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Arri joins the vertical video trend – We are all doomed

by 12 Comments

Vertical video is the bane of the 21st century. We all (well most) wish it would just go away. But with Instagram Stories, IGTV, Snapchat and a bunch of other apps that thrive on vertical video, it’s going nowhere. And now it seems that Arri is getting in on the action with an adapter plate that allows you to mount your Alexa Mini vertically on the tripod.

When a company like Arri starts taking vertical video seriously, we should probably sit up and listen. It means that vertical video is now a real, legitimate thing – whether we like it or not. And there’s a lot of people falling under that “not” banner. To the point where they’re making videos like this one.

While the Instagram post was just recently made by Arri, that video above was made in 2012. 6 years ago. Have things evolved to the point where vertical video is now becoming acceptable? As more and more people consume content on phones and tablets that can be held vertically, I suppose it’s possible.

It still seems odd to mount a camera vertically, but when you think about it, we’ve been doing this with photography for years using L-Brackets. So, it kind of makes sense that these are starting to appear now for video cameras with operators who may prefer to shoot for a vertical video platform.

And I’ve actually done it before myself for greenscreen work. If I’m filming a person in front of a background that’ll be keyed out, it makes no sense to waste half the frame. Much better to rotate the camera vertically and make the most of the sensor. But that was for a specific purpose. Not to create content to be consumed vertically.

But with Arri taking an interest in vertical video, I’m curious to see which other companies might start to take it a bit more seriously, especially with the launch of IGTV.

If you’ve ever had the urge to mount your ARRI Alexa Mini sideways, you can buy the bracket now for $240.

 

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  • Yeah… that is why your pc, laptop and tv screen is vertical…. 😑

    • Have a look at what device vertical video is actually intended for.

    • Let’s not forget our eyes are setup for a wide field of view too. That’s why it’s familiar

      • Richard Doktor

        And that’s why it’s the only thing to use. Just because there are some few special needs like in photography and the in the article mentioned keying process for a single human standing on this feet, doesn’t justify an idiotic behavior to get standard.
        If those brainless asocial media users aren’t able to turn their brain sucking device to a 90 degree angle, then help them and slap them into their face (so their head is at a 90 degrees angle).
        There are already a lot of idiotic people out there. No need to make life easier for them, which makes go gaga the sane.

  • Man, it isn’t even close to April Fool’s Day…

  • Kill it with fire…

  • If they do that then there’s a demand for this. You won’t notice how you’ll be watching vertical streams on your mobile phones (I mean you already do this, but not enough), people won’t rotate a device since you lose time by doing this.

  • Arri, you are dead to me.

  • rifki syahputra

    maybe it will trigger the evolution to vertical human eye array.. we’ll be there

  • My guess is, that one of the primary markets for this are vertical tv displays in fashion stores. I see them all the time. The 9:16 is perfect for the vertical figure of model on the catwalk without unnecessary surrouding. The same is advertisement spaces all over the place (very common on airports for example). Not shooting tailor made video for these formats vertically is wasting pixels.

    I don’t think that we’ll see a major motion picture shot vertically anytime soon.

  • rutenrudi

    This is SO COMMON for advertising productions; people need their content for instagram and the likes, like it or not. You don’t get far with your cool anamorphic setup when the content you need is either 1:1 or 9:16.

    ARRI answers a contemporary demand here, like it or not; and I bet even the author of this very post who critizes it that much is guilty of this on his Instagram.
    But I guess all the cool kids and eliteists here in the comment section would tell a client like Mercedes off if they demand such formats, for sure.

  • Randall Tinfow

    Since 73% of web content is on smart phones, vertical video has it’s place. The lift for both engagement time and conversions is 18% over horizontal for us. Think of it as an entirely different medium, not amenable to long form narrative but good for short clips.

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