Vertical / portrait video

[shinynylonfetish]

Apologies for the rant, but just why?

It cannot be that difficult to turn the phone to landscape before hitting record.

 

[Cubitus the misunderstood]

I know exactly what you mean and I completely agree, but this one small point is far too little in my eyes.

If you think about the leaps technology has made in the last few years, I always find it strange that there are soooooooo many grotty pictures on the net, so little imagination.

In today's world it's a social phenomenon that everyone (many) has to publish their lives digitally without paying attention to the quality of the masses.
We also have 1000s of pictures that always show the same thing, sometimes in a better, sometimes in a worse version, but in the end it remains the same. And I don't think anyone wants to see the same *** in the same pants in the same pose with the same Messi background for the 1001st time...right? But everyone (many people) do it anyway and I don't think it happens with any bad intentions, but I would say that people have simply forgotten logic, moderation and aesthetics.

There's no more “the other guy did it, it was ****, I won't do it”, there's also no more “I've already done it a dozen times, that's enough now” and last but not least, there's also less critical consideration of the content you publish yourself....

Welcome to 2025 😉🤣
By "everyone", I mean the general public

In my case I do self critique of my content from time to time. So I check if my content: still show what I wanted to show, if I maybe have a better version now, if I still got the same opinion and so on. And if something doesn't fit anymore I simply delete it....

 

[shinynylonfetish]

Great point about the repetition and quality of material online.

Too many people post stuff without checking what it looks or sounds like. They don't care, they're so self-absorbed, or they haven't been taught properly. This includes vertical video.

With vertical, I always feel something's missing because the camera's horizontal view is so limited. I have sometimes taken vertical myself but have had 2 side by side to fill the screen.

A recentish but not so common trait is normal landscape video, contained in a vertical frame, itself contained in a landscape frame. That is pure laziness and no matter how good the subject is, always gets a downvote from me.

 

[Cubitus the misunderstood]

I think one point is definitely "to post something" equal what just post something, the more you post the more reactions you get even if there's many crap online. But just as mindlessly as one side posts something, the other side rates and likes these posts 😅 which is why those who post still feel confirmed and then continue 🤷

 

[shinynylonfetish]

I think one point is definitely "to post something" equal what just post something, the more you post the more reactions you get even if there's many crap online. But just as mindlessly as one side posts something, the other side rates and likes these posts 😅 which is why those who post still feel confirmed and then continue 🤷

Yep! Instant gratification and 'likes' comes to mind.

 

[KeepSeeing44]

I'm right in the middle between the generation that still uses a computer and web browser to look at everything, and the kids that grew up with phones glued in their hands for everything. So my personal preference is to simply decide which orientation fits the subject matter best, and use it. I don't know if this thread is specifically referring to content on this site or not, but I will say that something like the windpants walking videos that several of us do, make more sense in portrait mode because the lower half of a person is portrait shaped unless laying down. That, and the vast majority of users are looking at it, on a portrait shaped phone. I'm trying to fill the screen with as much of the subject as possible, whichever orientation ends up getting that job done.

Anyone who is not loving portrait stuff, will have social media to thank. Anyone under 35 now I'd say, is looking at everything in "reel" form on a phone. And all of the social media platforms (other than places like YouTube) are built around uploading and viewing stuff in the most common orientation of the phone (upright/portrait).

TL;DR The kids are always the trendsetters in society. They've grown up in a portrait world, and could care less about turning their phone for every TikTok video they scroll through.

 

[shinynylonfetish]

I'm right in the middle between the generation that still uses a computer and web browser to look at everything, and the kids that grew up with phones glued in their hands for everything. So my personal preference is to simply decide which orientation fits the subject matter best, and use it. I don't know if this thread is specifically referring to content on this site or not, but I will say that something like the windpants walking videos that several of us do, make more sense in portrait mode because the lower half of a person is portrait shaped unless laying down. That, and the vast majority of users are looking at it, on a portrait shaped phone. I'm trying to fill the screen with as much of the subject as possible, whichever orientation ends up getting that job done.

Anyone who is not loving portrait stuff, will have social media to thank. Anyone under 35 now I'd say, is looking at everything in "reel" form on a phone. And all of the social media platforms (other than places like YouTube) are built around uploading and viewing stuff in the most common orientation of the phone (upright/portrait).

TL;DR The kids are always the trendsetters in society. They've grown up in a portrait world, and could care less about turning their phone for every TikTok video they scroll through.

I'm of the pre-smartphone generation being brought up with landscape based screens, which matches our eyes. I have seen some videos on how to adapt portrait video into landscape, but to me it still doesn't look right. Creative though, yes.

You are right in the social media aspect. Portrait video has been heavily promoted by the likes of t*kt*k and my opinion is that too many people are sucked into it. What is now grinding my gears is landscape video inside a portrait frame, inside a larger landscape frame. This makes the border as thick as the original video is wide. I just ask why bother?

I'd say it's more than just kids setting trends in society. Tech companies, designers, celebrities. Dare I suggest most kids nowadays don't care about quality. Do I sound like a snob? most likely. Proud of it? Yes, because I care about the quality of what I'm seeing, and the products I use, and over the years I have seen standards drop. But that is something else for a future rant.

I do enjoy seeing new content on here, and will continue that whilst adding more of my own.