Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521235
50 M PS E . O R G Avram's life began in the tranquil landscapes of Upstate New York, where he spent his formative years in Glens Falls, nestled amidst the majestic Adirondack Mountains. It was a time and place where a 12-year-old could ride a bike into the country miles from home and be perfectly safe. When Avram turned 14, his father, who managed dress manufacturing factories, was relocated to Greenville, South Carolina. It was here that Avram's artistic inclinations began to flourish. He immersed himself in playing the drums, drawing, and painting. Around this time, Avram put together 8mm short films with home movie cameras, viewers, and splicers similar to Spielberg's earliest filmmaking days. For music, Avram would drop the needle on a vinyl record timed to the exact moment he wanted it to line up with the picture. Sixties technology was simple back then and the pace of change was predictable and promising. Upon graduating from Wade Hampton High, Avram's passion steered him toward a career as a fine artist. His parents were supportive but insisted he receive a university degree, so he enrolled at the University of Georgia. As an art major, Avram's aspirations were soon shattered by the subjective nature of artistic evaluation. A pivotal moment of realization during his freshman year served as a catalyst for Avram's reassessment of his goals. What he considered his best work for class assignments often went unrecognized, while hastily thrown- together homework of sketches and designs garnered such acclaim that one of his teachers asked to use those works for his own sculptures. It was a moment of reckoning. "I had no idea what good art was and if I didn't know what good art was, how could I make better art to make a living?" Without a clear understanding of what constituted "outstanding art," or even "commercial art," his prospects of a successful career in the field seemed like a mountain too steep to climb. But it had to be climbed if he was going to work toward a degree that would actually lead toward a job with survival potential that he could also enjoy. "Well, I've made those little movies. I'm good with still photography and I understand frame composition. Maybe I could be a cinematographer. At least that's a paycheck thing. That's what I was thinking back then." In the summer of 1965, Avram applied to the only four film schools in the country—UCLA, USC, Boston U, and NY University. He was accepted at three out of the four and chose USC, drawn by its prestigious program and promising Avram, 1965.