Audiovisual media have been constantly developed as a tool for expression as a result of the effort made by people to satisfy their needs for and solve problems with communication and experience. Starting with photography, which represents the startin...
Audiovisual media have been constantly developed as a tool for expression as a result of the effort made by people to satisfy their needs for and solve problems with communication and experience. Starting with photography, which represents the starting point of audiovisual media that recreates the reality, media environment including movies, TV, and the internet have produced various types of contents according to changes in technology. Recently, the mobile media that is largely based on smartphones became an important part of our daily life. And the effort to develop optimal environment for using the mobile media led to creation of vertical videos. Until now, videos have been made in an wide format, close to the human visual field. However, mobile media are mostly used in a vertical format and, as a result, vertical videos were developed to resolve inconvenience caused by the discrepancy. In the last five years, the viewership of vertical videos has increased by over 24%. And, according to a report, in mobile environment, users are nine times more likely to watch an advertisement until the end when it is in a vertical video format than when it is in a horizontal video format. Vertical video contents are being actively produced for advertisement, music videos, and social media in South Korea and elsewhere.
This study proposed the necessity to research vertical videos, which are growing in importance in the contents culture, and analyzed the relevant cases in an attempt to find the optimal screen composition for vertical videos. First, it reviewed literature related to change in media environment until development of vertical videos and defined the concept of vertical video. And, based on theories on frames, which are the most basic element in screen composition, it defined layout, icon, movement, and montage(editing) as the components of composition in order to discuss theories on screen composition. Furthermore, this study selected examples of vertical videos that were widely discussed or consumed by the public within a short period and examples of contents that are mainly based on vertical videos, for the purpose of analyzing components of screen composition based on the theories discussed earlier. And then, the analysis results were compared to horizontal videos according to the component and characteristics of screen composition of vertical videos were identified. Regarding layout, vertical videos had differences about generally used layout compared to horizontal videos. Regarding icon, when there was a human character, there was difference in use of shot or visual experience provided by the screen according to the size of the character within the frame. Also, vertical videos had unique characteristics in setting and use of props. Regarding movement, due to the difference in basic ratio of the space captured in the frames, there was difference in the icon size and other characteristics. Regarding montage, although the techniques were not diverse, shot transitions using graphic matchprovided interesting visual effects when watched on smartphones.
So far, most of the contents using vertical videos focused on mobile media environment. However, As the fourth media market based on large display such as digital signage using digital information display (DID) and media tower, it is necessary to pay attention to the new role of vertical videos in them. Also, further research will need to be conducted regarding development of video contents.