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4:5 is the new 1:1

What does this mean for live experiences?

With Instagram moving its grid to a 4:5 portrait format, it’s hard not to wonder: what if live shows followed suit? Let’s be provocative: If our creative language leaned into the vertical frame, how would it shape our spectacle practices: the way we direct, choreograph, and present shows? Let’s explore what it would take to stage a production in the 4:5 world. Well, first things first: Get your phones out! Ready?

1. Reframing the Stage

In traditional theater, the stage is wide—our eyes naturally sweep left to right. But a portrait-oriented stage flips the script. Vertical staging means narrowing the focus and concentrating the action upward, drawing the audience’s eyes in a straight line. Imagine performers scaling a towering set or choreography that builds in layers of height and depth rather than spreading across the width of the stage.

Challenge: How do we keep a vertical stage visually dynamic without overcrowding it? Looking at you, aerialists and vertical dancers!
Opportunity: Explore tiered set designs, multi-level staging, and vertical storytelling, with scenes unfolding both up and down.

2. Rethinking Blocking and Choreography

4:5 demands movement that maximizes vertical space. Forget lateral formations—the focus shifts to vertical symmetry, overlapping layers, and depth. Solo performers might command center “portrait mode,” while group choreography stacks dancers into geometric towers or cascades. Welcome back, revue-styled shows, staircases, and podiums. We’re closing a 100-year cycle and are back in 20’s, just for different reasons. If you’re lacking inspirations, check if Busby Berkeley rings a bell.

4:5 is the new reality. A marginal change enforcing new perspectives.

Challenge: Keeping a vertical frame exciting over time.
Opportunity: Play with surprise reveals, performers descending from above or emerging from below, and dynamic height shifts in choreography.

3. The Power of Close-Ups

A portrait show would naturally bring the audience closer to the performers – think IMAG gone vertical, only. Details like facial expressions, costume textures, and micro-movements are amplified and become central to storytelling. Think about the video direction in Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour. Did B anticipate this shift? Obviously, she did, she was right in it, riding it.

Challenge: Designing costumes, makeup, and lighting to withstand this level of scrutiny.
Opportunity: Showcase the nuance of performance—every smirk, every texture, and flick of a wrist becomes a storytelling moment and part of a vertical scenography.

4. Reimagining Lighting Design

Lighting in a vertical world would need to emphasize height and depth. Vertical light bars, beams, spotlight columns, or gradients from floor to ceiling could enhance the portrait effect. Even projection mapping could evolve, filling the frame with cascading visuals tailored to a 4:5 layout.

Challenge: Avoiding “flat” vertical visuals.
Opportunity: Experiment with layered lighting to create dynamic dimensions within the frame. Depth and texture are your new best friends.

5. Audience POV: The Scroll Effect

In a 4:5 show, the audience perspective would mimic scrolling on a phone. Directors could use this to their advantage by designing sequences that flow naturally from one vertical frame to the next—think of it as “scrollable storytelling.” If you thought about founding a company dealing with advances show kinetics – this is social media telling you to do so.

Challenge: Balancing this with live, uninterrupted immersion. Did Hamlet enter from the left, the right, … or the top?
Opportunity: Innovate pacing and transitions to feel like fluid, unfolding moments.

6. Designing for Social Media

In this new vertical stage, the performance doesn’t end on stage—it’s built for digital documentation. Your stage artistry becomes the audience’s studio. Think of creating iconic snapshots for the grid: solos framed perfectly for portrait mode, choreographed formations designed to capture vertical symmetry, or visuals tailored to a phone screen. Seating categories are now designed to provide the best view for 5:4 captions.

Challenge: Capturing the live energy while being mindful of digital aesthetics.
Opportunity: Seamlessly blend live experiences with shareable, social-first visuals.

Rebuild your vocabulary!

7. The Sound Dimension

With visual focus now narrowing to a vertical frame, sound design will expand to balance this. Surround sound and immersive acoustics could help extend the sensory experience beyond what the eyes see.

Challenge: Keeping sound in sync with vertical visuals.
Opportunity: Use height-based soundscapes to draw attention to specific layers of the stage. I have no clues how this could work, but who said we had all the answers already…

Conclusion

After smartphones have framed our frame of attention to vertical mode a while ago already, it’s now finally time to re-wire our IRL experiences: A 4:5 show would be nothing short of revolutionary—a complete rethinking of space, storytelling, and audience interaction. While portrait mode may feel like a limitation at first, it’s actually an invitation to experiment, innovate, and bring fresh perspectives to the stage.

After all, as creatives, we thrive when faced with boundaries. Portrait format might just be the next stage in reimagining how we tell stories—onstage and online.


Want to discuss how this could become the next big thing? Get in touch!

Andy
Andy
https://www.andymachals.com
Andy is a show director and creative producer helping his clients and creative partners craft bold, visually striking spectacles that blend pop-cultural flair with cutting-edge stagecraft. From arena tours to immersive ceremonies and global performance events, Andy thrives on bringing ambitious visions to life with creative ingenuity and resourceful leadership. With a career spanning Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, his work is marked by a knack for blending artistry and logistics to make the impossible feel seamless. A recovering academic with a PhD in directing and show-making from the University of Bristol, Andy’s research on virtuosity has been published by Cambridge University Press—proof that even in showbiz, brains and bravado can coexist.

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