Tyler Sederwall and Juliana Drayer have future plans that don’t stop with the upcoming national SkillsUSA competition in Louisville later this month.
The two OTC electronic media students are planning to take their talents to Los Angeles soon after the competition to begin their careers in filmmaking.
The two students, who took first place at the state SkillsUSA event in April, will be competing June 22-26 for a national title in the category of digital cinema production. They will go up against the best from around the country.
“We’ve been working together cranking out videos,” said Sederwall. “Thinking outside the box is something we do.”
The two didn’t know each other before meeting in an EMP class at OTC two years ago. They have, however, a similar love for the craft and found they worked well together.
Drayer, from Branson, said she has liked making videos since she was a little girl.
“I wrote scripts and made my own movies. I plan to do long form but short films give me a lot of experience,” she said.
Sederwall is a short-format moviemaker with a strong interest in making music videos.
“In a seventh-grade science class at Ozark, our teacher taught a film class that included how to make videos and information about TV production,” he said.
At the national competition, the pair will have two days to make a video on a yet-to-be-known topic.
“We get 43 hours,” Sederwall said with a tone of confidence in his voice, which he should have since he won first place at nationals last year for TV production.
Drayer said getting a good idea for a video is the toughest part of the production.
“It’s the hardest part. The story is everything. Filming is easy,” she said.
Both said the EMP program prepared them for the national competition.
“I like the class sizes,” Drayer said. “When you have a question, the teachers make sure you understand everything.”
And when the competition is over, the two plan to head to Los Angeles to work for a company they’ve done work for online. The idea of heading west and working together excites them.
“We push each other. She pushes me and I push her,” Sederwall said. “And we will go where our careers take us.”
