Creating video content in 9:16 mode – that tall, vertical format we all know from Instagram Reels, TikTok and Stories – has completely changed the way we shoot and think about video. For anyone who’s spent years framing beautiful widescreen shots, turning the camera on its side can feel… a bit wrong at first. But like it or not, vertical video is where a huge chunk of attention now lives.

One of the biggest challenges is composition. You’ve suddenly got far less room to play with, which means you have to be much more intentional about what goes in the frame. Wide establishing shots don’t always translate well, and anything happening off to the sides is instantly lost. You’re forced to think closer, simpler, and more human – faces, hands, movement, and emotion suddenly matter even more than they did before.

There’s also the practical side. Shooting in 9:16 often means planning ahead: leaving extra headroom, keeping subjects centred, and sometimes even filming specifically for vertical rather than trying to crop later. Audio, captions, and on-screen text become more important too, because many people are watching on their phones, often without sound, while scrolling at speed.

But here’s the unexpected reward – vertical video can feel incredibly personal. When it’s done well, it fills the screen, removes distractions, and pulls the viewer right into the moment. It’s intimate, immediate, and surprisingly powerful. Instead of fighting the format, embracing it can push you to tell clearer stories in a more direct, engaging way.

In the end, 9:16 isn’t about lowering creative standards – it’s about adapting them. Once you stop treating vertical video as a compromise and start seeing it as its own creative space, it opens up new ways to connect with audiences where they already are: right there in the palm of their hand.