Each year, more and more users are looking to social media for their content. Whether that be Tik Tok, Instagram, or Facebook, vertical videos are on the rise! Should you be creating content in a vertical format? How should you be incorporating vertical video capture into your current workflow? We’ll go over a few tips and tricks on how you can start using vertical videos in your content and media marketing strategies.

Why Vertical?

A few years ago we were having a similar conversation about producing content in a square, 1x1 aspect ratio. This was due to the rise of Instagram and Facebook videos. As media consumers are spending more and more time on their phones, watching videos on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, among other social media platforms, they have adopted the vertical 9x16 aspect ratio. Even YouTube has started to get into the short form, vertical video with their Youtube Shorts section. Phones are vertical platforms, so it only makes sense that the videos created for these mobile platforms are in the vertical format. Publishing video content on these platforms in a horizontal format forces the user to physically shift their phone to correctly watch the video. An even worse option is letterboxing the horizontal video (adding black bars on top and bottom) so that the video fits awkwardly into the vertical frame. Not only are you now losing precious screen real estate, but the video is now tiny and almost unwatchable in this state.

You want to create and publish content that your audience is going to want to watch and that is easy to consume. Creating horizontal videos and forcing them into a vertical space will shrink your audience and make your content more or a chore to watch. By creating vertical videos, you’ll be catching the viewers in their normal state and better ensure they’ll watch your content. Not creating vertical content in 2023 is similar to not still making standard definition content in 2015. Don’t get left behind the times and adapt your media and marketing strategy to better suit today’s audiences.

The only reason you might not want to create vertical videos is if you have no intention of capturing an audience on these platforms or your content is only intended for 16x9 viewing. Let’s be real though, we aren’t Tarantino and can’t explicitly produce content meant for one way of consumption. We want to build and grow an audience, and the key way of doing that is by taking part in any and all platforms. Even Hollywood movies are producing content from their film for advertising and marketing on Tik Tok and Instagram. If Hollywood is doing it with their film, there’s no reason you can’t with your video content.

Creating Vertical Content

There are a few options and workflows available to integrate vertical content into your current situation. Each solution has some pros and cons, but what is important is that you start to create vertical content in addition to your traditional horizontal videos.

Cropping Existing Footage

The easiest thing to do is to crop existing footage or content that you’ve already produced for horizontal viewing. This can be as easy as cropping in your phone or in the platform you plan on sharing. In just a few seconds, you’ll have a video published is ideal for that platform. While this can be quick and simple, it does come with a few downsides. If you’re cropping within your phone or social platform, there’s no finesse to what is cropped and what is included. Typically, you’ll select a small section of the video to be cropped and whatever falls into that section will be shown. When things are initially shot/created for 16x9, there may be a lot of relevant info or content that will be present all over the screen. If your content has text or multiple people, you’ll most likely be missing them after the crop. There is a possible solution to cropping out important parts of the frame, with Adobe Premiere. Adobe Premiere has some built-in AI tech that will take an existing horizontal video and do its best to auto-crop it to your desired frame size. It will auto-detect the important parts of the frame and change the cropping location to ensure it shows up in the cropped video. We’ve had some luck with this feature in our own projects but your mileage may vary.

Shooting for Both at Once

The next easiest option is to frame for the possibility of both frame sizes when filming the content. This means that the framing of the footage may be a bit wider initially, now you’ll have the flexibility to change the orientation after the fact and to match where you’re sharing. The industry has now adopted 4k or higher resolution cameras, so cropping into a 4k frame can still yield a high-resolution video and give you lots of flexibility to crop. Additionally, many cameras or professional camera monitors have built-in frame guides to help you ensure the action stays within the 9x16 area even if you’re filming wide. You’ll still be sacrificing resolution and it makes the filming process much harder. For this reason, we fully recommend…

Shooting Vertically & Horizontal

We fully recommend creating vertical and horizontal content in its native format. Instead of worrying if you’re able to double dip a single shot for both orientations, you’ll capture each respectively. The editor will appreciate it, trust us! Shooting each format separately will also make the actual filming easier, by not having to worry about two framing styles at the same time.

The main issue with this option is time. In our experience, shooting both orientations will take roughly 1.5 times longer than recording in only 1 orientation, as you’ll need almost twice as many takes. This may also take longer if you’re only utilizing a single camera in your production, but there is always the option of using two cameras. 1 oriented horizontally and another camera is already ready to shoot it vertically.

Producing content intently and with purpose is always more ideal than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. For this reason, we always suggest shooting and producing for both mediums when possible. It might take more investment and time upfront, but it will save you in the long run and be easier to work with in post-production.

Whether you adapt existing videos to conform to a vertical format or you plan on creating content specifically for vertical platforms, one thing remains the same… You shouldn’t be leaving the format behind. Vertical videos are now the norm and the preferred aspect of all of the big social media platforms.

Ready to produce your own content? Reach out now and let’s get started on your next video!