One video, three formats

Every recipe on this site builds a horizontal video — 16:9, the shape of YouTube, X and your landing page. But Reels, Shorts and TikTok want vertical (9:16), and some feeds like square (1:1). You don't make three videos. You make one, then re-cut it.

Finish horizontal first

Direct the horizontal version all the way to done — the words, the pacing, the brand, everything. Formats are the last step, not a fork. If you branch early, every note you give afterwards has to be given three times.

The ask

When the horizontal version is the one you'd publish, the whole ask is one sentence:

Make a vertical 9:16 version of this video, keeping every beat.

Your agent reflows the same video into the new shape. Same words, same order, same timing — a taller stage.

What breaks in vertical

A vertical frame is narrow, and a few things won't survive the move. Watch for them and direct in plain sentences:

• Long lines wrap or shrink. A line that sat comfortably across a wide frame now breaks in half or gets small. Don't ask for a smaller font — shorten the line. Words on screen has the rules; vertical just enforces them harder.
• Side-by-side layouts stack. Anything that sat left-and-right should now sit top-and-bottom. Say it directly: "Stack the two panels vertically."
• Keep the important content in the middle. Platform UI — captions, buttons, your own handle — covers the top and bottom edges of a vertical video. Tell your agent: "Keep text and logos in the middle of the frame, away from the top and bottom edges."

Square

Same move, one line: "Make a square 1:1 version, keeping every beat." Square sits between the two shapes and mostly just works.

Watch each one through

Before you publish, watch every format start to finish — not just the beats you expect to break. A re-cut is a new video, and you direct it like one: same plain sentences, same standard. More vocabulary: Directing your agent.