Taylor Swift is a multi-hyphenate artist who now wants to delve into filmmaking. The Shake it Off singer debuted All Too Well: The Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival, which she directed, wrote, produced, and appeared in.
In her segment ‘In Conversation With…’, Swift expressed how she wanted to tell stories and discussed her evolution that led her into her directorial debut.
“It was always a part of the process, establishing visuals,” Swift said as she recalled her early singing career, where she involved herself in creating and shooting music videos. “The more responsibility I took on, the happier I was.”
She also delved into detail of how her songwriting transitioned from merely writing lyrics and melodies to setting words and music to film with storyboards and a shot list.
While the Red singer may seem a natural at this task, but revealed that she had to take baby steps in order to make a the video. Her first directorial debut came when she directed the music video of her own song The Man from her 2019 album Lover. “I didn’t go to film school. I’ve been on the set of around 60 music videos and I’ve learned a lot from that process. But when I did it on my own, I really began to learn everything, because you have to.”
She went on to direct music videos for her singles Cardigan and Willow.
Giving a shout-out to her favourite female directors such as Nora Ephron, Chloe Zhao and Greta Gerwig, Swift said, “I will always want to tell human stories about human emotion.”
In 2021, Taylor released re-recordings of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), her acclaimed second and fourth albums, as an act of reclamation and creative empowerment. The latter release was followed by All Too Well: The Short Film.
