Writing for Vertical Video: Composition Is Characterization

For most of advertising history, the frame was horizontal. Characters stood next to each other. Eye-line was on the horizon. Wide shots, medium shots, close-ups — all designed for 16:9.

Vertical video broke all of that. Now two characters can't stand side-by-side without the framing feeling cramped. The shot language is fundamentally different, and it demands a different kind of writing.

The vertical frame forces stacking

In 9:16, you can't do a traditional two-shot. There isn't enough width. If you try to put two characters next to each other, you end up with a narrow, awkward composition where both characters are cut off at the shoulders.

The alternative is stacking. One character in the top third, one in the bottom. This isn't arbitrary — the vertical rectangle is shaped for stacking. Fight it and you lose. Lean in and you discover new creative moves.

What the top of the frame means

Whoever is on top reads as dominant, authoritative, looking down. The instinct is to put your own brand's mascot on top. That's the obvious move, and it's usually wrong.

Try the opposite: put the underdog brand on top. Put the weaker character in the dominant position. The framing contradicts the audience's expectation, and contradictions create attention.

Or: put the antagonist on top, then subvert the antagonist's dominance in the punchline. The framing sets up a power dynamic; the script breaks it. That's a two-layer joke.

What the bottom means

The bottom of the frame reads as reactive, grounded, observant. Characters positioned low are processing what's happening above them. They're the audience surrogate.

If you want the viewer to identify with a character, put them in the bottom third. The viewer's eye, scanning downward in natural vertical reading order, lands on the bottom character last — which is the position of the person reacting to what just happened.

This is why reaction shots in vertical video often work best when the reactor is below the actor. It mirrors the viewer's own position: watching, below, processing.

The anti-pattern: side-by-side

If you must have two characters in the same horizontal plane, cut them into separate shots. Don't try to fit them both in one frame. The frame will be ugly and the mascots will be tiny.

The only exception is extreme close-up, where you can frame two faces right next to each other in tight quarters. That works — but it's a different shot, not a wide two-shot, and it requires both characters to be speaking directly into each other's faces.

Camera height matters twice as much

In vertical, camera height becomes disproportionately important. Shoot slightly below eye-line and both characters feel looming. Shoot slightly above and both feel diminished. There's no wide shot to absorb the choice — every frame is close-up territory.

Pick a height and commit. Don't change it mid-scene unless the shift is load-bearing. Viewers track camera height unconsciously; arbitrary changes feel like film-school noise.

The practical rewrite

When you get a script written for horizontal and need to adapt it for vertical, three moves:

Restage the geography. Which mascot is above which? Why?

Cut the wide shots. Replace them with stacks or extreme close-ups.

Add a reaction cut on every punchline. The bottom character reacting to the top character's line — that's the joke delivery mechanism. Cut to them right after the line lands.

Do these three moves and a horizontal script becomes a vertical script. Skip them and the script dies on your feed.