Vertical video

It thus sits in opposition to the multiple horizontal formats normalised by cinema and television, which trace their lineage from the proscenium theatre, Western landscape painting traditions,[1] and human visual field.

Noting that the new cinematic art had taken on the old strictures of the theatre, on 17 September 1930 Russian filmmaker and theorist Sergei Eisenstein addressed the Technicians Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, calling for a cinema screen of variable aspect ratio (a "dynamic square"), one which would be able to cope with whatever compositional format the filmmaker chose, including a vertical framing.

[1] He lost the argument to a screen format standardised at a new Academy ratio (1.375:1) and vertical filmmaking has largely remained confined to experimental artists of the Expanded Cinema[5] movement, which flourished during the 1960s and 70s.

If artists working with cinematic film were constrained by physical limitations from tipping the apparatus, the video medium made rotating the camera and/or projector somewhat easier.

[7] He felt that the vertical frame "complimented her face and her solitude"; as he used 35 mm film to shoot the music video, he also noticed that putting the camera on its side produced better-looking light streaks.

[8] Indian composer and record producer A. R. Rahman's 2007 international single Pray for Me Brother, that was an initiative by Nokia Corporation, was then released as a vertical video.

[24] The same year, YouTube introduced the capability for vertical video without black bars on its desktop website and in social media embeds.