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How Do I Make a Video Portrait in After Effects?

Published in Vertical Video After Effects 5 mins read

Making a video portrait in After Effects primarily involves setting up your composition for a vertical aspect ratio suitable for platforms like Instagram Stories, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts, and then arranging or converting your video content within that format.

Setting Up Your Vertical Composition

To create a video in a portrait orientation, you need to define your project's dimensions accordingly.

Composition Settings

  1. Create a New Composition: Go to Composition > New Composition or press Ctrl+N (Windows) / Cmd+N (Mac).
  2. Set Dimensions: This is crucial for portrait orientation. Standard vertical video dimensions are the inverse of horizontal HD resolutions. For example:
    • HD Vertical: Set Width to 1080 pixels and Height to 1920 pixels (a 9:16 aspect ratio).
    • Other common vertical resolutions might be proportional to this (e.g., 720x1280).
  3. Frame Rate: Set a standard frame rate like 24, 25, or 30 frames per second (fps), depending on your project requirements and target platform.
  4. Duration: Set the desired length of your video portrait.
  5. Background Color: Choose your background color (often black or white, but can be anything).
  6. Click OK to create your vertical composition.

Importing and Adapting Footage

Once your vertical composition is ready, you can import your video clips or images (File > Import > File...).

  • Vertical Footage: If your source footage is already shot vertically, it should fit well into the vertical composition, possibly requiring minor scaling or positioning.
  • Horizontal Footage: If you are adapting horizontal footage (16:9), you have a few options to make it fit the vertical 9:16 frame:
    • Scale Up and Crop: Increase the scale of the horizontal footage until it fills the height of the vertical frame. This will crop the sides of your original footage.
    • Fit and Add Background: Scale the horizontal footage to fit the width of the vertical frame. This will leave empty space at the top and bottom. You can fill this space with solid colors, blurred versions of the video, graphics, or text.
    • Splitting/Arranging: For some dynamic effects, you might split the horizontal footage and arrange different parts within the vertical frame.

Exporting a Frame

As highlighted in the referenced workflow for tackling vertical video conversion for social media, exporting a single frame can be a useful step. This might be done to create a thumbnail, a reference image, or for use in other software like Photoshop as mentioned in the reference title.

To export a frame from your vertical video composition:

  1. Move the playhead to the specific frame you want to export.
  2. Go to Composition > Save Frame As > File.
  3. After Effects will add the composition to the Render Queue.
  4. In the Render Queue, you'll see the output module is set to "Still Image" by default (e.g., as a PNG or JPEG).
  5. Specify the output location and filename.
  6. Hit Render.

This action directly follows the process described in the reference: "So I'm going to go to composition. Save frame as file and I'll hit render."

Exporting the Final Vertical Video

Once you've finished creating and editing your video portrait composition, you'll need to export it as a video file. The standard way to do this is using the Render Queue within After Effects or Adobe Media Encoder.

  1. Add your final composition to the Render Queue (Composition > Add to Render Queue).
  2. Choose your output settings. Common settings for social media video portraits include:
    • Format: H.264 (provides a good balance of quality and file size)
    • Output Module: Adjust settings like resolution (should match your vertical comp), frame rate, and quality.
  3. Specify the output filename and location.
  4. Hit Render.

For best results and platform-specific settings, exporting via Adobe Media Encoder (Composition > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue) is often recommended.

Tips for Vertical Content

  • Keep Action Central: Frame your main subject or action in the center of the vertical frame, as viewers often hold their phones vertically.
  • Use Graphics: Vertical space allows for graphics or text overlays at the top or bottom.
  • Consider the Platform: Be aware of where text overlays or UI elements might appear on platforms like Instagram or TikTok when designing your video.

Creating a video portrait in After Effects is straightforward once you understand the composition settings required for the vertical format and how to adapt your content within that frame.

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