A documentary on Missouri State University’s Jane A. Meyer Carillon, will premiere on Ozarks Public Television (OPT) July 25, 2024, at 8:30 p.m.

“Legacy of the Bells: Music of the Missouri State University Carillon” marks many firsts for its creators — the Spring 2024 Documentary Film Practicum (MED 512) students and their instructor, Jason Ferber.

Ferber’s very first assignment as a per course instructor at MSU was to teach the 10 students enrolled in MED 512 for the Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film (CMJF).

This was also the first time MED 512 students Emily Day and Patrick Conell had ever worked on a documentary.

The class’s efforts resulted in another first.

According to Ferber, although OPT used to air a student-produced program called “Ozarks News Journal,” no student-made documentary had ever been shown on OPT before.

That is, until the MED 512 production.

Bringing work experience into the classroom

Ferber, who doesn’t hesitate to say he’s “proud to be a Bear,” began working at OPT in 2001. But his ties to MSU began much earlier.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1994, back when MSU was still called Southwest Missouri State University. In 2021 he graduated from MSU with an MS in Educational Technology.

Among Ferber’s many tasks working for OPT over the years has been to train students in the basics of broadcasting.

“In my position at the station, I have informally trained hundreds of students and volunteers to operate television production equipment,” he said.

It seemed only natural to Ferber to continue with that instruction in his MED 512 course.

“On the first day of class, I presented to my students the concept of trying to make a program that would air on Ozarks Public Television,” he said.

Students take ownership

OPT features educational and informative local history programs, so Ferber asked the students to suggest possible topics for a documentary project.

He then asked them to vote for their final choice so that they would feel real ownership — the project would be their decision.

The class elected to make a documentary about the Jane A. Meyer Carillon.

“Once the topic was picked, we had a class meeting to assess everyone’s skills and make preliminary role assignments,” Ferber said.

Ferber required all 10 students to work on the project in some manner, including research and recording of B-roll footage.

The project took 15 weeks, nearly the entire semester, he said.

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