How to plan one shoot for 16:9 and 9:16

Decide which ratio leads

Before anything else, decide per shot which ratio is the primary one. Almost every shot has a natural home.

A wide establishing shot is horizontal by nature. A single person talking is vertical by nature. Trying to make every shot serve both equally produces two mediocre versions, so choose a lead for each and let the other follow.

In practice: if the campaign is mostly social, lead vertical and derive horizontal. If it is a broadcast commercial with social support, lead horizontal and shoot dedicated vertical setups for the shots that need them.

Framing for both

• Shoot in the highest ratio you can and crop down. Open gate or 4K gives room to reframe without losing resolution.
• Keep the subject centred in the vertical safe area. Composition that puts a subject on a third in 16:9 will push them out of frame in 9:16.
• Leave headroom at top and bottom. Platform UI covers roughly the top 10% and bottom 20% of a vertical frame.
• Watch horizontal action. Movement across a wide frame does not survive a vertical crop.
• Use a framing guide on the monitor. Everyone on set should be able to see both boxes.

On set

Where a shot genuinely needs both, shoot it twice rather than compromising once. A second take with the camera reframed costs a few minutes; a reshoot costs a day.

Keep a vertical monitor visible, or at minimum guides on the main monitor. Directors compose for what they are looking at, and if the only reference is a wide frame, the vertical version will be an afterthought.

Note on the shot list which ratio each setup leads, and have the DoP confirm the crop works before moving on.

In post

Grade the master once and carry it across both versions so the campaign looks consistent.

Re-time rather than only re-crop. Vertical edits generally want faster cuts and earlier hooks, so the vertical version is rarely the same edit in a different shape.

Position titles and lower thirds per ratio. Text placed for a wide frame will land under the platform UI in vertical almost every time.