Marietta College Class makes video about Fenton

By Jessica Burchard
The Marietta Times, Marietta, OH


Education and commerce came together when Fenton Art Glass of Williamstown asked Marietta College students to create a promotional video for its centennial celebration this year.

The Williamstown glass manufacturer commissioned a promotion video from the college to be released in the next week as an educational and promotional tool. It focuses on the history of the Fenton family and the company as well as the 100-year-old glass-making process that makes Fenton glass such unique items.
"It was a win-win situation between Fenton Art Glass and Marietta College," said Jim Measell, associate historian and spokesman for Fenton.

Marilee Morrow, an assistant professor in Marietta College's Department of Mass Media, organized the piece in her video production class spring semester.

Morrow's 13 students shared responsibilities of researching, writing, filming and editing to create a nearly 15-minute video explaining Fenton's history and its products.

"It was a semester project. We had different groups of students working on different parts of the video," said Morrow. "The whole department got involved in it. Our department chair (Jack Hillwig) is involved in it."

In the video, Hillwig and Morrow portray a married couple with children taking a tour of the company. They toured Fenton's facility during a school day with Morrow's two children.

One of the students who made the video said it was a long, but worthwhile, process.

"We went into the company to shoot. We had 100 hours of film. I had no life for two-and-a-half weeks," said Bob Hickman, 21, a junior advertising and public relations major. "It was very beneficial to all of us. It took a lot of time, but taught us a lot."

The cost of producing the video was covered by the college because the students did it as their main class project. Fenton is one of the few businesses Morrow's class has worked with. In the past, most promotional videos were done for nonprofit organizations such as the Washington County chapter of the American Red Cross and the Washington County Habitat for Humanity.

Students had a lot of creative freedom in the project, but also were expected to obtain approval from Fenton for everything they did.

"We really looked to them for the ideas. We told them the constraints," Measell said. "We wanted them to have control over the production. There were several stages in the project where we had to give advice and give a green light."

Creating a historically accurate portrayal of the Fenton family and company was a high priority for the students. They relied heavily on Measell and other sources for information. Also, shooting scenes of glass production inside the company required company approval.

Both Measell and company President George Fenton screened the finished video before it was sent to Video Impact in Columbus to be duplicated onto miniature compact discs that will be sold in Fenton's gift shop and used to train new company vendors.

Measell said the proceeds of the disc's sales will benefit the school as well.

"A portion of the proceeds from the first batch will go toward the mass media department. Marilee Morrow had a wish list of items to get," Measell said.

The discs are priced at $9.95 each plus shipping and handling.

For more information
Fenton Art Glass, (304) 375-7772, or www.fentonartglass.com.
Marilee Morrow, 376-4828.