Setting the record straight on vertical dramas
Big studios have begun producing vertical dramas. The platform has seen a steady rise in viewership, with award-winning filmmaker Dan Villegas stating that research shows it’s where audiences are. And I can concur.
On my daily commute, I see people on the train, on the bus, or on the jeep—watching these dramas on their phones. The audience’s eyes are stuck to their phone screens, quickly scrolling through to the next episode while stuck in traffic.
Brands are even getting in on this. On Mother’s Day, Eden Cheese released a four-part vertical drama called “Cheese the One,” a hyper-realistic, campy comedy about a wife and her mother-in-law fighting over the husband/son through food.
At approximately two minutes per episode, the branded drama is punchy, funny, and attention-grabbing. But what makes it so special is that the team behind it includes Villegas in the director’s chair with screenwriter Juan Miguel Sevilla and Pao Orendain as director of photography. The three of them have never done vertical dramas before, having come from a film background and with an extensive filmography involving some big movies.
The differences in format
At a special screening of the four episodes, members of the media and content creators watched the whole series, laughing at the punchlines and crazy antics. But they first showed it in full 16×9 format—the format for cinema. It was only after the four episodes had shown that they showed clips of the series again in vertical format.
It was a whole different experience altogether. In the full, 16×9 format, it took me a while to get into the series, and it ended way too soon. Each episode felt like a sketch. I was looking for more. But after they showed us clips of the same story in a different format, I found myself more accepting of the gaps in storytelling that I’m used to.
With the full frame, the eye has a chance to wander. The characters are situated in real situations—a living room or a kitchen—and so our natural reaction is to ask for more information, which the writing doesn’t allow. But when you cut the screen and only focus on the center, the close-ups feel bigger, and the comedy gets punchier.
Without the sense of place and only the character’s faces or the subject of the shot as the only thing, our eyes see within the confines of the screen. My mind shuts off, and I’m more accepting of the gaps in storytelling.
It’s a totally different storytelling medium, which is snappier and better suited to highlight a narrative beat within its two- to three-minute time frame. Many other filmmakers who have begun to experiment with the medium tell me the writing of it is completely different. You have to hook them in the first few seconds and always end each episode with a cliffhanger.
Like Sevilla shares, “it goes against all the rules” that have been taught in film school.
Where the audiences are
Villegas shares that the hardest shift for him was to figure out the blocking. “It has to be studied,” he explains. “You have to rewire your sensibilities as a filmmaker. But it is fun to do because it’s a challenge.”
Sevilla talks about how, in vertical dramas, there’s “no time to let the story rest or breathe.” He shares, “In terms of economy of storytelling, you really have to keep the story moving,” and he found himself sticking to “universal tropes and themes to keep it easily recognizable for the audience.”
In this microdrama, Villegas still manages to be playful with his camera, panning and moving from one character to the next—something I seldom see in the very few dramas I have managed to catch on social media—with the film sensibilities still present.
But when someone of his caliber and fame is enjoying playing around with this new medium, is this really where the future of film is going?
“This might be controversial,” Villegas starts, “but there are people who say that cinema should only be made for the wide screen. But what is cinema?” Everyone laughs at the implications.
He continues, “You can’t stop change, so you have to study how stories are told in the new platforms. It’s not just the format—it being vertical—that makes it different. It’s also the length. You have to have a certain kind of pace, not just for the director but for the editor as well.”
“It’s a new discipline. And it’s fun because it’s new. There is no set of rules, so we are all learning together,” he adds.
Villegas says, “If this is the way we can tell stories that reach more people, then why not? I’m open to change. I’m a filmmaker. I’m doing this because I want to tell stories. Regardless of where it is, I’ll embrace it.”
Where stories are told
The film industry has suffered greatly due to the pandemic and all the lockdowns. Globally, movies are not making as much money as they used to. The rising cost of movie tickets in relation to everything else, most especially basic necessities, has turned watching in the cinema into something of a luxury.
Yes, there are still movies that can make a killing at the box office, but these are no longer sure things. A superhero movie is not always a surefire hit—especially with huge budgets adding more challenges to making a profit. Take the last “Mission Impossible” movie, for example, which underperformed. There are surprise breakthroughs, though, like last year’s “Sinners,” and no one was expecting “Barbie” to hit over a billion at the box office.
In the Philippines, it’s even harder to discover what makes people rush to the cinemas again. The most telling would be the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). It used to be a sure way for film studios to make a killing, but in the last two MMFFs, only the top two films have cleared the box office. The usual rom-coms aren’t a sure bet.
What the pandemic and all the lockdowns have shown people is that they can get their movie fix at home for the cost of a subscription. The recipe that would make people go to the cinema and spend the high cost of a ticket and snacks is still up for debate. Most of the time, people will now just wait for the film to come out on streaming.
As subscription rates get higher, bite-sized fiction in the form of the vertical drama format becomes an easy substitute best suited to our current fast-paced world. Film isn’t going anywhere, but it has a lot of competition. And when you’ve got auteurs exploring the new playing field, vertical dramas may be the next hot ticket.
