Just out of interest...

Video should always be landscape.

https://youtu.be/dechvhb0Meo

Please don't bring this vertical video bullshit to my WAM.

I mainly asked this to see how it can affect the quality of videos I produce. If I make it landscape, not only wil you see me covering the girls, but there will be a toilet in shot as well. I could alter the angle, and see if that works, but is anyone fussed by what else is in the video?

The solution is using a different focal length lens

I film on my phone. Lol. Can't afford a proper camera yet.

I like vertical videos. You can open 3 different videos, resize the width of the windows and put them side by side by side on the same screen to triple your viewing pleasure. This works specially well on 4K UHD monitors because the height of the vertical video (1920) is a bit smaller than the height of the screen (2160). The same can be done on a FHD 1080 monitor, but the video will be compressed because trying to fit a 1920 video on a 1080 screen. Hard to do the same thing with a landscape video... It needs to be full screen to be enjoyable.

If the model is alone in a tight space like a bath, shower or gunge tank, with the mess coming from above or the front and having the surroundings in the video adds nothing to it, then vertical video makes sense IMHO. I have landscape videos that I wish would have been shot vertical because having the widescreen adds nothing to it.

You can always cover the toilet with something (bed sheet) if you want to film in landscape to please the majority... or the Muppets that have VVS...

I don't see the vid there now, but if it's the scene you have, I see how that vertical provided the maximum viewing space for the model, great for stills. I understand that it frustrates people, but occasionally I wonder if we need so much vodeo data telling us boringdetails like thegrass or the interior of the room beyond the model. That said, is M your primary model? I hope she'll be back.

I thought this was an illuminating thread about tastes in shot composition, but I guess "video angles" means aspect ratio.

Sorry but what's VVS?

M is pretty much the main model. I'll be announcing a new one soon, but M is the one who I've been talking to the most about all this. She's had so many amazing requests, and I look forward to filming them. I will ask though, what do you mean you can't see the vid?

The vote isn't showing up for me, for some reason. I'm guessing Landscape is well ahead.

A lot of my content is portrait and I find that works better getting all of me in/ me and gunge tank/ me and pool but also shooting in a bedroom rather than studio makes it hard to have space to go landscape for shooting.

Personally i think it also depend on the content. If it's only one person portrait is great and works when I'm watching on my phone. However landscape is better if there are multiple people in the video to give them all screen space.

Ask me 5 years or so ago and I'd have said landscape because I was usually watching on a computer monitor. These days I probably watch more on my phone, so it really doesn't matter, I flip to whatever fits. Also I have two monitors that pivot so I can flip one when I want to (usually for code, but can do for video too).

If it's a choice between landscape and portrait go landscape if you can because it works best for most devices. If it's a choice between portrait or no content, portrait wins all day.

One thing to watch out for is not saving a portrait video in a landscape format and ending up with two thick black rectangles down each side. If you do, when viewed portrait the video will be about the middle 1/9th of the screen which is really hard to see.

Most of my filming has also been on phones so far and has ended up mostly being vertical because that better suits the proportions of a model sat in a tank or laid in a bath/pool. I know the answer is better glass (camcorder with better lense and sensor) but it's a big leap to take at the "enthusiasic amateur" stage (speaking of myself with that description, not anyone else) when there is a device in your pocket that does a pretty damn good job at all but the shorter focal lengths. I'm keeping my eye on a few camcorders next couple of months see if there are any decent deals to give more options when filming - and also hopefully another step up in quality. We've also played with a point and shoot stills camera for filming some of our early stuff but that has a lot of the same problems plus sound quality isn't great. Was still a starting point though.

I've also tried multiple vertical videos stitched together to make a landscape one (2 or 3 wide, different angles) but I've had mixed feedback from that, some say there's too much going on and they don't know where to look, seems not to have put others off though.

On the toilet comment, cover it with a towel. It being in shot might not be off-putting for some but I get not wanting it in shot and tend to agree myself.

So bottom line from me (with both my consumer and producer hats on) would be go landscape if you reasonably can, portrait if you must because of equipment limitations.

Will also be interested in the results of this one though.

It kinda depends I guess...sometimes if you're doing a super close up angle, landscape is gonna cut stuff off, and with vertical orientation you can see more of a close up of the model. If you're viewing this stuff on a monitor, vertical can kind of be disappointing sometimes, but honestly if it's a better looking shot vertically, it really doesn't bother me all that much.

This is an interesting discussion with some great viewpoints (if you'll excuse the pun.)

On a personal level, if there's one person in a video and they're standing up, then portrait mode is fine for me. If they're lying down, there are more people, or the environment is a part of the scene, then landscape should take precedence.

However, mobile phones are now the #1 way of consuming digital media. Apart from space limitations at home, that's led to me producing content in a format to match the most popular medium.

Maybe the UMD community is an outlier and still favours 'proper' screens -- I know I prefer to use full-size screens, but even I'm moving more and more towards the convenience of a smartphone. Perhaps MM can share some vague stats on user devices and how that's changed over the years.

I'm sure this thread originally had a poll in the OP that made it clear it was about portrait / landscape video, rather than camera angles? Seems to have disappeared.

Times were I was deeply anti-portrait in video but that was because they tended to not only be portrait but horribly low-resolution and with enormous black bars each side, because video editing software tried to force them into a landscape format.

However in recent times I've seen very well shot, high-res, portrait video, notably CinqGirlRacer's work, which is very good. So yes, when a solo performer is doing full-body WAM, especially if they don't have a full studio, then portrait mode can work and work well.

Having said that though, in the vast majority of cases it is better to film in landscape. The number of news clips of events I've seen where someone films in portrait and then pans the camera about like mad trying to fit everything in - JUST TURN YOUR DAMNED PHONE ON ITS SIDE!!!! ***HULKSMASH all the things***

Yeah, I made mention of the vote disappearing earlier in the thread. Despite it being gone, I was still getting notifications to say people had voted. I just assumed some could see it, and others couldn't.

Part of the reason for this post was for phone use reasons. I know some people, like myself don't tend to use the orientation on my phone, so watch things in portrait mode. If I were to have more people in the videos, I'd film landscape... and in a different room.

I do agree with you when it comes to people starting in portrait, then changing to landscape whilst filming. Really annoying.

PREACH!