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Ways to Handle Vertical Video, and How Not To
All of the video for "Small School, Big Leaders" was vertical. Here's how I handled it, and what I would never do.
For “Small School, Big Leaders” I had an obvious problem: all of the video was vertical. I used three solutions.
Norfolk Public Schools · Whole Child & Family
Small School, Big Leaders
First, I set a clip off to one side and used the empty space to display text. Second, I put multiple vertical panels in a single scene. Three vertical shots arranged side by side filled out the horizontal frame. Third, I set some of the material inside elaborate motion graphics, so design elements filled the entire screen.
One thing I did not do, and would never do, is use generative AI to fill in the left and right sides of a vertical video. That’s a big no-no. The community needs to know that what comes out of the school is authentic. These days I could direct AI tools to keep the fill similar and unobtrusive, without raising any alarm bells. But there’s always the chance that a generated object or classroom space shows up that doesn’t really exist. Or worse, a child.