{"id":1904,"date":"2010-04-28T15:58:03","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T21:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2010-04-28T15:58:03","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T21:58:03","slug":"peak-profile-doug-pray-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2010\/04\/peak-profile-doug-pray-83\/","title":{"rendered":"Peak Profile: Doug Pray '83"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DougDoug Pray \u201983 <\/strong>has spent most of his professional life exploring worlds unknown to him. A documentary filmmaker, Doug looks through the camera\u2019s eye to delve into American subcultures \u2014 long\u00ad-haul truck drivers, graffiti artists, hip\u00adhop DJs, and musicians. In his most recent film, \u201cArt & Copy,\u201d which opened last summer, he examines the culture of advertising and creativity.<\/p>\n

Doug didn\u2019t arrive at Colorado College with a film career in mind. \u201cWhile I was at CC, I began to get excited about different media and entertainment and got heavily involved in activities like The Catalyst<\/em>, KRCC, and a small but dynamic music scene on campus,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Doug was majoring in sociology when one of his professors, Jeff Livesay, screened a selection of (German director) Rainer Werner Fassbinder films. \u201cI was suddenly hooked,\u201d Doug says. He went on to study film in graduate school at UCLA and began making documentaries.<\/p>\n

He says his education at CC helped prepare him for a job that is different every day. \u201cIt allows me to drop into different subcultures, get to know the people who created them, and make films about their art and lives. It\u2019s the ultimate liberal arts experience. And like the Block Plan, it feels like I still get to change subjects every three and a half weeks!\u201d<\/p>\n

Doug believes his success as a filmmaker comes in part from taking a \u2018liberal arts approach\u2019 to his life and work. \u201cIt really does prepare people to think in cross\u00addiscipline ways. When you get out into the world and work in a particular industry, especially the movie industry, it\u2019s kind of a shock to realize how few people have that kind of an open mind. Most people focus on the task at hand, and have little or no interest in understanding its greater meaning.\u201d As a director, Doug says his educational background \u201chas really helped, both in my interviewing techniques for documentaries \u2014 having a sincere interest in my subjects and finding ways to relate to almost anyone \u2014 and the thrill I get from jumping into completely different subcultures and finding common understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his newest film, Doug says he believed he would find a different kind of cultural understanding. \u201cArt & Copy\u201d features the personalities and ideas of some of the most legendary advertising creatives of the last 50 years.<\/p>\n

At first, Doug says, the film seemed like a departure from his past work. \u201cBut I found more similarities than differences,\u201d he says. \u201cThese creatives exhibit a rebellious voice not unlike the underground artists I\u2019ve shot in the past. They feel misunderstood by society. They\u2019re fiercely independent mavericks. But mostly, they, too, have a message that seemingly has to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doug Pray \u201983 has spent most of his professional life exploring worlds unknown to him. A documentary filmmaker, Doug looks through the camera\u2019s eye to delve into American subcultures \u2014 long\u00ad-haul truck drivers, graffiti artists, hip\u00adhop DJs, and musicians. In his most recent film, \u201cArt & Copy,\u201d which opened last summer, he examines the culture…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-2010","tag-alumni-profiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}