Stop Ruining Your Vertical Videos & Light is the Story 🎬 | DevReel Weekly #5

January is gone! Time is flying, and so I am to San Francisco 🇺🇸 to produce videos for the company I work for (Appsmith) 🎬 and I'm bring all my equipment!

My eyes are tired. I watch hundreds of videos weekly for inspiration. But this one stopped my scrolling.

📺 Video of the Week

Most cinematic tutorials lie.
Buy this camera -> Get that lens: Wrong focus.
Light is the story. Not your gear. Not your transitions. Just. Light.

This video proves it. I truly enjoyed this video and I want you to learn a thing or two about light.

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🎯 Tip of the Week: You're Doing Vertical Video Wrong, Fix it

Stop using AI to convert horizontal to vertical. It kills me all these vertical videos with no composition, no story.

It's lazy. It looks terrible. Your developers deserve better.

Here's why:

• Safe zones matter

• Platform UI covers your content

• Composition gets murdered

If you’re planning to repurpose your videos across multiple platforms, make sure your on-screen text and graphics remain visible. Don’t let aspect ratios, in-platform icons, or descriptions cut off important elements.

Here's my resource to you: Download this image, Drop it in your editor. Set opacity to 50%. Never lose content to platform UI again.

Personal branding videos and talking to the camera are constantly on the rise. Most creators, when talking on camera, face forward and center. Example below:

But to make them more interesting, you should get inspired by master artists like Leonardo da Vinci, and turn your bodies slightly while keeping our eyes centered, like:

It gives great depth due to your shoulder position and, depending on your lighting setup, can create some very nice shadows, making your image more visually unique.

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🛠️ Resource of the Week: Hollyland Lark M2

My favorite wireless microphones on budget and with impressive quality and low-compression.

• Tiny (like, really tiny) so it disappears in videos

• 30-hour battery life (tested it, it's real)

• Auto-sync!

• 24-bit audio

• Built-in noise cancelling.

Best part? Set it. Forget it. Focus on your content. This isn't sponsored. I just really love this thing.

👉 BUY THE MIC HERE!

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And that's a wrap! See you in next week!

Have a creative week, and keep producing!