I Have Been Editing VERTICAL Videos WRONG In Final Cut Pro

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Update: The download link was broken for a while. I finally got a chance to fix it! Thanks everyone for your patience - bit.ly/16x9Overlay A question I am seeing a lot is if this fixes transitions with vertically shot video. Here's some info on that! 👇 If it's shot vertically, it will still have black bars you have to deal with unfortunately. A great method around this is to duplicate whatever shot you're working with, and scale it way up in the background. Then just blur it. While you won't see it for most of the time due to in being vertical, if you use a transition, it will at least fill in the gaps and make the weird vertical transitions less noticeable.

[@anthonythm]

still cant download it

[@PasifikaUprising]

This video just made our job exponentially less frustrating and we can't thank you enough! *Immediately follows*

[@gandharpatwardhan6055]

Hi Dylan, amazing tip, I have a similar but alternative way to do this. 1. Instead of using a custom overlay just add the title/generator onto the 16:9 timeline. 2. Make a compund clip of that title. 3. Copy that compound clip and just add it into your vertical project timeline. Benefit of this method is you can scale down or move your title around wherever you like without it getting cropped. Cheers.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes this is a great method! That's what my previous videos actually showed how to do. The one issue being if you are working with a LOT of titles, it can be quite a hassle to do that over and over again. But that was definitely my go to option until I discovered this method.

[@noisecrack]

i liked the elephant.

[@yemaneehaile]

Yea The Elephant was a great touch 🤣

[@AnAussieinAmerica]

As always, you strive to help us in the FCPx world. Cheers Mate, Happy Patreon here...

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Appreciate you!!

[@harshadasguitarworld2667]

Thanks a lot ! 😭😭 I was so worried about the issue that I was unable to find any video. your video helped me a lot. thanks a ton man ! ☺☺

[@iPhonedo]

Perfection! Thank you for this.

[@crommo]

Hey Dylan. Thanks for this video-I needed a bunch of help with my first vertical video. This video made a huge difference. And once I worked out transform keyframes for some artificial pans, I was set! Thanks again!

[@Richard_Broom_Photography]

This tutorial could not come at a better time for me. I've been struggling with a vertical project all day!!! You have saved my life (again!).

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Definitely working on that mind reading capability 😉 Glad it came at a good time!

[@GrayeWilliams]

Same, I’m editing my first vertical video down in Sayulita Mexico (because making things on vacation is fun!) and was using some other workarounds. This is going to make video #2 this afternoon so much easier!

[@Heart2HeartMusic]

Thanks for sharing this Dylan!!

[@kobyaw]

Valuable Tip, Love It Bro.

[@terrenceholden]

Tried to download your overlay but it's empty.

[@savethecreators]

Great stuff Dylan! You just efficient-ized (is that a word?) my post production workflow!

[@sneakingelephant]

Thank you so much. I’m making my first vertical clip and was so confused by certain of my transitions not working properly. You are a life saver

[@TheFinalCutBro]

You must've been the elephant in the room I was talking about!

[@KITTRacing]

Great video. Thank you.

[@johnnyzev]

Hey Dylan! I use the smart conform option when I use horizontal video into a vertical project. I guess i should try your way, it looks better.

[@CalbyNg]

This is awesome! Didn't know you could edit a vertical video this way

[@edwinntiranyibagira4458]

When I download the overlay it says it can't open because it's 0 zegabytes

[@MicroFourNerds]

This is great. I’ve been so annoyed that my transitions don’t work properly in vertical!

[@davetriesthis]

So awesome thanks. I'd been tweaking titles in motion. This is so much better.

[@focusonyofocus]

WOW, Thank you so much! This is a game changer!🎉

[@safetyhomeloans950]

So simple YET so Affective!!!! Kudos yet again, Dylan!!!!!!!

[@naivecoconut]

0:52 that edit is pretty dope

[@LunaE_Clips_]

you can also edit in vertical format and play with X & Y access in the control panel to get the handle on the screen

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Great tip! The hard part is finding a fix for transitions that break on 9x16 timelines.

[@safetyhomeloans950]

@@TheFinalCutBro I agree, not to mentioned it way to time consuming

[@Bernzini]

Dylan, you just saved my day! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

[@DanielCasasOfficial]

I really like what you did around 0:50 with the pop up thumbnails that track with the camera and fade out. Do you have a tutorial on that?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

I don't, but I should definitely make one! I used an adjustment layer to zoom in on the screen. I then added a handheld effect to the adjustment layer. But I also added the exact same handheld effect to the two images. This gives it that 3D parallax because they have double the amount of handheld motion (including the adjustment layer.) Then I just used a defocus blur on the images, and that's the final result!

[@matthewTobrien]

Great tip, Dylan! Which reminds me...need to get to making some Shorts. 🤣

[@TheFinalCutBro]

You always have the best shorts!

[@nivedithgajapathy]

The custom overlay download is empty

[@graymanorcreatives]

Hands down, awesome download! Thank you so much!

[@TreeHaven]

Great video thanks again Dylan!👊

[@Gadgetsu]

Wowww! Such an awesome and helpful tip! Thanks Dylan! 😁

[@ozedsal5581]

thnk you! this is my biggest problem is mking vertical video. sometimes i cannot use those titles/template because it's outside the vertical

[@EliseoWay]

What are those auto pan and zoom effects I see in your window? Can you share where to get those from?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

PremiumVFX's Dynamic Transitions! I have a video (with a discount code) right here! - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqevl2eYdrKkhaM

[@patrickcasparro1232]

Always helpful. Always concise and to the point. Liked and subscribed.

[@Techhackwork]

Useful, 👍🏻

[@yannickarmet425]

Like always, good content … but i try to download the overlay but it mention that the file isn't public … and big up to you Dylan … french west indies rock with you

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Thanks for letting me know! I just re-uploaded it and made sure it's set to public. Can you let me know if it works for you now?

[@yannickarmet425]

@@TheFinalCutBro Thks Dylan it works … big up to you again my man …

[@ArwinHouse]

Excellent tutorial dude 🤙🏻

[@AlexMuravskyi]

why does the final cut not correctng stabilize the video shot vertically ???

[@TheFinalCutBro]

I honestly don't know! That's a really great question. I don't shoot enough vertical content to have really faced that issue. Wish I had more info for you 😭

[@AlexMuravskyi]

@@TheFinalCutBro Thanks Man, if you know something I hope you share it ✌️

[@jakesutton4603]

So my FCXP doesn't even give me the option to convert my video to a vertical format Am I missing something here?

[@PoznicTraining]

This is genius! So simple and clear. thanks!!!

[@sehlerupdegraff2039]

The elephant 😂 Could you share how you added it to the background? I’m guessing it’s with Keyper, but I saw that it was behind the microphone and keyboard/bench too. Thank you!! Your videos have changed my career big time.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes! I used Keyper, then I also added another duplicate video over the top with some manual draw masks. Appreciate you watching!

[@sehlerupdegraff2039]

@@TheFinalCutBro Thanks so much!

[@skymakai]

I LOVE it when tutors say they were wrong and make update videos!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

So does the algorithm apparently! 😂 Appreciate you as always Sky!

[@barberbeans]

Hi, thanks for the great tips. Really quick are you shooting horizontally or vertical?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

I shoot horizontally and a little bit wider so I can use it for both vertical and horizontal formats! But this works great even when filming vertically!

[@barberbeans]

@@TheFinalCutBro thanks for the reply.

[@JamesWongLife3]

would suggest in film in 4k horizontal so that when you crop to vertical, you can still have 1080

[@AnimalAffectionNation]

hello sir how to create Paper Roll in Apple Motion plz siir

[@IndiaDelgado]

Hey Dylan! This is super smart to do! Are you still using this method for vertical videos?

[@arshmaheshwari1380]

You are doing such a great job ❤️

[@ganglaishare]

nice work!!! but the links cant download!!!can u fix it?appreciate

[@neobluepill6051]

You saved my life, thank you so much !

[@ekphotography]

This was Golden, Thanks!! I wish you could do a Myth Busters on whether to upload VERTICAL REELS IN 4K OR FULL HD. So many different opinions out there. I have tried both and for some reason my 4K videos do not look as good as they should. I tried the trick of letting the video play all the way through before pressing share. I am shooting Sony 4K videos and using the best equipment and editing yet some iPhone videos on Reels look sharper and better for some odd reason... Drives me crazy. Thanks! The only thing I have not tried is lowering the megabytes per second, but unfortunately FCPX does not allow that like Premiere and Davinci does.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

For instagram, I have heard they only allow 1080p. For KZbin I believe it allows 4k, but in all honesty, 4k is pretty pointless in a vertical format video. Most phone screens don't display at 4k, and if they do, it's a pretty negligible difference in quality. I would save the disk space and just go for 1080p for vertical videos.

[@IMlab]

Hey Dylan. Awesome workaround. What if you want to keep the horizontal version like it is and only adjust the vertical one? Would you create a second project and copy over the timeline from the horizontal one and go on with your tutorial from there? Thanks a lot for your helpful videos. Much appreciated!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes pretty much! Honestly, the entire workflow is terrible and there is no easy way to do any of it. But following the workflow I showed in this video, everything will still be on a horizontal timeline, so it will be considerably easier to port to a 16x9 timeline as well. Final Cut Pro does have a feature where it "Smart Conforms" horizontal projects to vertical if you duplicate a project and set it to vertical. It's pretty hit or miss, but can be helpful! However, that method doesn't really follow the workflow shown in this tutorial.

[@IMlab]

@@TheFinalCutBro Okay, so copying the timeline to another horizontal project seems the way to go then. This will keep the original project not affected by the vertical alignment changes 🙂 Thanks so much for the videos you do 👍

[@The_Reductionist]

Thank you. Beautiful and very well produced videos.

[@waldooliver7893]

Hi Dylan... love your videos. I tried downloading the Overlay, but got a message that the webpage can't be found.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Finally got it fixed! Thanks for your patience - bit.ly/16x9Overlay

[@velasquezfamiliashorts]

The overlay link is not working...

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Fixed it! - bit.ly/16x9Overlay

[@motionrushes]

Really helpful. Thanks Dylan!

[@bardotown]

Thank You Final Cut Bro !!

[@lbrtvlldr]

Hey! Is this still the way to do it in 2024 on FCP 10.7?

[@RASTAMAN17894]

Hi. Does creating the whole thing in horizontal then using "Duplicated project as..." work?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

As long as you throw all the clips into a compound clip first. The compound clip maintains the 16x9 aspect ratio, which is why all your templates and transitions will work!

[@MellowGoldFilms]

Great video tutorial! Btw, Do the transitions/ titles not work when you create a "duplicate project as + video vertical + smart conform"?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yup! It's unfortunate, but FCP isn't intelligent enough to adjust those titles/transitions on its own. Otherwise that would be a game changer!

[@kulikovtravel]

Hi! Link doesn't work (

[@Tigers.i]

I scale the clip up and then save the inspector settings to the effects tab so it’s a one click solution for any video.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes this is a great method! The problem comes down to transitions and templates more than the scaling of projects. The scaling is the easiest part of creating a vertical video, but when you go to add in a template of some sort, there's a very high likely-hood the template will be broken unless whoever developed the template, also set it up for vertical use. But if it's just simple scaling, I always use the spatial conform option, or save a scaled preset in my effects preset. The benefit of spatial conform is that if the video file happens to be a slightly different aspect ratio than your other videos, then you won't need to make any adjustments to make the scaling correct. Also, you will be working with easier to read numbers of 100% instead of crazy numbers like 328%.

[@chrisbrockhurst]

Oh this is interesting!!

[@Bendero]

when u try to download vertical overlay u got message - "File is not public" (((((((( please fix it!!!!!!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Hmm I’ll see if I can get that fixed! Thanks for letting me know! It says it’s public on my end so I’m not sure what’s going on.. hang tight!

[@ballyakbar9298]

@@TheFinalCutBro yes same here

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Hey Bally, I just updated the link! Let me know if it works for you now!

[@One2ManyHobbies]

@@TheFinalCutBro It's saying Unconfirmed crdownload.

[@ballyakbar9298]

@@TheFinalCutBro it's all good now thank mate

[@ATaylor233]

What are those auto zoom/auto pan plug-ins you have there? What website offers those plugins?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

I use both MarkUp from FxFactory, and Ripple Training's Punch-ins. That said, on Friday I am planning on releasing a really exciting plugin that should hopefully be even better!

[@JasonFoxLCB]

Outstanding tip. And elephant. Thanks for this.

[@dylanfgarrison]

But what if you shot the footage vertically??? Will transitions still work?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

If it's shot vertically, it will still have black bars you have to deal with unfortunately. A great method around this is to duplicate whatever shot you're working with, and scale it way up in the background. Then just blur it. While you won't see it for most of the time due to in being vertical, if you use a transition, it will at least fill in the gaps and make the weird vertical transitions less noticeable. Hope that helps!

[@MegaDavids007]

Awesome bro you nailed it!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

🔨

[@jedlimvisuals]

I don't think this works for transitions though. Tried this with a side swipe transition and I still get the black space showing up as the transition happens.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Hmm that's interesting. And it was Inside of the compound clip? I couldn't get the black space to show up on any of my usually problematic transitions once they were in the compound clip. But maybe there are still some that make it through! Actually while writing this, something just occurred to me. Are you using vertical videos with the transitions? That's likely the problem. This works best with horizontal content. A potential fix is duplicating vertical content on each side before placing them into the compound clip.

[@jedlimvisuals]

@@TheFinalCutBro Thanks for the quick reply! Yes, the videos were shot vertically so in the compound clip, there is black space on the sides. So that makes sense why they're showing up. I never thought of duplicating the vertical clip on each side though. Just tried it and I have to duplicate each clip 4 times to fill up the black space, then group those into compound clips, but when doing that, the compound clips are too short to create the transition. So I have to manually extend each clip before grouping them into a compound clip and applying the transition. Seems like a lot of effort just to make one transition work properly lol. I feel like there has to be a better way other than transition packs that are specifically made for vertical format videos. Hmmm...

[@GoldenK9Campers]

Really awesome...Thanks bro..

[@AtulPal]

Thanks for sharing it.

[@catalystrva]

Have you found a good way to add auto generated captions in FCP yet? I have switched over to another editor for social media stuff specifically because of the captions

[@TheFinalCutBro]

This is the best option I have found yet for FCP. But it's not perfect. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWTahpSOl5h3orM If you are working on any long-form projects, and captions are a necessity. I would continue to edit with other editors. But for social media, this app is perfect! I use it every time I make a short.

[@feelfreemedia2616]

I have a bummer and wondering what all of you guys are doing. Here's the catch. We film/upload reels in IG with 1080 x 1920. That said when displayed on iPhone ex.: iPhone 12. resolution of 2340 by 1080. The original video 9:16 is now zoomed in to fill the gap notch etc. So now all the text or footage that is on quite the edge (left and right) of the frame of 1080 x1920 is now cropped. What is your take on this? Do you plan your shot to be cropped (zoomed in)? Here's a link with files as an example: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TsoV4aoG_6prCMEnrvL3CCggfqOhMc3w?usp=share_link

[@TheFinalCutBro]

So I usually make my graphics a bit smaller (around 5% on the screen for that exact reason. I should probably figure out those exact dimensions, and add that to the overlay as a secondary line. That way you know for sure if your graphics will be on screen.

[@feelfreemedia2616]

@@TheFinalCutBro Yes totally. I have made myself some guidelines overlay. That said realized that I was only paying attention to my phone resolution but with some "pro max" or other phone = many different ration = different cropping. But still help to great a guide. Thanks Dylan !

[@Film_Fun_Time]

Really helpful!💪🏻

[@neujus]

Thanks a lot.. great tutorial

[@expertNord]

Hi, love your Videos! We produce our vertical Videos with another very simple and i think better way. We just select the clip and under transform, we scale it to 320% (if the Clip is 4k). This is a two step method that works very well for us. :)

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes this is a great method! The problem comes down to transitions and templates more than the scaling of projects. The scaling is the easiest part of creating a vertical video, but when you go to add in a template of some sort, there's a very high likely-hood the template will be broken unless whoever developed the template, also set it up for vertical use. But if it's just simple scaling, I always use the spatial conform option, or save a scaled preset in my effects preset.

[@expertNord]

@@TheFinalCutBro Oh ok, i never got a problem with transitions or templates. Thank you for the answer! Keep up your good work!

[@LuisMarquez80]

Good too BUT I disagree this being a better way. It’s extremely easy to move titles over if they are slightly off screen.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Titles can be easy! The difficult part is graphics in general, and transitions. A lot of transitions break on a 9x16 format. So that’s why this is a better format. But in the end, the best format is whatever’s easiest for you!

[@mdshishirsarfaraz]

Dylan, great great great 👍 👍👍

[@JorgeFerragutJr]

I keep downloading the overlay and it says it's an 'empty file'. If I open it, there is blank png. Is something wrong with the file? Also, your videos are wonderful!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Hey Jorge! Thanks for letting me know, I just looked into it. It’s cause I stopped paying for the file service I was using to host it. I’ll have to see if I can figure out another option! It’s just a 16x9 image with black on Both sides with a 9x16 cutout in the middle. Then exported as a png to keep the alpha channel

[@samcleve01]

@@TheFinalCutBro Thanks for this explanation and description. This PNG will be easy to create in Affinity Designer. By the way, your tutorials are great and so are your plugins.

[@JCKDTV]

Just get motion VFXM shorts and problem fixed

[@TheFinalCutBro]

They do make an amazing plugin! But what if your branding relies on other templates and plugins you have purchased? This makes it so ALL your plugins work, not just the ones specifically designed for vertical.

[@Soul_Visuals_Photography]

Does this work if you shoot the video vertically?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes it does!

[@lavinchi6709]

Thank you ^Dylan!!!

[@sovthdesign]

The overlay is unavailable because it is empty. Bummer! Great video though, thank you.

[@truongnguyen7552]

Dude please fix the file hosting, the link is broken. ...

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Fixed! - bit.ly/16x9Overlay

[@SamuelRush]

Good idea

[@NKRclassic]

Я и не знал, что у Вернама на счету столько легендарных работ

[@StupidRaisins]

That twitter handle template is missing a vertical video snapshot. If it had one then you wouldn’t need this workaround. If you’d like I can fix it for you.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yes indeed it is! Actually it’s a template I created a couple years back, and I pulled the 9x16 snapshot from it for demonstration on this video. My most recent video on the topic shows how to add just that in Motion. But I’ve run into the issue so many times on other templates, and many don’t want to take the time to open up Motion (or just don’t own it.) that I found this to be a better workaround. Appreciate you offering to do so!! You guys make some incredible plugins (and it’s nice to know you probably add the 9x16 format to them as well 😉)

[@StupidRaisins]

@@TheFinalCutBro You're right about people too intimidated to go into Motion. They open it and they're eyes get real big and then the close it. haha! Yeah, we include the vertical vid snappie in all our plugins. BTW, my name's Dylan too!

[@samcleve01]

@@StupidRaisins It me. I’m the one who opens Motion and then immediately closes it. 😅

[@StupidRaisins]

@@samcleve01 Haha! Next time, keep it open for 5 minutes. Don't do anything but let it sit there and you can get used to it. ;)

[@luissm8737]

It says empty file... :(

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Finally got it fixed! Thanks for your patience! - bit.ly/16x9Overlay

[@SethPlays1]

Link is broken!

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Finally got to fixing it! - bit.ly/16x9Overlay

[@I_like_science]

Why not just use smart conform?

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Smart conform only works for some aspects. It does a good job of conforming videos to 9x16 formats, but it doesn't intelligently know what to do with templates that aren't designed for a 9x16 format. So a lot of the time your graphics will be completely off the screen. Not to mention a lot of transitions break in a 9x16 format, so this fixes that as well. I would 100% prefer the smart conform tool, but it just breaks too many things for me to use reliably.

[@I_like_science]

@@TheFinalCutBro I see. I rarely ever have to do this. My knowledge is somewhat limited. Thank you for pointing out all these short comings.

[@1OSMVision]

Final cut Bro 👊🏼

[@TheAlienDRINK]

The easy fix, would making your templates also in vertical snapshot.

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Yeah that’s the best and most permanent method! Which is what my two other videos on this same topic show. The issue is when you either don’t own Apple Motion, or there’s a plugin developer who doesn’t make a vertical snapshot, and they’ve locked the project files.

[@turbostunt321]

Nice cheers bro!

[@iambot5435]

good video, but basically you are showing that there is a bug in vertical editing that needs to be fixed.

[@producerhat]

too crucial

[@SamuelIrias]

But transitions are 💩 in vertical video. Gonna use this method for some clips

[@JaroslavBengl]

This is really very handy approach, Dylan. Thanks a lot for sharing (and very handy template). Just created a first short using your template :)) kzbin.infoOL2XyqCMEF4 Unfortunately, my 'Add custom overlay' is not working with any image, even after I hard-reseted the FCP preferences. Have you ever heard about such issue? I can't add any image... Tried many different PNG files, no success so far. It was working in the past...

[@TheFinalCutBro]

Hmm that's a strange issue! What version of FCP are you on?

[@JaroslavBengl]

@@TheFinalCutBro 10.6.5 - the latest one... Reseting preferences didn't helped, so I'm using your template as a layer above and it works good as well - but not so convenient. Something is wrong with the preferences - e.g. I can change that default should be Color Wheels and it's still adds Color Board. Likely needed to completely remove Final Cut, clear everything and reinstall.

[@KensleyInnocent]

This is already too much much work🤦

[@stephanes.]

You've waisted 0 second of my time