As a filmmaker, if there is one thing that peeves me the most is when I see vertical video. A good online friend of mine who is also an up-and-coming filmmaker, Michael Manus, brought up the concern of vertical video and I felt like it would be a good idea to chime in and share my thoughts on his discussion. Although mostly an inconvenience, I do know ONE way that vertical video can prove to be somewhat beneficial.
As I see it, vertical video is shot destined for leisure, as in people shoot mostly vertically for sending snapchats to their friends and so forth. What irks me the most is seeing vertical video posted online, however. Webcams on computers have always been oriented to shoot 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio; or landscape video rather than portrait. It is fine to take photos in landscape or portrait as they have their respectful uses. What makes vertical video so widespread is the capabilities of iPhone cameras and other smartphone technology to allow that orientation for shooting. It is so easy to pull out your smartphone and record something. To make it even easier, the camera app allows you to shoot as is rather than orient it to landscape shooting. As a rule of thumb, whenever I want to shoot something run-and-gun on my Galaxy S4, I tilt it sideways to shoot. When I see vertical video online, I do not take it seriously and do not even give the time to watch.
Why not shoot vertical video?
From a filmmaker's perspective, shooting vertical video is a BIG no-no. When we go to the theaters to watch a film, we plant ourselves in front of a horizontal screen. Our eyes see things horizontally as they are positioned that way on our faces. Shooting portrait style is a subjective choice; there is something we mainly want to capture rather than the whole picture. When we see movies, the director's intent is showing us what they want us to see in the foreground and background. Every time I see a vertical video I feel limited in what else I could be seeing going on. Video players online such as YouTube fit the vertical video into a 16:9 widescreen video player so it fits the height dimensions but not the width, leaving you with huge black bars on the sides of the video. Often a fix to this problem I see content creators do is that they take the video, zoom in on it and blur it as a layer behind the vertical video so the videos fit the 16:9 ratio. It's overall a nicer aesthetic fix compared to the huge black bars on the sides of the video.
Here's a fun little video that also shares the same points I'm trying to get across.
But wait...
There is only one way I see fit as acceptable to shoot videos vertically. You wouldn't be shooting with a cell phone typically for this, but with an actual camcorder or DSLR. If you are in need of doing VFX work (such as green screen compositing work) and need a full body shot of your subject and may or may not be lacking in shoot space, your best bet is to actually shoot your subject vertically. When you shoot a subject in front of a green screen horizontally, you may lose quality in your image when it comes time to enlarge them in post (if need be). When you shoot your subject vertically and encompassing them fully in your frame, you'll minimize blank space in your frame and will be utilizing more pixels or detail with your composition. Your subject is most likely standing vertically in front of a green screen, so why not shoot vertically if you are compositing your subject's image? The only downside to this is if you need your subject to move around within the frame, then this would not be the best option. If the subject is static in your frame like I described above, then you should retain more detail, therefore, shoot vertically.
What is your stance on vertical video? Do you agree or disagree with me? Voice your opinions down below!