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Ask HN: Why is vertical video so popular?
It amazes me how suddenly everyone got so good at doing vertical video. TikTok just assumes everyone can do it perfect first time, but my first video was so cringey I had to delete it. How are people not making a lot of mistakes with it? I get it, the algorithms optimise for the best videos, but I image the vast majority of users are lurkers and don’t post!
- rantallion 4y agoPopular? Most of us hate it with a passion. Smartphones are the only reason anyone's making vertical video and only then because they're too lazy/dumb to rotate their device 90 degrees.
- ev1 4y agoIt depends on. If you are filming for tiktok then 99%+ of your consumers will be viewing vertical holding it vertical. If you are making programming videos to be viewed on desktop and somehow make it vertical people will hate you exponentially more.
- Nextgrid 4y agoEarly versions of iOS would consistently play video in landscape regardless of the physical orientation. At some point they changed it so video can play in portrait mode as well, so now if you keep your screen orientation locked you have to unlock it before you can watch your video in landscape - there's no way to tell "lock orientation except for media". So annoying.
- faebi 4y agoOh yes, feels like I‘m not alone. It‘s one of the few features I‘m missing from Android.
- goldenchrome 4y agoI suspect you are in the minority. Millions of Instagram/TikTok/Snapchat users enjoy vertical videos every day. If you ever find yourself disparaging vast swathes of the population, you might be missing some essential truth. Vertical videos are comfortable to watch on a phone. Vertical videos are also great for capturing a single person in the frame, since people are also vertically proportioned.
- Normille 4y ago>I suspect you are in the minority. Well, if s/he is, s/he's in a minority of at least two. When I see vertical video I instantly think "moron". The reason landscape is the sensible choice is because our eyes are placed horizontally and our natural field of view is wider than it is tall. Portrait mode will be a good choice when humanity evolves to have one eye above the other.
- omegalulw 4y agoThere's no natural reason to have evolved with eyes stacked on top... bears don't fall from the sky.
- ffhhj 4y agoLaughted at this, but higher viewpoint provides longer range.
- passivate 4y agoNobody is using a phone that is larger than a human's vertical field of view at arms length. Even otherwise, human vision is based on eye movements and a complex form of visual integration. Your desire to mock others is entirely your free choice, but nothing you said is "sensible".
- goldenchrome 4y agoI think the way you judge people is anti-social.
- klyrs 4y agoIt's the perfect format to film tall people standing in closets.
- dbbk 4y ago> When I see vertical video I instantly think "moron". You must be fun at parties.
- Spivak 4y ago
- strangattractor 4y agoAgree - it is terribly annoying. It probably says a great deal about TikTok users that is so prevalent ie too lazy to turn the phone 90. It is definitely easier to hold the phone in the vertical orientation. Why waste a lot of effort on a short pretty much useless piece of video that practically no one will watch.
- strangattractor 4y agoDown voted by TikTok fan I suppose
- willidiots 4y agoGrowing mobile-first population. Portrait is easier than landscape. Creators design with this in mind, get rewarded with eyeballs.
- temp234 4y agoLandscape has a super old history, but it made the most sense where it originated, which was the stage, with curtains, for live theater. It got carried into film and then streaming video as a kind of analogy You are living through a transition in human tech and society on the level of the printing press! The switch to vertical video makes sense right now because this is how people tend to consume scrolling content and hold their phones one-handed. I think it isn't better or worse, it's just different and interesting and a sign people are relating to the medium in new ways
- yakubin 4y agoThe reason why landscape is used in film is not analogy, but the fact that humans move a lot horizontally, almost never vertically. Portrait orientation may be good for portrait photos (although landscape is often also very good, or better, depending on the specific case) but not for films. Filming human movement in portrait makes for a claustrophobic feeling, requires the camera to move all the time, and cuts out context (including other people). It has its place, but it's a poor default. I've seen some videos which were recorded from such a long distance that they looked bizarre. The only reason for that distance was the use of portrait orientation, the film wouldn't work without the horizontal context. But it was meant for TikTok, so of course it had to be vertical.
- cookingrobot 4y agoI walk forward a lot more than I walk side to side, and the stuff I pay attention to when walking is more generally arranged vertically than horizontally. All I’m saying is the appeal to nature of landscape mode doesn’t seem like the whole story.
- zmeden 4y agoI'd say it has more to do with human vision which cover a wider horizontal angle than vertical. The medium (film) maybe adapted to how we see. Nowadays it might be adapting to how we hold the thing we see through.
- JaceLightning 4y agoYou can hold your phone with one hand vertically. People like that and naturally record video vertically and like to watch video vertically.
- ksaj 4y agoIt's also more like how you hold onto it when using it as a phone. It does just seem natural to hold it that way.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoHow people haven't mastered turning the phone sideways in one hand boggles me. Oh right — big, awkwardly shaped bulky cases — because we need to have the thinnest phones.
- thiht 4y agoSo you’re saying if we had bulky phones instead of bulky cases we would hold our phones horizontally more often? That doesn’t seem obvious to me, you’re just ranting on tiny phones
- wilg 4y agoThis is obviously the correct answer. I should add that because you normally use your phone vertically, rotating it to watch a landscape video is more awkward than not doing so.
- browningstreet 4y agoNo ones a natural at video, everyone’s first videos are cringey… people improve with time and practice. Look at anyone in the game, vertical or horizontal, and look at their old videos. It’s all cringe. The point is to not make that the point. Persevere and improve.
- toniks 4y ago
- darkhorn 4y agoMy girlfriend says "post me images or videos in vertical, othervise they appear on my screen very small". And you cannot rotate images in most messaging applications.
- yen223 4y agoBecause it's easier on your hands to hold your phone in portrait rather than landscape
- scyzoryk_xyz 4y agoThis is probably irrelevant, but I wish I could shoot horizontal while holding vertical. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- livinglist 4y agoSame, it would be sooo convenient to shoot horizontally without rat sting your phone..
- hjkl0 4y agoI didn’t realize video orientation has anything to do with quality. The reason vertical video is popular is because the young people who produce and consume it mostly use small-screen devices optimized for vertical layouts.