How to rotate a video
filmed sideways or upside down
Why videos come out turned
A phone decides which way is up from how it is held when you press record. Film from above, flat over a table, and it often guesses wrong. Turn the phone halfway through, and the file keeps the first guess. The picture plays on its side, or upside down.
How it is fixed by hand
In a classic editor you select the clip, find the transform settings, type 90 or 180 degrees, then scale it so it fills the frame again. Then you do it again for every clip from the same angle, and check none was missed.
Rotating in Montage
In Montage you say it: « the notebook shots are upside down, turn them ». Montage finds those shots by what is in them, turns each one the right way up and keeps it in the frame. In « How to be creative », the notebook was filmed from above, upside down. Every one of those shots came out the right way up from one sentence.
After rotating
If one is still off, say which, and Montage turns it again. Change it by hand, or ask again. A shot turned from wide to tall is framed again on what matters in it.
Tips
- Name the shots by what is in them: « the shots from above », « the notebook ».
- Check one rotated shot on a phone before you post.
- If a shot is only a little tilted, ask to straighten it, not to rotate it.