another reason not to shoot vertical professionally is that it is very hard to get them distributed, even digitally. iTunes will not accept the format for the movie store. the iBookstore will accept it if packaged in an e-book format (iBooks), which is what i have done. the iTunes app store will not accept any purely video app horizontal or vertical. it must be packaged together with additional features (puzzles, game play, etc.) amazon’s self-publishing video broker, “create space” requires you to send in your film as a DVD, i.e. mpeg-2 Standard Definition (640×480). so, to sell on amazon, i had to package my video in an app. as you are aware, youtube is a poor place to put a vertical as well and google (owner of youtube) doesn’t encourage self-published film for sale. my video is also an app on the google play store. the only place to get the “pure video” (it is mp4-720Hx1280V) is a site called distrify.com where indie films are distributed. very few people are aware of distrify.com and they don’t really publicize films the way amazon and apple do (you can’t even do a search on distrify, you must have a link to the film you want from elsewhere). there are some other indie distribution sites but i haven’t used them. one can also “self distribute” which the filmmakers of “Indie Game: the Movie” (a normal format HD film, not vertical) have done.

I will check out your feature-length film too. Very cool that you created one in the format that you did. As a fan of film (and a person who one day would love to produce one AND write a script – getting there. Baby steps), I can appreciate the artistic take on vertical video.

Again, thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment!

for some reason the “for android devices” got catenated to the link.

all this said, there are artistic reasons for vertical video. i have done a feature length animated one, which is based on the imagery from old picture books. to reorient this material into a horizontal format would not have preserved the integrity of the original images. i have been waiting for twenty years for a platform to properly display this, and finally have it in the iPad and android devices that can be conveniently rotated into a “portrait” orientation.

take a look and see what you think, it’s free at:

or
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/alicewinks/id638731885?ls=1 for the iPad– get the “sample” iBook

search for “alicewinks” for more stuff.

these videos will not go into landscape and pillarbox, they must be viewed in portrait orientation. this “intimate” imagery was also meant to be viewed at arms length (as in a book) rather than on a far away “big screen” as with a movie. i think it looks best on a full-size iPad or other 10 inch sized tablet, which is the approximate size of the original imagery.