Imagine your product or service is a Brachiosaurus, filmed this way:
You’ll see the frame is longer horizontally. The length by the height is a fascinating ratio, but it has a boring name. It’s called the Aspect Ratio.
The image above has a ratio of 16:9 (or 1.78:1). 16:9 is the standard aspect ratio for HDTV and UHD. Most videos are filmed in this format because most TVs are designed in this format. YouTube recommends this format as well.
Should you just stick to this, no questions asked? What are you missing?
One of the many powerful effects of framing is sense of scale. The enormity of the Brachiosaurus is obvious because there is a vehicle to compare it with.
Is this the only way to show the Brachiosaurus? No.
Cinema has two different standards. The first is 1.85:1, which looks like this:
It’s not very different from 16:9, though you lose a bit off the top and bottom. Most times it’s fine. Sometimes it’s a huge pain. It depends on your product or service.
The second cinema standard is 2.39:1. We have two choices here. The first is to step away from our Brachiosaurus and fill the frame with more scenery:
Notice what that does. It makes the dinosaur look smaller.
The second is to chop off our beloved Brachiosaurus:
The cover image is another version of the ‘chopped-off’ top or bottom. I don’t think most people want their product or service chopped off. The alternative is to step back and make your product smaller just so it fits in with a frame nobody forced you to adopt.
Neither choice is appealing. The aspect ratio seems innocuous and something not worth your attention, but it creates practical challenges in filmmaking.
2.39:1 is what a lot of people mistakenly consider ‘cinematic’. It’s just a prejudice. Sticking to it for no particular reason might hurt your brand more than you realize.
Netflix bucks the trend and makes some of its shows in 2:1. Old black and white cinema used an Academy frame (1.375:1). This is what it looks like:
Not so bad, is it? Especially if your product is a Brachiosaurus. The important thing is to ask yourself: Does the image convey everything I want it to convey? In this case, I feel so.
We might be able to do better. What if I want my product to be the biggest in the frame? I move the vehicle a bit and now I can use vertical video:
This is a vertical video with an aspect ratio of 9:16. We get the same sense of scale and geography as the wider frame. How much did we miss by chopping off the sides?
What size screen does your product or service fit in? The best person to answer this question is you.
A vertical frame might seem like a social media fad, though you might want to consider HDTVs can be rotated 90 degrees. Or, you could link many TVs to make a video wall. Most people have switched to mobile devices for content consumption. Advertising follows content size.
This opens up possibilities and creates problems of its own. What’s the right aspect ratio for your video? Sometimes the choice is obvious, and sometimes you need to call in the experts.
I educate clients on the aspect ratio because many think their options are limited. It’s the reverse. Your options are unlimited.
Takeaway:
Where’s the video going to be played for maximum ROI? That will help you decide the right aspect ratio. The aspect ratio you adopt will make a tangible difference to how your product or service is perceived.
I hope this article helped you understand an important aspect of video production (pun intended). If it hasn’t already, the shape of the frame around your product or service should matter greatly to you.
To know more about aspect ratio check out this video:
