How to reframe a video
for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Why a wide video needs reframing
Most cameras film wide. Phones show tall. When a wide shot goes on TikTok, Reels or Shorts, something has to give. Either the video sits small in the middle with empty bars around it, or it is cut down to a tall slice. The slice is what people expect. The question is which slice. If the speaker stands on the left of a wide shot, a slice taken from the middle cuts them in half. Reframing is choosing, shot by shot, the part of the picture to keep.
How to reframe a video by hand
In most editors you put the wide clip in a vertical frame, then scale it up and move it until the person is in the frame. That works for one shot. A talk has dozens. And if the person moves, one position is not enough: you add keyframes and move the picture along with them, a few seconds at a time. Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve both have an automatic option for this, and it saves a lot of the dragging. You still check every shot, because the result depends on what the software decided to follow.
Auto reframe in Montage
In Montage you say what you want: "make this talk vertical for Reels". It looks for the faces in each shot and frames the video around them. When there are two people, it keeps the box that holds both. When there is no one in the shot, it frames the middle and tells you so.
You choose how the frame behaves. It can hold one framing for the whole shot, set where the person mostly is. Or it can follow the person as they move. When it follows, the movement is smoothed, so a small nod does not make the picture shake.
The frame stays yours to change
The framing is not baked into a new file. It changes by asking, as often as you like. Ask again: "move the frame a bit to the left", or leave a comment on the moment. You can reframe only some clips, like the interview part, and leave the rest as they are. What you see in the player is what the export draws.
Vertical, square or any size
Vertical 9:16 is the usual ask, for Shorts, Reels and TikTok. You can also ask for a square, or any other size. Without a size, the frame is the size of your edit. The same footage can give a wide version for YouTube and a vertical one for your phone, without filming twice.
Tips for footage that reframes well
- Leave room around the person when you film. The tall slice needs picture to choose from.
- Film in good light. Faces are easier to find in a clear picture.
- Keep people close to each other if they talk together. Far apart, both cannot fit in a tall frame.
- Check the shots where someone walks out of the frame or turns away. Those are the ones to adjust by hand.
- Ask for captions after reframing, so they sit inside the new frame.