Turn quote reels into vertical 9:16 video for phones

A quote reel often gets watched on a phone: forwarded in a team chat, opened from an email between meetings, posted to an internal channel. A landscape reel on an upright phone plays as a small strip with black bars above and below, and the participant's face takes up a fraction of the screen. Quote reels now render in portrait 9:16, so the person saying the line fills the phone.

Portrait quote reels, how they work and what they change, no sound needed.

How it works

• Switch the reel to portrait. In the quote reel editor, pick the 9:16 portrait format for the reel.

• Frame each landscape clip. A 9:16 crop box sits over every clip recorded in landscape. Drag it onto the participant so they stay in frame.

• Portrait clips need nothing. Clips recorded in portrait already fit, so they land in place.

• Save and render. The reel plays in portrait in the editor, and the download stays portrait, so it opens full-screen on a phone.

The quote editor got more room and a zoomable waveform

The same release gives the editor more space for the quote text and puts a waveform under each clip. Zoom into the waveform to place a cut between two words. The quote highlights as you edit, so you see which words will play, and you can reorder quotes in the same view. The text now lines up more tightly with the audio, so a trim lands where the sentence starts and ends.

Research teams asked for it in three situations

These come from teams we work with in consumer goods, food and drink, retail and media. We kept them anonymous.

• Reels sent around the business. Clips downloaded and forwarded over chat or email, where colleagues open them on a phone.

• Newsletters, intranets and websites. Short consumer clips placed where people scroll, next to the finding they support.

• Phone-first panels. Studies where most participants join from their phone, so the footage arrives in portrait to begin with.

What this means for your research

The moment that should change a decision now fills the screen your stakeholders watch it on, with captions and the participant's own voice.

Two limits to know. A 9:16 crop keeps a narrow column of a landscape frame, so a product held up, a gesture or a second person near the edge can fall outside it. Check each clip after you frame it, and keep the reel in landscape when the scene matters as much as the face. Clips also show participants' faces and voices, so check who the reel is for before you share it.

Portrait quote reels in under three minutes

A narrated walkthrough with real participant clips: switching a reel to portrait, framing each landscape clip, the roomier editor and the three situations teams asked for.

Read the quote reels guide for every editor setting.