Disney’s New Series Is Designed to Be Watched Vertically
Do not adjust your sets.This week Disney is touting the release of a new shortform anthology series called Locker Diaries. The episodes — which will appear on Disney+, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok — feature characters from different Disney franchises, including Zombies, Descendants, and Phineas and Ferb. Each brief episode — the first two run four and three minutes respectively — are shot from inside a school locker. So while they technically fill the screen if you watch on a television or computer, you miss absolute nothing watching them on your phone.As Disney itself put it in a press release, the show “offers audiences a fresh perspective on their favorite shows and movies” and is “designed for digital platforms ... [it] leans into vertical viewing by framing each story through an open locker.”READ MORE: The Best Movies on Disney+ Every Film Lover Must SeeThis particular show is less notable, in my opinion, than what it represents: Disney’s attempt to experiment with original content in vertical format instead of the typical widescreen television one. They are not the first company to try it, nor are they the first company to try their hand at shows for “digital platforms.”But they’re also not just doing this because they love Zombies fans and want to make them happy. They want to see whether these get traction with Zombies fans — a younger, teen audience who consume almost everything on their phones — because they are vertical first. And if they do, who knows where the company goes next. Full-blown vertical TV shows?Frankly, I am surprised more companies aren’t trying to make good-looking vertical content. A huge portion of the population has their phones permanently affixed to their hands at this point, and almost all of them are holding those phones (and scrolling through endless shortform videos) vertically. Purists might tell you that widescreen is the more appealing format visually, that it produces the better and more striking compositions, that it is the most suited to our eyes and our field of visual. But if your customers don’t care and are using a different format ... you might have to adapt anyway.You can watch the first two Zombies-centric episodes of Locker Diaries below — whether you are reading this article on your phone or not.From star-powered remakes to kid-friendly comedies, it seems even the most diehard Disney fans forget these live-action movies from the '90s, 2000s, and 2010s exist.Gallery Credit: Erica Russell
