The ONLY reason to shoot vertical is because it's easier to hold the phone that way.

Cinema's were based on Theatre layouts. Wide, to pack in as many people as possible who could see what was going on.

Packing that many people into a 'vertical' high rise cinema is a ridiculous concept.

My belief is also that humans are conditioned to view everything form a 'landscape' perspective as, throughout history, we have been conditioned that threats and opportunities will emerge from below the horizon, very rarely from above it.

Will humans now evolve to have one eye above the other?

Vertical concentrates your attention. None of those sweeping landscapes (at least not in one frame). So for subjects where that kind of constant tight composition is appropriate, it's great.

Vertical video is a devolution born out of laziness and inability to appreciate the capabilities of the device that's being used. The people producing vertical video -- with very few exceptions -- really should stick to just watching stuff on their phones instead.

Only a few months ago on New Atlas was an article about a new phone which would automatically record "proper"video when held in the vertical position. This should be compulsory on all new phones - says an old moaner who won't watch vertical video.
As for wanting to watch "content" (the word has come to mean useless garbage) on a phone while sitting in front of the tv, I'm not so sure; when I walk the dog after dark I increasingly see people sitting in front of big TVs but they are looking at a phone or laptop.

Great article. Quite a treat. The VVS Vimeo cracked me up. In fact, all the videos were well chosen for this topic.

When it comes to human vision, one talks more about peripheral than vertical. No big whoopy, they both have their niche, but don't expect to see too many vertical cinemas popping up. That's a phone thing.

This is a horrible idea, just so people don't have to hold their phones horizontally!!!

We see panoramically, that is, from left to right, with greater focus than vertically. That is because we live in a world where things are naturally spread across a wide vista horizontally, look up there is just sky, look down and you have the ground, look left and right you see the world.

Pandering to lazy people who are using a limited format visual device that will probably only be with us for a short while is bordering on absurd. It will make as much sense in a few years time as releasing music on 8 track tape is today ...

They are horrible to watch on a horizontal screen (and those blurred mirror images on either side that tend to get used with them on horizontal screens are really annoying too!)

@buzzclick, “peripheral” means “around the perimeter,” regardless of direction. Your peripheral vision is what you see near the limits of your field of vision, whether above, below, to to one side or the other.

“Peripheral” does not mean exclusively “left or right.”

Vertical video just a passing trend! And a really dumb idea as well as a waste of screen real-estate!!