Sijing Yang is a Chinese-Canadian director and editor specializing in romantic and family genres. As vertical storytelling continues to reshape global entertainment, filmmaker Sijing has emerged as one of the format’s most exciting creative voices within Canada. As a director and editor, Sijing has worked on 13 vertical series across various platforms, including ReelShort, DramaBox, DreameShort, and DramaWave, with projects collectively generating more than 100 million views worldwide.

Known for blending emotional storytelling with the fast-paced intimacy of mobile viewing, Sijing is helping redefine what serialized storytelling can look like for phone-first audiences. In conversation with Shwayta Sharma, she discusses the evolution of vertical dramas, the creative demands behind the format, and why Canada is well-positioned within the rapidly growing industry.


1. Your career spans directing, editing, and storytelling across different formats. What initially drew you to the world of vertical series, and what made you realize this format had real creative and commercial potential?

I first entered the world of vertical series through post-production. Some friends had produced a few projects and asked if I would be interested in editing them. At the time, most people associated vertical video with influencer content or social media clips. Very few of us imagined it could evolve into a narrative format capable of supporting long-form storytelling.

What changed my perspective was seeing the first wave of successful vertical dramas. Despite relatively modest budgets, they demonstrated a surprising level of craftsmanship in cinematography, production design, and visual effects. They were ambitious, entertaining, and most importantly, they kept audiences engaged.

Some of the stories were familiar or even exaggerated, but they understood how to capture attention. You would start watching out of curiosity and suddenly find yourself finishing episode after episode. That was when I realized vertical storytelling wasn’t simply adapting existing content to a phone screen; it was developing its own language, audience behavior, and business model.

The combination of strong audience demand and a rapidly evolving creative ecosystem made it clear that vertical series had both real commercial potential and long-term storytelling opportunities.

2. Vertical storytelling operates with a very different rhythm compared to traditional film or television. How has working in this format changed the way you think about pacing, emotional hooks, and audience engagement?

The biggest difference comes from the monetization model. Traditional film and television are designed around continuous viewing, while most vertical platforms still rely on short episodes, often one to two minutes long, with viewers paying to unlock additional content. That structure naturally creates different storytelling demands.

Every episode needs to generate an immediate emotional response. Early vertical dramas often relied on recognizable archetypes, dramatic twists, and heightened emotions because audiences needed to understand the story almost instantly. But as the market matures, viewers have become more sophisticated. After watching hundreds of similar stories, they recognize the formulas. As a result, we’re seeing filmmakers experiment with more nuanced storytelling and stronger character development rather than relying solely on cliffhangers.

Ultimately, I don’t think vertical storytelling has changed what audiences want. People still connect with relatable characters, emotional journeys, and meaningful relationships. The challenge isn’t reinventing storytelling; it’s delivering those emotional connections much faster.

Another important difference is that vertical content is consumed on phones, which makes the viewing experience highly personal. Television and cinema are often communal experiences, but mobile viewing is intimate. That creates a unique relationship between the audience and the story, and I think that’s one of the reasons the format has resonated so strongly with viewers around the world.

3. Many people still underestimate vertical dramas as “short-form content,” yet the audience numbers are massive. What do you think the industry misunderstands most about the creative demands of making successful vertical series?

I think people often assume that because the screen is smaller and the episodes are shorter, the creative demands must be lower. In reality, the opposite is often true.

Vertical production requires an extraordinary level of efficiency. Actors frequently memorize large amounts of dialogue under extremely tight schedules, while writers, producers, directors, and crews are constantly making creative decisions with limited time and resources. There is very little room for hesitation.

What has impressed me most about working in this space is the talent and ingenuity of the people behind it. I’ve met some incredibly gifted actors and crew members through vertical production. Without the budgets of traditional television, teams often have to find unconventional ways to create scale, action, or spectacle. Some of those solutions sound ridiculous when you describe them, but they work surprisingly well on screen.

At the end of the day, audiences don’t judge a story by its aspect ratio. They respond to compelling characters, emotional engagement, and strong storytelling. The format may be different, but the creative challenge remains the same.

4. As someone working in Vancouver while contributing to a globally expanding format, how do you see Canada positioning itself within the vertical content space? Do you think Canadian creators are beginning to embrace the medium seriously?

I think Canada is very well-positioned within the vertical content space. We have experienced crews, talented actors, and a well-established production ecosystem at competitive production costs.

We’re already seeing Canadian filmmakers not only contributing to international vertical productions but also developing, producing, and distributing original projects of their own. The industry is still evolving rapidly, which creates a unique opportunity for Canadian filmmakers. Rather than adapting to an established system, we’re in a position to help shape what vertical storytelling becomes over the next few years.

5. Your projects often balance heightened drama with emotional accessibility. In a format where every second matters, how do you approach character development and emotional payoff in such condensed storytelling?

For me, character always comes first. Vertical storytelling accelerates pacing, but it doesn’t change the fundamentals of storytelling. Audiences may come for a hook, but they stay because they care about the people on screen.

When we’re developing a project, we constantly ask whether a scene feels truthful to the character. If a twist exists only to create shock value, or if a dramatic moment doesn’t feel motivated by the character’s choices, audiences will sense it eventually.

The challenge is finding ways to build emotional investment more efficiently. The strongest emotional payoffs come from moments that feel earned. Even within a highly condensed format, viewers still want authentic emotional journeys.

6. You’ve worked on vertical projects that have collectively generated millions of views worldwide. What have those audience responses taught you about what viewers are craving right now from serialized storytelling?

Audience responses have taught me that while hooks, cliffhangers, and storytelling formulas are important, they’re only the foundation. During development, we spend a lot of time discussing whether a premise feels fresh or whether a cliffhanger is strong enough to keep viewers watching. But once a project is released, the moments audiences remember most are often much smaller.

I’ve seen viewers respond passionately to scenes that weren’t designed as major plot points at all, simple interactions that reveal character, relationships, or vulnerability. Those moments often generate more emotional engagement than the biggest twists.

One example was a scene where a father dressed up as a princess to play with his daughter. It wasn’t a major story beat, but the chemistry between the actors made the moment feel cute and genuine. After its release, it became one of the most talked-about scenes. Experiences like that have reinforced my belief that audiences ultimately connect with people, not plot mechanics. A relatable character and a genuine emotional moment can sometimes be more powerful than the most carefully engineered cliffhanger.

7. Looking ahead, where do you see the vertical series industry evolving over the next few years? Do you think it will remain a parallel industry or eventually become fully integrated into mainstream film and television production?

People are spending more and more time on their phones, so I think vertical series will ultimately become another way audiences consume series and movies. It’s more about adapting the story into a different medium. Whether it remains a parallel industry or becomes fully integrated into traditional film and television, I think the boundaries will continue to blur. As the audience grows and the format matures, we’ll likely see more crossover between vertical creators and traditional filmmakers, with each side influencing the other.

8. Vertical storytelling changes the way environments are framed on screen, especially when certain production design elements can fall outside the frame. How do you approach designing and shooting wide shots for vertical content while still ensuring the audience feels immersed in the world of the story?

In the early days of vertical storytelling, most productions relied heavily on medium shots and medium close-ups because phone screens can only present a limited amount of visual information at once. As filmmakers have become more experienced with the format, the visual language has evolved. Some traditional horizontal compositions don’t always work effectively to a vertical frame. At the same time, vertical composition offers opportunities that don’t exist in traditional formats.

What interests me most is the opportunity to use height and depth more intentionally. Whether it’s staging actors on different levels or designing movement through depth rather than width, vertical composition encourages us to think differently. Instead of trying to replicate horizontal filmmaking, I think the goal is to embrace what the vertical frame does best and build a visual language around it.

9. Vertical series are often fast-paced and episodic in structure. From an editing perspective, what does your process look like when shaping short-form vertical episodes to maintain momentum, emotional engagement, and audience retention?

When editing vertical content, I’m very conscious of timing and emotional rhythm. I often track whether the audience is receiving a new emotional beat every thirty to forty-five seconds, whether through a music cue, a sound design transition, a reveal, or a specific performance moment. Numbers can be a useful tool in that process. For example, if the same piece of music has been playing for over a minute without a shift, it’s often a sign that the episode is losing emotional momentum.

At the same time, storytelling can’t be reduced entirely to numbers. Once I’ve assembled an episode, I always step back and watch it from beginning to end as an audience. Sometimes a reaction shot needs to linger longer, or a quiet moment needs more space to breathe to feel the emotion.

Editing is about balancing those two elements, the analytical side that measures pacing and structure, and the emotional side that responds to character and feeling. The best results usually come from finding the right balance between both.

10. As vertical storytelling continues to grow globally, what does revenue generation and monetization currently look like within the vertical content space for creators, producers, and platforms?

I haven’t done a detailed market analysis myself, but it’s clear that a lot of investment in the vertical space is still focused on advertising and user acquisition.

I hope that as the industry matures, more resources will go toward story development and production. Strong storytelling is what creates long-term value.

We’re already seeing the ecosystem become more diverse, with more platforms, genres, and creative approaches emerging. I think that’s a positive sign for the future of the industry.

Behind-the-scenes photo credit: United Ocean Production.