Sunday 19 January 2014

App Cures Vertical Video Syndrome


We should all know by now if you’re shooting videos in portrait mode rather than landscape, you're doing it wrong.

Yet YouTube is still filled with videos flanked by black bars — something Horizon's developer calls "the worst type of video a human being can lay eyes on."

The $0.99 app, which hit the App Store Tuesday, eliminates that wasted black space. Videos shot with the app always appear in landscape mode, regardless of how the device is held. (However, it won't fix vertical videos shot in other apps.)


Here's how it works: Horizon uses your iOS device's gyroscope to automatically level videos as you shoot. You can choose between a couple of different leveling modes, which change the size of the frame. If you want to pretend the floor is a wall, you can also shoot portrait-style and have it come out as a properly landscaped video.

Videos shot in portrait mode are cropped to appear as if they were shot in landscape mode (resulting videos are slightly more zoomed-in to accommodate the crop). The orientation can be changed while filming, with little effect on the shot. Videos shot in landscape mode remain unchanged.

The app offers a variety of other options, including nine Instagram-style filters, as well as settings for shooting in different resolutions and aspect ratios.

Image: 1.HORIZON, 2. EVIL WINDOW DOG