Vertical Films – 5 Things You Should Know About Them

Hi. I find vertical films fascinating, and here are a few thoughts;

• I know you hate them, but they’re the future. I get that a lot of people prefer widescreen. I do/did too. It’s where we all “came from”, so I really get the apprehension. But, do you know a young person who doesn’t watch mobile content? Older people also watch mobile content vertically. Anyone with a mobile device is potentially your audience. That’s more people globally than will ever own a TV.

• “Turning the phone sideways” is a little disingenuous. While I’m sure there are some of you who have no problem doing this, my phone freaks out. Maybe it’s an Android thing, but if “auto flip” is on (for me), it’s always rotating the screen when it shouldn’t be– and forget navigating the web or apps while your phone is in landscape. Vertical content is significantly easier for people to “just watch” on mobile.

• The bad part about being tied to mobile, is that we’re probably stuck with the “click bait” style of film making, for better or worse. Longer form content will be produced, but the dopamine hits are too strong, and the short form wacky stuff is probably not going anywhere soon. It’s probably going to get more extreme, TBH.

• “I know you hate vertical” part II – I know, I know… widescreen more closely emulates the true human field of vision. It’s more natural. But as a fellow filmmaker… going vertical was actually VERY FUN. Like, it’s fun to get to frame things totally differently, and apply that to story telling. It’s kind of a trip, actually. Look at it as a creative challenge rather than dissing it.

• Finally… I know you really don’t want to hear this… but this format is perfect for incorporating AI into your workflow. Or even making the whole thing with AI (just being honest). Earlier, someone mentioned “stock footage” as being a thing that is used in verticals, like for establishing shots and what not. You know AI does that better, right? You can even get as specific and consistent as you want with AI, for those kinds of shots– instead of settling for stock footage that’s probably more expensive anyway. I know fast-paced production schedules and low budgets are also a thing with verticals, right? Yeah, AI solves those problems. Even just framing shots vertically means less “group shots” and more “single character portrait shots”… which is practically tailor made for AI. Do vertical films rely on hooky, over-the-top, dopamine-inducing, eye-candy type content? Even the biggest AI hater is going to agree that AI can do that. Whether YOU use AI or not… many other people producing vertical films will.