Teen racks up awards for documentary about Oklahoma's film industry
It makes sense that Kaden Wittig is a genius behind a video camera. The 19-year-old from Broken Arrow has had more than a decade to perfect his craft, shooting and editing his first home movie when he was 7 years old. In middle school, the film phenom placed second in a local junior history documentary competition. By the time he was 16, Wittig had produced an impressive collection of video projects.
Although his early video production skills were mostly self-taught, he knew he wanted more. The high school junior enrolled in a two-year television production program at Tulsa Technology Center. While he worked his first job at a pizza restaurant and attended both Broken Arrow High School and Tulsa Tech, he held a spot on the Director’s Honor Roll and in the National Technical Honor Society.
“Enrolling in a CareerTech program is great not only for learning new skills,” Wittig said, “but also for establishing a built-in network of people looking to work in the same industry as you. There are people I met in my program that I still collaborate with on film projects.”
He participated in SkillsUSA’s digital cinema competition in both his junior and senior years. In 2022, he was named student of the year for his TV Production II program and received numerous certifications, including production assistant, producer, and Avid Certified Media Composer Specialist.
There was no senior slump for the Broken Arrow High School student. He enrolled in classes at Tulsa Community College on top of an already full load, and he was still finishing his senior year when Tulsa television station KJRH hired him as a photographer and video editor.
Wittig recently celebrated his one-year anniversary at Channel 2 and said he applies many of the skills he learned at Tulsa Tech.
“While in CareerTech education, I developed technical skills that I apply both to my work as a news photographer and to my filmmaking, such as camera operation, lighting techniques, microphone setup and placement, video editing, industry terminology and how to conduct an interview,” he said.
Wittig said he enjoys his job at Channel 2, filming stories, recording and conducting interviews, occasionally shooting live content and editing newscasts. His second love is film, however, and Wittig has worked as part of the film crew for numerous movies.
“There are people I met in my TV production program that I still collaborate with on film projects,” he said, adding, “After graduation, I came out of my program with a solid resume and certifications that have opened up a lot of career opportunities for me and will continue to do so.”
He admitted that when he was younger and first getting into film, he didn’t realize he could work in film and live in Oklahoma.
“Like a lot of people,” Wittig said, “I just assumed you had to move to Hollywood or somewhere like that.”
That misconception is getting further and further from the truth. For his capstone project in high school, Wittig created a 10-minute short documentary called “Filmed in Oklahoma,” which documented the recent growth of Oklahoma’s film industry. He interviewed industry professionals about their experiences working in Oklahoma, and about why major productions are choosing to come here.
Wittig’s film has already won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the 2022 Red Brick Road Film Festival, Best Oklahoma Made Mini Short Film at the 2023 Sunny Side Up Film Festival and Best Documentary Short at the 2023 Red Dirt Film Festival.
“I wanted to make the film to inform people there are productions here, and the industry is expanding,” he said. “Due to economic incentives from the state of Oklahoma that offer a rebate for large film productions, as well as the local crew and towns here being film-friendly, working in Oklahoma’s film industry is a very viable career.”
In 2024, Wittig plans to graduate from Tulsa Community College with an associate degree in arts and a film studies concentration. He will then pursue a bachelor’s degree in film studies at a university.
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Oklahoma CareerTech: Education that works for you
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 60 campuses, 391 PK-12 school districts, 15 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
