Short Corporate Video: Vertical or Horizontal First

The usual failure in a short corporate video is trimming a horizontal film. Compress it to sixty seconds, publish to a vertical feed, and the sides are cropped with subtitles across faces. Aspect ratio is not a formatting detail; it determines how you shoot and how much information fits.

1. Three Ratios and Where They Work

If one film must serve all three, shoot vertical-first with horizontal as the secondary: keep headroom and floor space in frame so a horizontal crop still holds the subject.

2. Length Follows Information, Not the Platform

A sixty-second piece carries three or four points. Beyond five, nothing is remembered.

Common splits: fifteen seconds for one thing (paid media, opening), thirty seconds for one selling point plus evidence, sixty seconds for two or three points, and anything past ninety seconds needs chapters.

Corporate film production works better in reverse: fix the points, then the length, then the script. Setting length first forces you to delete evidence, and a film without evidence is adjectives.

3. Vertical Changes the Camera Language

Vertical frames are narrow; horizontal information does not fit. Restage for depth: move closer, centre the subject, simplify the background, and move side-by-side data into stacked captions.

Interview shots need to be tighter; a half-body frame reads better than a full body. For conversations, use single close-ups with off-camera audio rather than forcing two people into frame.

Run a second camera on shoot day: main position framed horizontal, second framed vertical. The cost of one extra device is far below the loss from cropping later.

4. Three Density Details

Subtitles under fifteen characters per line, anchored inside the safe area. Logo on screen for no more than three seconds, in a corner, never over the subject. Specifications and model numbers as graphics, not sentences — vertical viewers cannot read long lines in time.

5. Delivering Two Versions

Cut vertical first, then horizontal. Vertical forces harder choices about what to keep, which surfaces the core; the horizontal version can then add environment and group shots at a calmer pace.

Deliver two independent cuts, not a cropped export. Cropped versions look empty on an exhibition screen.

6. FAQ

Can a vertical cut sit on the website hero? Not advisable; hero areas are horizontal and vertical leaves large blank bands.

No vertical footage available? Crop with animated push-ins and shoot a short vertical pick-up set; mixed cuts transition more naturally.

What can fifteen seconds convey? One action or one number. The narrower the message, the stronger the recall.

Related

• See also: a five-part script for company intro films
• See also: slicing long content into short clips

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