Video has become a very important part of our hobby. Documenting the construction of your layout, sharing scenes of your favorite engine, showing off a special structure, and a hundred other things are all ways in which video plays a critical role in the enjoyment of our hobby these days.
I've produced thousands of corporate and special interest videos in my career, starting back in the 70s. As a “video veteran” it has always bothered me to see what has come to be called “Vertical Video.” That is a video scene shot on a smart phone with the phone held vertically. I can understand how this happens, because we hold our phones vertically for almost everything we do when using the phone. But we should never shoot video while holding the phone vertically.
Take a look at the computer screen you are reading this on, or the wide-screen TV in your den, living room, or man cave. That screen is a horizontal screen, not a vertical screen. To use a printing term, the screen is in “landscape” mode, not the vertical “portrait” mode.
Video should always be shot in “landscape” mode, with your phone held horizontally. Why?
Watch this video, and I think you'll get the idea...
HOORAY - Let sanity prevail. I've b****d on this Forum for several years now. Everyone please take note, the Chief Video Veteran has spoken! Thank YOU Rich
Excellent point! Great improvement by applying minimal "common" sense! Very annoying to see vertical video on a wide screen television. You'd think somebody would KNOW BETTER!?? -Salty Rails-
How come when I do see a vertical photo in the center third of the shot there is frequently a faded out 1/3 image on either side of the center third??
Because the video editor decided that he can't have just a black screen on either side of the video (HORRORS!) so they expand and blur the vertical video so that something fills the screen on the sides. It's ridiculous.
I am ashamed to see what passes for "professional" video these days. The craft that I learned to respect as a young man has been dumbed down to the point where jump cuts are now OK, vertical video is OK, bad audio is OK, etc.
I am very sad to see what has happened to the profession I was once so proud of.
Get ready for changes... The younger generation does this so much that they are testing Vertical TV's in overseas countries now to see if they catch on.
Rich, don't get me started!!!!!!! I have even seen some professional TV spots shot vertical. I guess now they think its cool. What's next? Anamorphic vertical.
"I am very sad to see what has happened to the profession I was once so proud of. " I'm with you.
HOORAY! I think this may be the all time best post on this forum!
I love how we all have these huge TV's and are subject to the vertical video that every media outlet feels compelled to run. And yes- I hate the blurred 2/3rds of the screen.
Ever notice that most "selfies" have little or no background content? I think that is where the bad habit got started. After all, the only thing that matters in the picture is ME, composition be ****ed.
OK Rich, ever so slightly off target but do you remember a film made in the 1960's called "How the West Was Won"? I believe it was the first widespread use of Panavision. I saw it in Pittsburgh at the Nixon Theatre - an old style movie house with wide screens, balconies, velvet curtains, the whole 9 yards. The movie was shown with 3 projectors.
There's a scene where the Indians stampede a herd of buffalo through the camp of the railroad workers (building the transcontinental railway). It's such a terrific effect that you think you are in the middle of the stampede.
George it was in three projection Cinerama. The last movie to use that system. There is a Blurry out of it and it makes your TV look like it has a curved screen. It's called smile box. Don
Thank you Rich and Marty for this. Working in television for over 40 yrs it absolutely drives me NUTZ to see vertical video like that. Usually, I don't bother to watch the video and just go on to something else. YouTube as ruined the entire industry because now anyone with a 1/2 a cell phone can post video that looks bad and sounds bad...AND NO ONE CARES!
I'll get off my soapbox now. Suffice to say, a lot of people do post videos on here that I do watch and I encourage them to keep up the good work!
Yea but.... I used the vertical shots to take of still pictures of people .. boy everyone is impressed .. when I turn my tv screen sideways it makes a GREAT presentation of that shot.. 65" you think they where in the room (lol).daniel
Merry Christmas Rich, it’s always fun to see your OGR The Video, and seeing the featured videos above bring back great memories, and I agree, no Vertical Videos, go Horizontal.... The Quicks layouts, and Bill Bramlages layout are simply amazing works of art. Your videos were, are so fantastic. Thank you. Your friend in Tennessee. Leapin Larry
Super post Rich, and I passed it on to some of my Club friends that I get videos from now and then. But, probably catch some flack, as they are considerable younger than me........Oh yeah, I forgot to say, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You, and all of the OGR Folks out there......!
I plead guilty to shooting vertical, at least when shooting my granddaughter. She fits nicely. Since I look at these on my phone and show them to people on my phone, she is larger and easier to see in this format. I suppose if I ever want to make them into a video, I will regret having no horizontal footage. I guess I better start shooting some horizontal format too.
Now trains are another matter and should be shot horizontally.
As you know, film and television were both 4:3 ratio for a long time. 16:9 is not as intimate for close ups as the old Hollywood format. But then filmmaking has changed. Now it's all action and few close ups.
Way back when they were talking about going HD wide screen for TV I was excited and couldn't wait. But NO! Engineering came out with 16:9! What the heck is 16:9. No one shot in 16:9. Most movies are 2:35x1 so to show a widescreen movie you still have to crop the top and bottom. We changed everything in TV, cameras, editing, sound and transmission. Why we didn't go all the way? I was shooting real wide screen with my Bolex camera and anamorphic lens in my twenties. I even had a eight foot curved screen for projection. Don
triple, understand but I can shoot my own little movies and enjoy them on a big screen. I can build my own layout, diving a couple blocks from my house and enjoy that also. Don
Get ready for changes... The younger generation does this so much that they are testing Vertical TV's in overseas countries now to see if they catch on.
Yep, just look at how many new vehicles are now going over to vertical displays. I saw several in new models and their displays now look like large phones!
Hate to say it, but I think you're fighting a losing battle. Quality is no longer of primary importance.
Convenience has certainly trumped quality in so many ways these days--aside from the vertical video under discussion, we have MP3's vs. "old school" hi fidelity, texting vs. genuine syntax, etc., etc.
Well, it's official: I'm a grouchy old man--and get off of my lawn!
Look for them on your smartphone. Go to your YT Home Screen and scroll down. YT has sold millions of dollars of advertising on these vertical videos and has paid out millions to the YT Creators.
Next year YT has plans to go worldwide with their plans for vertical videos as, “Short Videos”
YT has been testing vertical videos, below is how it looks on my iPhone.
As goes the smartphone.....so goes the market. In a TicToc dominated world, vertical video is king. And these kids make $$$$$ posting these silly 30 second bits. Go figure!
I think the point is what is the subject and what is the final output. There is no one right format. We used vertical plasmas screens on our television event shows 20 years ago. Obviously the video had to be designed for a vertical format.
Now train layouts are about the most horizontal thing going. A basement layout might be 50' long and about a foot tall, maybe 2-3' with a backdrop. So shooting that in a vertical format is just frustrating to the viewer, like looking at trains from outside through a window.
Quality seems to be another issue entirely. I'd be curious as to what kind of rigs people use to get good steady video of trains, especially with a smart phone. Tripods? Dollies? Cameras on trains?
Yep, just look at how many new vehicles are now going over to vertical displays. I saw several in new models and their displays now look like large phones!
I can understand and appreciate the value of a vertical display in a car. If you're using the GPS/map feature, a vertical display lets you "see" a bit further ahead on the map as you are driving.
YouTube can call it what they want. It’s incorrect and poor technique.
Yessir. Absolutely.
The ONLY place a vertical video looks OK is on the tiny screen of a phone. If you show that video on a TV or computer monitor, it's going to be on a Landscape format screen.
And then vertical video just looks silly.
To me, vertical video is not "cool." For me, it is a stunning example of how ignorant and unobservant people are in their daily lives. Every TV screen and computer monitor in use today is a HORIZONTAL screen. Yet people are totally unobservant or unaware of that fact. Consequently they hold their phone vertically because that's how they hold it for everything else they do on the phone.
That is a sad testament to the level of education, the lack of intellectual curiosity, and the low level of common sense among millennials. They have no intellectual curiosity to learn how to do something right because the way they are doing it works...sort of. It's good enough. They don't have the common sense to relate the phone to the TV screen and realize that holding it horizontally makes for a better video. The way they do it is good enough. However, "good enough" is not the same as doing it right. And here, there definitely is a right way and a wrong way to shoot video.
I see things today on so-called "professional" videos that would have gotten me thrown out of the video production classes I took years ago. Jump cuts are everywhere. I see people talking directly to me on camera, but seconds later the producer cuts to a second camera and now the person is talking to someone off screen over in my dining room. What sense does that make? I watch videos where the editor cuts to a different scene literally every second. God forbid we stay on a shot for two or three seconds. And on the so-called "reality" shows (like Gold Rush) whenever something exciting happens, we shake the cameras around and look at the ground because that makes it more "exciting." Total BS. All the bedrock standards that make for good-looking video are being thrown out the window.
Significantly, you won't see any vertical video movies in theaters or on sitcoms and dramas on TV. Why? Because television and movie professionals know it's bad technique. Why waste all that screen real estate with a couple of black bars, or a blurry version of the main scene, when you could fill the screen with meaningful and enjoyable video?
For those of you who may have gotten to this thread late, here's the video from the first post again.
This "vertical preference" is due to the billions of vertical "selfies" taken daily. Some folks don't understand that you can use the phone's photo function horizontally.
Yep, just look at how many new vehicles are now going over to vertical displays. I saw several in new models and their displays now look like large phones!
I can understand and appreciate the value of a vertical display in a car. If you're using the GPS/map feature, a vertical display lets you "see" a bit further ahead on the map.
Our vehicles have horizontal displays and I can set them to "see" plenty far ahead on the map. In addition, the layout of other features like the radio, comfort controls, etc. just seem more natural rather than being piled on top of one another as in the vertical format. Regardless, as far as videos the horizontal format is the proper way to go. It matches what the human eyes see which is in a panoramic view.
Well, I remember sometime ago Rich waved his finger at me for posting a vertical photo I think it was, not sure if I had done a video. I haven't shot anything vertical since save something I have no control over. The camera on my phone has gone from great to testing my patience. I used to be able to shoot zooms from 1 to 7.5 I believe it was, now it does only 1x & 2x which is irritating. That aside was not so bad, but they changed how you shoot panoramic views. You have no choice but to shoot vertical. If you try anything but the phone yells at you. I shot some great horizontal panoramic pictures before that change. Well, I have since switched over to my Canon camera that I have fell in love with. Love the great zoom, can get up close bird shots from 100 feet and more away. I never shoot vertical shots with that, Rich would hunt me down and throw me under a train.😁
I think that the news is also one of the biggest perpetrators of vertical video posting. They always have the blurred sides when they are reporting stuff it seems. That I find extremely annoying because your eyes get drawn in on the sides to see the blue because your eyes want to see more.
If you would like to learn more about vertical videos check out this video. He will show you how to grow your channel and thus make more money on YT.
He uses Final Cut Pro but any editing software can turn a horizontal video into a YT Short.
This must be 59 seconds or less. YT will publish this video short and show it worldwide. It does not go to only your channel subscribers. This makes for a level playing field.
I can see Ken at Trainworld / Trainland getting into this big time. To show new products. He will have 59 seconds to set the hook and get potential buyers to his YT Channel and store.
At one time there were about ten stringers in the San Francisco Bay Area. They made good money and worked hard. One even had an old rebuilt ENG truck. I am told there is one part timer now. Why? because everyone is a stringer now and TV stations don't have to pay as much to someone that just wants their video on the news. Many times the (vertical) video is given to them. Don
If you would like to learn more about vertical videos check out this video.
Like Marty, I will definitely pass. I already know how to do videos the right way. I see no need to learn how to do them wrong. It figures that YouTube would promote something that is just plain wrong in order to make a few bucks.
Gary, I want to thank you so much for helping us to improve the quality of videos that are posted here. </sarcasm off>
That is a sad testament to the level of education, the lack of intellectual curiosity, and the low level of common sense among millennials. They have no intellectual curiosity to learn how to do something right because the way they are doing it works...sort of. It's good enough
OK...sigh...I'll step down off my soapbox now.
Rich, it's not a generational thing. Remember all those shaky and out of focus home movies we and our parents took? How about those hours of crappy video when the camcorder came out. You are a video professional, so this is a sore spot with you. Most people are not.
Lead the ignorant little lambs gently to the video promised land.
Like Marty, I will definitely pass. I already know how to do videos the right way. I see no need to learn how to do them wrong. It figures that YouTube would promote something that is just plain wrong in order to make a few bucks.
Gary, I want to thank you so much for helping us to improve the quality of videos that are posted here. </sarcasm off>
Good grief.
Just trying to help us grow our footprint on YT.
Here we are 23 hours later and your video only has 180 views. We should be brainstorming how to tell others about our hobby of model railroading. YT shorts is a great way to do this. These videos only play on smartphones and YT claims this will be the fastest growing area on YT and other platforms like YT.
This the time for the O Gauge Railroading & Publishing to become a leader and look into trying YT Shorts. You have a large library of still and videos to show the world. It is time go fishing for new folks to join the world of model trains.
You have a large library of still and videos to show the world.
Yep...we sure do. And NONE of them are VERTICAL VIDEO. There is no way I would ever try to massage an OGR video into a vertical format. They were not shot that way and cannot be presented that way.
I'm sorry Gary, but I don't see it the way you do. The whole point of this thread is trying to educate our members NOT to shoot vertical video.
If you would like to learn more about vertical videos check out this video. He will show you how to grow your channel and thus make more money on YT.
He uses Final Cut Pro but any editing software can turn a horizontal video into a YT Short.
This must be 59 seconds or less. YT will publish this video short and show it worldwide. It does not go to only your channel subscribers. This makes for a level playing field
Hope this helps: Gary
LOL!! not only is that youtube guy promoting vertical video, but of all things teaching adults how to tie running shoes LOL!!
There are many young people that love trains. Look how many shots we used on the OGR Christmas video with kids. I had to cut some out because we got so many. It was nice to see and hear the stories that went with the photos. Maybe that could be an ongoing section of the magazine, a "Kids Corner" of projects or stories from parents of their kids running and working on layouts. Of course they would have to supply horizontal photos. Don
Ever notice that most "selfies" have little or no background content? I think that is where the bad habit got started. After all, the only thing that matters in the picture is ME, composition be ****ed.
Earl
And most of them have a bathroom in the background. No pride in presentation any more.
I will chime in here with my own theory. People today, particularly the new tech generation, are totally absorbed in themselves and their own little bubble. That is why they do vertical videos, its about them and how cool they are to be "getting this." They are not thinking about the guy - the user - they are handing it off to.
It is no different than all the terrible websites you come across that cause you a lot of time to find any information. Take the website from one of the largest communications companies in the country; if you go to that website you have to search and search and search just to find the right page or right button to pay your bill. Its awful and its like most of the websites you go to, the websites were designed by a guy (or girl) who was thinking about how cool he designed it. He didn't design it for you the user! You want to find user oriented websites? Go to a porn website and they make sure its user oriented and are an example of how to build a user oriented information system.
I see the same thing more and more in engineering reports and government policy documents I work with everyday. They tell you little and have a lot or words. The reports aren't made for you - the user - they are made to be really cool.
So, the vertical videos are about how cool the photographer is to be getting this but the videos have no contextual information for you the user. They're just cool and the guy making the video wants you to know he's a cool guy.
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</sarcasm off>
