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ANSWER

Should an AI drama be vertical (9:16) or horizontal (16:9)?

Short answer

Vertical 9:16 for short dramas watched in phone feeds and short-drama apps; horizontal 16:9 for films and long-form YouTube. Compose for the target from the first frame, because cropping 16:9 to 9:16 keeps only about a third of the picture.

Pick by where it will be watched

Which aspect ratio for which release
ReleaseAspectOur example
Short-drama apps, TikTok, Reels, Shorts9:16Blood Sun: The Fall of Kratos, High Note
Long-form YouTube film or feature16:9The Fall of Kalak, The Wolf Mother
A widescreen trailer or opening of a vertical series16:9The Emperor's Pleasure Court

Why not crop later

A 9:16 frame cut from a 16:9 frame at the same height keeps 9/16 of 9/16 of the width, about 32% of it. Faces drift out of frame and two-shots become one-shots. Generating natively in 9:16 composes every reference, storyboard and clip for the phone.

Making both

For The Emperor's Pleasure Court we remade the opening of a vertical series in 16:9: 55 script units, the same cast sheets, and every location re-shot as 16:9 camera plates so the widescreen film matched the vertical episodes. Reusing characters is cheap; locations need new framing.

What changes in the writing

  • Vertical: more close-ups and two-shots, one subject per frame, action stacked top to bottom.
  • Horizontal: room for wide establishing shots, groups and movement across the frame.
  • Captions: centred low in vertical; standard subtitle position in horizontal.
  • Platform rules: TikTok's Drama Center required derivative materials such as trailers to be 9:16 and at least 1080p when we submitted ours, so a 720p vertical master needed upscaling for those.

Where Katechon Arc fits

Arc projects are set to 9:16 or 16:9 and compose references, storyboards and clips for that frame.

Arc has no other aspect ratios such as 1:1 or 4:5, and does not reframe a finished film automatically.

Related answers

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