Meet Sydney Taylor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Taylor.

Hi Sydney, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I sort of fell into filmmaking. I started in college as a dance major and decided to take media studies classes as a possible second major. I ended up liking those classes more than my dance classes and decided to make the change. Growing up I never really considered how movies were made, I just knew I loved watching and talking about them. So I started with media studies and eventually got the confidence to make my first film, which was a silent short about a lonely ghost. At that time I was sort of a one-woman production team, collaborating with my friends to make shorts. Doing that I realized pretty fast that I really enjoyed working with cameras and the editing process. As I finished undergrad, I knew I wanted to go to grad school to learn even more and somehow I ended up at USC!

While at USC, I started focusing on cinematography but when the pandemic hit, I went home to North Carolina where I started focusing on editing a bit more. When I eventually got back to LA, I looked for both projects that I could DP and those that I could edit. I was fortunate to work as a DP on a thesis and as a DP/AC on many other shorts and edit three thesis projects, two of which were documentary. I just recently graduated so I’m in the process of really defining who I am as an artist and beginning the start of my career both on set and in post-production.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think on the outside it’s been pretty smooth. I’ve always had the support of my parents who knew nothing about filmmaking but saw that it was something that made me happy (although I’m sure as doctors it causes them to worry a little bit!) I wanted to go to film school and got in. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of projects that I’m proud of, work with diverse crews, and on films that have messages that I support. So in that way, I’m really lucky!

I think the bumps in the road have mostly been internal. I struggle with a lot of self-doubt and anxiety. They say that you are your own worse critic and that’s very true for me. Thoughts like “can I do this?,” “should I do this?,” can make me hesitant to put myself out there as a creative to say to a director or producer “Hey, this is what I can do.” I’m working on that though. Then there’s the pandemic, which I think a lot of people feel has taken time from them. It was at the beginning of my time at USC and all of the expectations for my time there had to be thrown out the window and be reconsidered. Making films at home or through zoom was hard and a bit discouraging at times. But again, I was really lucky to know the people that I know from there who have not only become my friends but also amazing collaborators.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am both an Editor and DP. I would say that I’m known for being versatile. I’ve worked in various genres from family drama to sci-fi to horror and rom-com in music videos, narrative, and documentary. I like watching everything so I like the challenge that working in each genre offers. Coming from my dance background, I love capturing the little moments. Body language is such a useful tool/skill that performers use to convey emotions and small details in production design can do so much to capture a moment so it’s something that I pay close attention to whether on set or in post.

There are things in every project that I’m proud of but two that come to mind are “Neurodivergent,” a documentary short, and “Odd/Even,” a sci-fi/rom-com. I co-edited “Neurodivergent” during the pandemic, so there were technical challenges but ultimately we were able to be super creative with the way we told the director’s journey of getting her diagnosis of ADHD/dyslexia. And with “Odd/Even” it was the most visual effects-heavy project I’ve worked on so far so it taught me a lot about the importance of planning. I think no matter what I’m doing, whether as a DP or Editor, I try to show up in the best way that I can and support each story.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think technology is really going to push us over the next few years. With virtual production and A.I. becoming more popular and a bit more accessible, we’ll have to become more comfortable with learning how to use it. I’ve started to see people using A.I. as concept art or in pitch decks so it’s a great visual tool to work with as a DP to get inspiration and for communication between all departments. And with LED walls and VR, I think it’s opening up a lot of new possibilities for the ways in which capture performances and create the worlds of the story in addition to how we experience storytelling.

I hope that we continue to diversify as well. There are still very few female/non-binary Cinematographers and even fewer of color in both Cinematography and Editing. We’ve seen conversations being started around diversity of film sets so I hope that it will produce real change in that arena. Audiences are already begging for more diverse stories to be told in front of the camera but it’s important that we involve those very same communities behind it as well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: sydniz_

Image Credits
Danté Bailey; Grace Park; Nancy Boyd; Ya-Ting “Itchy” Yang