Landscape now, vertical later: planning for dual-format

A landscape live show can make a good vertical clip, but only if the important parts survive the crop. A guest placed at the far edge, a lower-third stretched across the bottom, or a tight head crop can turn a strong moment into a frame with missing faces and unreadable text.

You have two workable approaches: produce a native 9:16 scene in Web Studio when the live destination is vertical-first, or keep the live show in 16:9 and plan the recording for later clips. The choice is about where the audience will watch first and how much of the show needs to work in both shapes.

Frame the live shot for the crop

For a landscape-first show, keep the host and the main guest close to the middle third of the 16:9 frame. A centered subject gives a future portrait crop somewhere to go. Leave headroom above the speaker; a tight forehead crop is harder to fix later than extra space.

For a panel, ask guests to center themselves in their camera boxes. This does not guarantee that every layout will be perfect, but it gives the scene more usable material when you reframe a speaker or use an ISO track later.

Keep graphics inside a safe area

Design for the part of the landscape image that can remain visible in a narrow portrait window:

• Keep important text, guest names, and topic labels inside the middle 50% of the canvas when possible.
• Do not anchor the only copy in an extreme corner if a future crop needs to find it.
• Check lower-thirds and tickers separately. A full-width banner can become a fragment on a phone.
• Use Web Studio layout presets as a starting point, then preview the actual output shape.

Safe zones are not a reason to make every overlay tiny. They are a reason to decide what must remain visible and remove everything that does not survive the crop.

When to use native Portrait mode

If the live audience is primarily on a vertical destination, set the output before the show. In Web Studio, go to Scenes → Output and choose 9:16 Portrait. The stage, guest slots, and overlays can then be arranged for the mobile frame rather than being squeezed into it at the last moment.

Native Portrait is a good fit for a solo host, a vertical interview, or a show where mobile viewing is the main experience. It is less convenient when the same live program must be a comfortable 16:9 presentation for YouTube or Twitch. In that case, keep the main show landscape and make vertical moments deliberately.

When to keep landscape and use AI Clips

For a landscape live show, cloud recording is available on Hobby and above. After the recording completes, AI Clips can turn selected moments into 9:16 highlights. AI Clips are available on Creator and above: Creator includes up to three clips per stream, while Scale and Enterprise include unlimited clip generation.

The generated clips use transcript markers and speaker framing, with caption styles and layout choices. Review each one before publishing. Automated reframing can find a useful moment, but it cannot know whether a pause, joke, or visual detail is essential to your audience.

A dual-format pre-flight

1. Set the main output to landscape or Portrait based on the live audience.
2. Place faces and essential text inside the crop-safe area.
3. Preview lower-thirds, captions, and ticker together.
4. Record a short test and inspect the portrait version if clips are part of the plan.
5. Choose the strongest moments after the show instead of trying to make every frame serve both formats.

Dual-format planning is not about forcing a landscape show to look like a phone video. It is about protecting the important visual information now, so the recording still has useful options later.

Before committing to a layout, make a quick portrait crop of a representative frame. If the host, guest name, and main action are still obvious, the scene is doing its job. If not, move the subject or simplify the overlay before you record the full program.