EmailWe have been teaching video making for more than 30 years.
The advent of the phone was a real game-changer.
It meant, among other things, that we no longer had to drag around a dozen Pelican Cases to each bootcamp, filled with cameras and laptops. (We sold 50 of each on eBay this year). The phones solved a lot of problems - gear wise. Now everyone could shoot and even edit on their phones (though we still prefer a laptop for the editing).
When people started to shoot with their phones, a lot of them naturally turned the phone vertically. That is, after all, how phones are used today (though early iterations of smartphones often went horizontal - an idea that never caught on).
We used to spend a lot of time reminding people to always shoot horizontally.
Then, a few apps, bowing to the overwhelming instinct to shoot vertically, began to air (if air is the right word), vertical video - Snapchat, TikTok, Vine and so on). To make our case, we used to ask if anyone had ever seen a vertical TV set.
Well, now there is one.
Samsung, maker of great smart TVs, has released a TV set (if TV set is not already an anachronistic term - shall we call them monitors instead?) that is both horizontal and vertical.
The 43in device is called Sero and comes with an integrated easel-like stand upon which the screen pivots.
It will go on sale in South Korea towards the end of May and cost 1.89m won (£1,250).
As smart TVs begin to access pretty much every video on the web, there is clearly going to be a market for vertical video at home - how much of a market, I am not so sure.
Of course, you can always use it to screen conventional landscape TV and movies, just watching them sideways,
Probably very useful on the International Space Station.
