Roll sound, roll camera … and ACTION!

Two men eating together

Need a buddy? Students make a movie about how to find one. The world premiere of Friend of a Friend is Friday (Nov. 3) at the Oxford Community Arts Center.

By Donna Boen ’83, MTSC ’96, Miamian editor

Opening scene

The camera pans the room so quickly that the older men and women seated around tables are a blur. It stops and focuses on Paul Allen standing upfront, mic in hand, talking to the group. They’re at the Oxford LaRosa’s for the Friday night trivia competition.

Paul, former executive officer, Naval ROTC, and Miami University’s former director of business services, points to the operator behind the camera.

“This young man taking pictures, if you don’t know him, his name is Samuel Van Vleet, and Sam is a grad student at Miami, in Gerontology, which means he fits right in with this bunch. He also taught an ILR class this last spring in how to make a movie, thinking he was going to explain to us what a gaffer was, best boy, and a key grip and all that.”

Students learned that and far more when they took Samuel’s class through Miami’s Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) and then created a short picture of their own.

Filmed around Oxford, Ohio, the 17-minute documentary addresses a universal theme of how to build friendships as an adult.

group of people eating together — “We’re sitting here getting ready for trivia at LaRosa’s,” said Dennis Johnson, veteran/trivia attendee. “It’s an opportunity to socialize with a lot of your peers, the older people and some of the younger people, that keep us a little bit sharp.” The winner that Friday evening was Educated Guess.

Friend of a Friend enjoys its worldwide premiere at 7:45 p.m. this Friday (Nov. 3) at the Oxford Community Arts Center (formerly Oxford College). Everyone is invited.

If you can’t attend, you still might have a chance to watch the film at some point because AARP intends to set up a virtual national premiere and include a Q&A with the students.

The backstory

Ah, the students.

Over several weeks, the six men and three women brainstormed, discussed, and debated all kinds of possible topics for their debut film, even proposing a murder mystery. On the last day of class, with time running out, the conversation suddenly shifted to what they have in common — friends.

Then classmate Beth Hoxie mentioned how Oxford is a friend-of-a-friend kind of town. Eureka! They now had their title and their theme. When you meet one person and become friends, you also have the opportunity to meet that person’s friends, expanding your pool exponentially, like ripples in a pond.

They decided to produce a documentary that showed various ways adults, particularly older adults, can connect with others. They spent the summer talking to leaders of local organizations.

Captured on film

Although all of us are social creatures, older adults sometimes have fewer opportunities to start friendships since they may not have work colleagues anymore and their children are usually grown, said Jennifer Heston-Mullins ’97, Ph.D. ’17, associate director of research and senior research scholar, Miami’s Scripps Gerontology Center.

“Sometimes friends are moving away, sometimes friends are passing away,” Jennifer elaborated in the film. “People have chronic health issues, things that make them sometimes less active, and that can affect their ability to get out into their community.”

“I think it is love of community that connects people, certainly in Oxford I think that’s true,” said Bill Snavely, retired professor of Management and the city’s mayor.

Research shows that failing to connect can have detrimental health effects, which makes it all the more important for everyone to find their niche among friends.

“Like any community, large or small, you need to go out and find your place because, believe me, there is a place for you,” said ILR student John Moul ’66, a retired lawyer.

Making friends doesn’t have to happen at an organizational event, of course, but such events can help break that proverbial ice, especially if the idea of attending Thursday evening concerts in the Uptown park by yourself doesn’t rock your socks.

To give viewers an idea of what kinds of organizations they might check out in their own towns, the movie crew filmed the head of the Oxford Senior Center, the pastor of the Oxford United Methodist Church, the president of Oxford Rotary Club, and the director of the Oxford Community Arts Center, among others. Each was asked to discuss community building.

“You don’t have to join everything. But what it does is it enables you to meet other people and to make connections with those people and find out that you have some similarities with them,” said Oxford Mayor Bill Snavely, who retired from Miami in 2007 as Professor Emeritus in Management. At the very least, he suggested, you can start off by saying hi and finding out the other person’s name.

Closing credits

Samuel, the class instructor/cameraman/co-editor, said that some of his students were skeptical about whether they could produce a movie. Now that they have, he’s making good on his promise for a red-carpet premiere. Tuxes optional.

When not behind the camera or helping to edit, Samuel, who earned a master’s in Gerontological Studies from Miami in 2021, works on his doctorate in Social Gerontology. He’s aiming to graduate from Miami a second time in 2025.

The ILR original film was created, directed, and edited by the following students: Paul Allen, Richard Brunner, Barbara Caruso, Richard Daniels, Beth Hoxie, Art Lippmann, John Moul ’66, Jerry Riesenberg, and Lynne Wagner ’73.

Epilogue

To no one’s surprise, editing the film was the hardest step because they wanted to keep everything. The first rough cut’s running time was nearly 48 minutes. After hours of work and angst, the three editors, Jerry, Lynne, and Samuel, finally got it down to 17 minutes, not including the minute of credits.

After it was finished, Jerry emailed Samuel when he realized they hadn’t included anything about senior sports.

Samuel responded: “Well, that will have to be in the next film, Jerry.”

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