“I dream for a living,” Steven Spielberg once said. And that appropriately sums up the aspirations of my son, 17-year-old homeschool graduate Taylor Davis, moviemaker extraordinaire. Taylor was raised in a family of movie lovers. We quote from them constantly, recall many favorite moments from movie history, watch the ‘making-of’ documentaries, and just generally love the visual form of storytelling. Taylor also took a liking to Legos early on and has amassed quite a collection of kits and pieces. So when he received his first video camera, a hand-me-down from his dad, it naturally followed that he would start filming Lego characters.
For years Taylor has educated himself in the art of screenplay writing, stop-motion filming, visual and sound effects, and film editing, improving his skills year by year. In spite of not making use of the instructors and upscale equipment some public high schoolers have, Taylor still managed to win first place (with a monetary award) in the local high school’s video contest for a Just Say No to Drugs PSA. Following that, he won third place in the comedy category in the Utah High School Film Festival, a very competitive statewide competition.
His YouTube channel boasts several million views which, besides leading to some heartfelt fan mail from young fans, have led to some money-making opportunities, including invitations for blog posting and a partnership with another YouTube channel that provided him with a brand new high-def camera, which is already improving the quality of his latest projects.
Taylor will be headed to college soon, where he hopes to develop a moviemaking career. You can see some of his stop-motion, animation, and live action films at TaylorPlacePro and BrickUltra.
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