NEVER SHOOT VERTICAL VIDEO - Here's Why

Why I never shoot vertical video even for short form content & why you might never film vertical again.
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[@JaroAtry]

Your insights can be useful. But to be honest I hate this type of advice “never do this, never shoot that” If you don’t know the creative intent of the creator, it doesn’t make sense to give such advice. There is plenty of situations where shooting vertically works just better.

[@ocwayvz3269]

Best comment here 🤝🏼

[@joeldiaz141]

It's not authoritarian. It's simple advice with good explanations as to why shooting horizontal is a better way. Except of course if you're not able to shoot in 4k. Shooting horizontal just gives you more flexibility, less restrictions. That's all. Respectfully.

[@peterwilson9699]

Never shoot vertical 😂😂😂

[@dentaltv]

I just love the easy workflow shooting vertical for my Social media also because of the different angle of view

[@r.Koozie]

It depends on what you’re shooting for. If you are shooting something exclusively for vertical format social media, then you will have a wider FOV shooting vertical then you will if you shoot horizontal and then crop in to vertical. If you are shooting something that will be used in multiple formats, then yes, shoot horizontal and crop in. Real estate is a good example of this, if you are shooting exclusively for IG or TikTok reels and you want to make the space feel as big as possible, shoot vertical.

[@Mangolite]

Horizontal mode is preferable at higher resolutions since you can easily crop vertically if needed. Starting with vertical orientation, however, means losing potential horizontal details, as anything happening outside the vertical frame is missed. Additionally, our eyes are naturally suited to a horizontal view, and the vertical orientation on smartphones has become common out of convenience to avoid turning the device.

[@Mr_Kenneth]

Utter nonsense

[@russellwright9961]

@@Mr_KennethRight😂😂

[@melaniegriesemer]

Yes I shoot real estate and it makes a huge difference shooting in vertical for reels! For those compositions to show off rooms, cropping in from a horizontal video just doesn’t work as well

[@castielvargastv7931]

I have not such a problem , i shoot open gate. People should stop buying sonys and other brands that do not have that. The right tool for the job is important and opn gate is needed to be flexible these days. I use my stuf for social media and normal uses. If you shoot vertical your footage is worthless for everything else.

[@Chinmay_das]

0:22 no video is present there total blank out😂😂

[@TaoCovillault]

your generation doesn’t understand art ! It’s a monochrome 😝

[@Chinmay_das]

@@TaoCovillault 😆o sorry my bad

[@seankitching]

I find with videos like this people often get really annoyed if they disagree for some reason. If you have some other reasoning then cool you do you. I am just expressing what I think makes the most sense.

[@WhizPill]

depends, saw a tiktok tutorial showing how to use the rule of thirds to shoot landscape and still have enough to crop in 9:16 aspect ratio later, very handy

[@WJHS-Studios]

by telling/sharing better ways to do things, it means I'm not as good as I thought.

[@MagicianDerrickRose]

I agree with shooting vertical 99% of the time, but going back for your TicToc vids in a few years is not much of a risk.

[@pingbookent]

"I am just expressing what I think makes the most sense" so that's mean people take vertical video is make no sense ?

[@bobcoco6047]

@@pingbookent Damn, posting a rhetorical question that finds its answer in the content it's supposed to criticize, literally, that's next level. This while seeding a casual fallacy (straw man argument here), pretending that the opposite of "what I think makes the most sense" would be "[other] make no sense", as if that's he meant when it's obvious it's not (just in case : opposite of "the most" is "not the most" , not "not at all", so it can be anything that still makes sense but just isn't optimal). All that albeit the omission of the terrible english, that's a great synthesis of what's wrong & unsolvable with a % of ppl on internet.

[@AllThingsFilm1]

I've followed this approach for as long as I've been filming for KZbin or any online content. One thing you risk when shooting video, is if your subject is moving around quickly you're more likely going to lose track of it shooting in vertical mode. In horizontal mode, you can salvage those crazy moments when you can't control where your subject moves in front of you. Plus, most people watch social media on their smartphones. And 4K video, even in vertical mode, is virtually overkill when it comes to resolution. Remember, 4K video can be projected on a theater screen with no loss in quality. So, cropping to the center third of your horizontal video will not lose any noticeable quality when viewed on your phone,

[@seankitching]

Yeah really good point as well! i love reframing the footage as well.

[@Wildridefilms]

5.8k 4:3 open gate on the GH6 and G9II means you can get over 4k vertical image and also get a much wider FOV than cropping into 16:9.

[@edvelfilms]

There's also 6K 3:2 10 Bit open gate in the S5 (420) and the S5II (422). Massive advantage from other manufacturers.

[@danimac2028]

Great tips Sean!!! Thanks for the video course as well!! You are the best!! 🔝 🔥

[@seankitching]

My pleasure!! Glad to hear you enjoying it!

[@samuelwainaina5597]

Super Helpful sean! Thank you.

[@edvelfilms]

Another reason to shoot in horizontal, is to use footage of your "social media" content, into your filmmaker showreel, which, I've never seen being done in vertical. Normally a serious client, will watch it in a big screen, to see the quality you can deliver. Horizontal, or preferably "open gate" footage is better for the long run, if you're serious in filmmaking, as horizontal content will never die. TVs, monitors, laptops, cinemas, and our eyes are designed for horizontal field of view. We ourselves experience life in horizontal, keep that in mind! Cheers!

[@peacefulbeans]

Thanks for that rule of thirds framing tip, really handy, no more guessing where to frame so I'd have enough room 🙏 Your video super informative and dope as always, keep creating gold 👊

[@MattCarves]

Thank you for the videos. Have learnt a lot from them.👍

[@reynoldlambert]

great advice, thank you brother!

[@bodnarbulcsu]

This was some golden information. I have been struggling with vertical videos, so thank you!

[@Christlivingwater]

Yo, bro, you a good man, always helping people out with your knowledge, God bless you and your work!

[@seankitching]

Thank you! Such a pleasure :)

[@DesMcCaffrey]

Thank you, thank you Sean for making this video! This vertical question has been plaguing me for so long! Especially the arithmetic part of it. lol. Just simplified my life! Looking forward to your training!

[@seankitching]

Glad it was helpful! Hope you enjoyed the training!

[@dakar86]

Just confirmed my point 👍🏼 thank you, as I was doubting a bit shooting horizontal

[@DeonMitton]

Amen - to all your points.

[@NAQIEDITS-mb3zi]

thank you sean!

[@durik.official]

Bro, awesome advice. All about the best quality.

[@WayneMorrison1069]

Thank you Sean, for taking the time to video, edit, and explain your view on shooting for vertical video. People will have opinions regardless. Because of Social media, I guess people have been engrained with; "This is how my phone works, so should my camera", but I agree with your perspective. Plus you got me with using Filmora! I've been using them for quite a while now, and I love the editing software. Thanks again.

[@seankitching]

Ah thank you so much I am glad to hear it helps! Nice that you are on filmora with the editing as well!

[@kiliansalomon507]

I think the best is to just shoot the way you are going to deliver the final video too. I’ll always prefer horizontal videos even as reels but vertical is just necessary nowadays. and cropping a beautifully framed horizontal shot for vertical just hurts to see and i can tell when there is just something missing about it. so it’s better to frame it nicely in vertical if thats the way it’s needed.

[@adeljemssi5813]

I learned about the distortion difference because of your video. thanks man

[@hyoh-wu]

This is good intel!

[@TheIntuitiveBodyFoodieNetwork]

Sean, I already use Filmora but am looking to buy a newer and faster computer for the editing software. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[@seankitching]

Ah nice, I personally use a mac book pro with the m2 chip and works great for me :)

[@otter-pro]

Yup, I agree for video, I always use horizontal and crop if needed. I only shoot vertical if shooting portrait photo.

[@book.richhitz]

This is GOLD! I’ve been preaching this for a while 🙏🏽

[@speakerscoach]

agree totally. I just shot a heap of film vertically because we were building the INSTA brand and regret it wasn't first done first in HORIZONTAL

[@seankitching]

Yeah kinda same thing happened to me.

[@Thesoberdad]

This gave me a lot of confidence in shooting horizontal makes total sense . I have been shooting vertical with my fx30 and the Sony 11mm 1.8. Thanks for this

[@seankitching]

Perfect setup I shoot the same combo actually as my bts camera :)

[@aerialiskites]

Never shoot in vertical.... AMEN to that!

[@theshaunparris]

Totally agree for most things. I shoot CrossFit - athletes can be 20ft away and 200ft away, so will use my 70-180. I shoot horizontal and vertical. With the vertical, I'm shooting for Instagram highlights. I keep subject centered as much as possible, so I can still crop in and get a tighter shot when the subject/athlete is at a distance.

[@shanepaulneil]

Most folks who shoot vertical do so as a matter of composition not resolution. As you pointed out vertical composition likes things weighted in the center. Horizontal likes more versatile framing (thirds,ratio, etc). There are challenges and things to consider when shooting vertical butI it's not nearly as clean cut as you make it.

[@record216cleveland]

Do these same rules apply with Iphone? Iphone 15 to be specific?

[@XaneVidz]

Based off the camera being more clean in the center than edges makes sense.

[@VR_Wizard]

2 Dissadventages you did not mention which are big for me. 1. If I am further away the bokkeh effect gets less pronaunced because if i focus to something closer the effect is bigger. I always try to get as close as possible. 2. Extra time needed in post for adding key frames is more work and I might film fifferently when I think to myself that all processing will be in post, only relevant when I shoot moving around which I do mostly.

[@fly-pedro]

totally agree

[@marklitvin9291]

You have convinced me brother :D

[@GlowBright333]

So true, shot my recent vid vertical on a tripod, looked like it might be a good time saver. I am struggling. Lost the real estate to track horizontal when needed, so I am zooming in more post production than I want to.

[@speed_and_motion]

I use my DJI Action 4 in 2k and shoot in horizontal. I then crop 3.4 for Instagram and KZbin shorts.

[@ImRobPi]

I made the mistake of shooting horizontal b-roll for my friends car in 1080p and couldn't even use it for reels/tiktok for him. I wish this was out a week ago 😭

[@HenryOtero]

You can still use it, rotare the video to portrait and put a rotare sign so the audience know they have to rotate their phone. It is done a lot in Instagram and TikTok, specially with HDR 60p anime edits they want to show. And some drone shots that I saw.

[@ProfKlaus]

Great video! At 0:22 I think you had your video layer turned off.

[@WorkForAvocados]

I started shooting gopro pov shots vertically with a bite mount and it looks so much better than horizontal. It focuses so much more on the wave instead of trying to get a bit of everything. Definitely a niche use though

[@seankitching]

Yeah I can see how that makes sense too. Shooting 4;3 aspect ratio on gopro is also kinda a nice way of doing it because you can still get horizontal footage out of it if you need and the vertical is almost as wide.

[@camposvazquez]

Thank...I am on a new to me GoPro Hero 4 black...

[@Sustainavore]

If I don't have 6k open gate, then i only do this as a last resort. I would prefer to shoot with two cameras and have one be vertical if it's 4k or less. 6k Open gate is an absolute game changer. I'd also recommend DaVinci Resolve over fillmora, personally.

[@gerki_fpv]

Amen!

[@PhilipCervantes-bm9pw]

Shoot 4k on Vertical and render it in 2k resolution for Social media posts

[@nelsonhayes4]

I agree, but I admit I do this sometimes to record myself against a greenscreen with my C70 in my small office when I want to get as close to full length as possible. It’s tight even with the RF 15-35.

[@kreppetboys1998]

Terbaik🙏😇

[@DrunkPhotography]

I agree. I put my DJI Osmo Pocket 3 in the hotshoe and record 3k there.

[@chicagotevin]

Can you give us a video or short for exporting settings for 4k videos for Instagram? Been needingggg that!

[@seankitching]

Yeah pretty good idea actually!

[@adrianfelipeeguiartevelazq7881]

Are you taking the difference in focal distance if you shoot 24mm full frame vertical it will remain the same but if u crop In post that becomes more than 50mm

[@markthecre8tor]

Thanks for sharing Sean, I agree but I personally just don't care for vertical video at all it just looks un-natural to me. Whats odd is some TV shows now take footage shot horizontal and blur out the sides to make it look like vertical footage, even of the subject moves in and out of the blurred area. I guess you can do this with horizontal footage, but if you shoot vertical that area of the frame is gone. great work

[@seankitching]

Ahh yeah i hate that blurred side look right haha

[@destinationwaleswithskylar9575]

I do that I zoom my horizontal videos in inshot and frame it to vertical to use for my reels.

[@book.richhitz]

0:25 sec in is the screen supposed to be blank??? Or is that just my wifi lagging ( serious question)

[@SuperSinamatic]

Only reason why I did a shoot vertically one time was to shoot for green screen full body shot! But other than than its 100% horizontal

[@regainedregimen4547]

Hey! Same rule for 4k phones?

[@VAN_production.mp4]

Been shooting vertizal and doing as you did, but the quality is way (and I mean realllllyy wayyy) better when shotting vertical 4K and downscaling it. Test it by your self on a moving objects and you will see 😁 So I rather shot vertical 4K and export in 1080p if customer wants to post it only on instagram.

[@sunyclubband4203]

also you can use B roll shoot from horizontal in vertical

[@zmo190]

Im filming vertical only if I need some details where I don’t want do cut out anything

[@bentboi6969]

I hate the vertical format so much but have adapted to it because that’s all clients ask for in recent years. I have tried the crop method in landscape and it just doesn’t work very well for me. Now I always figure out where the footage will live before I shoot. Sure I won’t be able to repurpose vertical footage in the future if it dies but it looks much better when being viewed in the vertical oriented applications. I digress, truly wish the vertical format would die out already so everyone can go back to a normal orientation of filming and viewing 😂

[@seahawker791]

100% agree. Shooting horizontal with vertical in mind never looks as good as just shooting vertical for vertical. I always ask my client what are your purposes for this video.

[@bentboi6969]

@@seahawker791 Exactly! It just feels off composing the horizontal shots for vertical applications. You not only have to shoot a lot wider and further back to get the shots to look right but then you don’t have the proper composition in your horizontal footage if you went to use it later on.

[@Vladshirokov]

А что это за камера ?

[@toddlaitar]

I hear ya bud! Drives me NUTS!

[@MightyMigi]

Brother Up your audio I have to Max out my system to hear you at a normal Volume

[@OnYourDemand]

I kind of hurt my ego when I have to shoot vertical. Because I prefer horizontal always...

[@seankitching]

Yeah its a silly trend lol

[@bsbedford]

I thought there was a setting to make white bars for vertical content when shooting horizontally

[@seankitching]

Hmm not that I know of but could be wrong. I would want to eliminate that part of the frame though I still want to see it so when I frame I can still see what the horizontal frame will look like.

[@CAMAS_7]

I hate having to film something horizontal, then going oh yeah maybe I need to film some vertical too. I don’t know. It’s annoying because I’m only filming that way because of reels

[@davesnapsyou]

What if I can only shoot in 1080p at maximum?

[@climbingsnowboarder]

I agree with this if you are repurposing KZbin content into vertical.. I disagree if you are strictly shooting vertical content.. You can do so much with full 4k shot vertically. You can shoot the scene bigger and still punch in to 1080.. learning to use the camera correctly when filming vertical is such an advantage. and for editing as well. the amount of information you have in the picture is very important and you lose that when you have to crop to 1080 no matter what.

[@philiploizides]

👍🏼👍🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@neulandlotse]

With open gate vertical it is no longer neccesary to shoot vertical. Btw. Vertical video on social media reduces everything to the ego of persons. Any other nice things in this world have much more to show in 16:9! Like your road in the beginning. And human being have a wide horizontal view of field for good reasons.

[@luc-richardphotography9533]

I shot some of my best stuff vertically. Then when I tried to put together a Directors/DP Reel I didn't have enough footage shoot Horizantally to fill out my reeel.

[@seankitching]

I feel like this happens to a lot of people. People forget video isn’t only for instagram if you want to progress with it

[@MichaelDaviesMusic]

I gave you my first name and email for the free training video but all I get is a spinning wheel on the video?

[@WhizPill]

depends, I saw a tiktok tutorial showing how to use the rule of thirds to shoot landscape and still have enough to crop in 9:16 aspect ratio later, very handy i like this approach better because you can repurpose every footage you have but also i shoot portraits and there's value in that for close up with subjects in the fashion/UGC niche

[@jeromesandiego6594]

In photography is it okay when shoot in vertical?

[@seankitching]

Yeah photo is totally different and I shoot vertical a lot of the time. Vertical video is a trend unlike photography where people have been shooting vertical forever and it has a place for sure :)

[@andreaskurn]

Never shoot vertical video.. only if your camera support 6.2K Opengate. 4k horizontal sucks, just do vertical video instead.

[@diesolit]

Shot vertical whenever you need to. It’s way easier to keep your subject in frame.

[@Aaron.Robertson]

“Never” - if you shoot vertical in 4K you have twice the reach in 1080 x 1920 therefore keep ALL the quality with the zoom and immediately have a wider and tighter shot at the same quality with one camera and one lens.

[@be.h0lder]

Disagree. You can have a hybrid workflow for delivery in both formats. It's certainly useful to shoot vertically sometimes! For example, you can catch a tall building or doorframe in a shot when you might be too close to shoot horizontally. Sometimes I forget this, and then I turn my camera, and my shot is suddenly stunning. The shots I take vertically frequently outshine the ones I capture in landscape. I film interviews in portrait mode if they are destined only for social, because cropping tends to look lacklustre in comparison - you just have to have the right focal length to prevent the warping you talked about. Cameras are designed to be held in portrait mode - you see photographers do this all the time. I appreciate you are taking a hard stance to be bold, but you are dissuading folks from embracing the creativity that filming vertical video can unlock.

[@Katharina552]

Haha love that even you make little mistakes ;)

[@pedro_sedso]

I didn’t watch it whole but you saying that you’re not losing quality says a lot. You do have to crop in so your image will look different, framing with guidelines isn’t the best form of working on composition…last one will be why would I choose that whole workflow instead of shooting in vertical. Makes no sense but congrats you got 30k views 👏🏼👏🏼

[@seankitching]

If you post in full quality on instagram, instagram compresses your video so it ends up looking worse because their compression is bad compared to doing it yourself so that’s actually completely incorrect

[@andrejunior3737]

I’m a vertical hater…however if I know a client is going to need it…I bow down and thank the Lumix gods for giving me 6K open gate.

[@ValorMediaTN]

For real estate , footage that’s cropped looks lazy and you can tell a huge difference . Yes I agree it is a huge pain to shoot everything twice , but I’m getting a lot of new clients because realtors are starting to notice the difference and all they want is vertical

[@JeffBourke]

BUT you definitely need that 3840 vertical resolution for maximum quality…..

[@DoktorPlay]

IBIS also doesn't work properly. Vertical filming always produces a worse picture

[@seankitching]

yeah another good reason!

[@9adriano21]

Yes, LUMIX with 6k Opengate and in camera Frame Markers for the win That said, yes the main reason to avoid Vertical shooting is the lens distortion

[@seankitching]

Yes yes haha definitely the best solution but I am a Sony fan boy what can I say...

[@maikneekamp3422]

0:21 All black LUT? 😂

[@quinlanpayne3445]

Get a lumix s5ii with open gate problem solved 🤓

[@bobcoco6047]

The only issue with open gate is you can't have higher framerates than 30, & you loose a few features, I don't remember exactly : PDAF, some Stab... Unless some (the 2.0?) firmw update solved it? So great indeed, but not free

[@MommasBoyCooking]

Thanks for the tips 🫡

[@billmakesmovies]

In a few years all of the people that got on the vertical train and turned their cameras sideways are going to regret it so hard.

[@billmakesmovies]

At this point I intentionally make any vertical videos I have to make look stupid, like they were made by someone on CapCut with no experience making video whatsoever, because that’s what “the people want”. They don’t want nice creamy footage. They want dumb looking, short content that they can get as fast as possible and then forget about instantly. Putting effort into it is just a waste of time.

[@mrpakuntay]

i never shoot too.

[@TroySwezey]

I cannot stand (most) things shot in vertical. Our eyes are horizontal/landscape. Most of the stuff on the top or bottom of a shot is not that interesting, usually.

[@BrionneOlsen]

Every time a vertical video is shot and uploaded, a puppy dies 😢.

[@seankitching]

Noooo hahaha not us though ;)

[@_STNML]

I can’t believe people are still talking about this in 2024

[@donw3769]

I love your videos but couldn’t disagree more on this one. You’ve completely overlooked the fact that shooting vertical with longer lenses give you more compression when framed the same. This is why when I know the client only wanted 9x16 I only shoot vertical. That shot with the trees shot on a 70-200 in vertical will look way more professional.

[@ridiculosvisuals9921]

It’s actually worse on a phone

[@AfoteyAnnum]

I soooooo cannot wait for this trend to die. I HATE vertical. I literally only shoot for it when a client asks for it, and I use open gate cameras, so no need to turn it sideways. I just crop in post. DOWN WITH VERTICAL! #TeamHorizontal #TeamOpenGate

[@seankitching]

Hahaha love it! Yeah open gate is an amazing option!

[@allstarbury]

Sadly you are very incorrect Couting out Daniel mac,,, such videos are still popular .But still we need long form content

[@danymirabal]

Do what u f want

[@bobcoco6047]

We're not here to just "do what we f want", we're also here to grasp other opinions & overall, learn.

[@nega9000]

If you think that shot of you in the road with the trees looks as good shot horizontally as it would if you'd shot it vertically, I don't know what to tell you. You lost a tonne of detail.

[@sceliano]

Nah... there is plenty of reason to shot some things vertical and some horizontal. I agree and use a lot from what u spoke about but "never", thats just silly. I get it's a direction for the video u r making and u r trying to advocate for this concept but it's a flawed argument. I bet you can make same video for vertical as ur primary style or of course hybrid. But... what would be the point of that one...? With this one u got the "hook"