Glossary
Vertical video
Video taller than it is wide, in 9:16 (1080 × 1920 pixels), made to fill the screen of a phone held upright.
Vertical is the format of Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and stories. It takes up the whole screen without anyone having to turn their phone.
It changes how you film and frame: the subject in the centre, text away from the edges (the apps’ buttons cover the bottom and the right-hand side), few elements at a time.
A video shot horizontally can be cropped to vertical, but you lose the sides. If you know the video will end up on social media, shoot it vertical from the start.
A bakery films its morning display with the phone upright: the bread fills the screen and the title sits in the top third.