO Honors Program, entered college with the intention of pursuing a career behind the camera but shifted gears with an unstoppable passion when she discovered the audio side of the film industry.

“I really love the community it fosters,” Frazier said. “Every other piece in the film world is working toward one thing, which is the image, and sound is the one thing that is separate from that. The sound mixers that work in the film industry are all very connected because our community comes from just this one department.”

The CAS Student Recognition Award is granted based on overall contributions during a student's collegiate career, and Frazier applied for the award with a strong and extensive resume.

“The main pieces I was able to talk about was building the sound studio alongside David Colagiovanni and then building the equipment room for the School of Film to have an audio space,” Frazier said.

Colagiovanni is an associate professor of instruction in the School of Film, as well as the director of the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Frazier has taken his classes like the Film Festival Practicum and Experimental Film, as well as independent studies in audio production.

“We put together a whole list of equipment to buy and retrofit the entire sound studio, so it’s pretty amazing,” Colagiovanni said. “Kat has been figuring out how to do different tasks in there, the latest one was setting up an ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) session so we can train the rest of the faculty on how to teach that stuff.”

According to Colagiovanni, Frazier is the only student on the finalist list to be nominated from a public institution. A majority of students are nominated from coastal school and arts institutions, making Frazier’s nomination even more impressive.

“It’s a really big honor for Kat to have been nominated for this,” he said. “It’s really huge, it’s probably the equivalent of a Student Academy Award but for sound.”

Frazier is incredibly grateful for the nomination and the access it grants her to mentoring and networking events, as well as an invitation to the awards ceremony in Beverly Hills on Feb. 22. She credits the nomination in part to the support she got from OHIO.

“The school has been great and allowed me to foster my passion and love for these things,” she said. “...I’m very lucky to be an honors student and a fine arts student because with getting all of my classes out of the way early on, I’m able to work on the things I truly want to do.”

Looking to the future, Colagiovanni sees nothing but bright things for a student as hardworking and dedicated as Frazier.

“Kat has a lot of experience as a student now,” he said. “She’s been working in Atlanta doing internships there, I think she will probably end up going there but the world’s her oyster…She's such a good student in school but also of the world.”

Whether or not she wins the award at the end of February, the nomination alone is a testament to Frazier’s talent and commitment, as well as a pipeline to future opportunities and connections.

“If I get the award that would be awesome, but if not this is a great event just to meet so many wonderful people, truly people I wouldn’t have access to talk to at any other time,” Frazier said. “I’m really thrilled; I’m really, really excited about it.”