University of Wisconsin-Platteville media studies student Molly Christenson is being recognized and rewarded at both the state and national level for her video production work during the Fall 2015 semester.

On Feb. 27 at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Student Seminar in Madison, Christenson was awarded first place in the category Long Form Production (Non News) for a promotional video she created about the Platteville Sunflower Oil Company. The promotional video was a project for Steve Yunck’s Photography III course.

The inspiration for the promotional video was based off of Christenson’s passion for renewable energy.

“Before transferring to the media studies program I was in the sustainability program at UW-Platteville,” Christenson said. “Through that program I networked with a lot of faculty, students and the people from Driftless Market. It all fell into place with my love for renewable energy.”

Christenson put many hours into the production, about 10-12 hours each week of the semester.

“It was like a part-time job,” Christenson said.

She received help from Everything Photography in Dubuque (where she worked) and the UW-Platteville media studies program in regards to using equipment for the production.

“Out of all the students that I’ve met with the media studies video production major she definitely is one of the top students,” senior media studies major Mar’Quezie Edmonds said. “She’s very creative. I enjoyed working with her. Her music video was probably the greatest student work I’ve ever seen.”

One of the biggest challenges Christenson faced was coordinating schedules.

“It was a lot of logistics,” Christenson said. She had a lot of people to interview to make the video accurate.

The promotional video is also being recognized at the national level. The National Broadcasters Society has named it a finalist under the category Video Instructional/ Industrial/Promotional Production. The other finalists are two students, one from Slippery Rock University and the other from West Texas A&M.

That’s not the only production Christenson is being recognized for at the national level, however. Christenson is also a finalist for a music video she produced for Robert Snyder’s Production Capstone course this past fall semester.

The music video is of Americana Folk singer and songwriter, Ben Dunegan, performing his original song, “O’ Sleeper.”

“Molly’s visual concept for her music video was very simple; life is beautiful and you can choose to sleep through it or engage,” media studies professor Robert Snyder said. “Simple, yet brilliantly executed, as it was illustrated in unexpected ways, such as someone sleeping on a bedroom mattress in a park. The first time I saw it, in the studio screening session, it literally took my breath away.”

Christenson is a finalist in the Music Video category along with two students, one from Oklahoma University and the other from Rider University. She will find out her placement in both categories on March 16 when the NBS announces awards at their convention in Los Angeles.

“I’m very thankful for Dr. [Snyder] submitting my work into the competition,” Christenson said. “It was very cool to see my hard work paying off.”

[email protected]