The lights dim in the theater at Imagica Media Studio in Tokyo’s Takeshiba neighborhood, and the press settles in for a movie exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and humanity. Then, the screen narrows to a third of its original size. It’s the least surprising twist in “Chat Boy,” a nearly two-hour drama made for smartphones.
But seeing a vertical video projected in a movie theater still has a certain surreal quality to it — like watching a TikTok in IMAX. His joke gets at the unusual economics of vertical drama. The format is closely associated with microdramas: short, serialized stories that took off as a format in China in the late 2010s and are built around quick-hit episodes designed for mobile viewing.
Companies such as Gokko Inc. have made vertical-first dramas their main business as the format has risen in popularity in Japan, while dedicated platforms including Bump and Tatedora have emerged alongside established short-form video platforms. The format has piqued the interest of many of Japan’s established entertainment agencies, too. Starto, the talent agency behind some of the country’s biggest male idol groups, launched S Drama earlier this year, putting its stars into short-form productions made specifically for vertical screens.
Group, with Kawashima from Travis Japan. The plot follows Utsumi (Masakado), a seemingly confident manga editor whose dependence on AI chat tools has become an addiction. When government regulations suddenly prevent him from using the technology, he turns to a shady company peddling AI-powered humanoids designed to circumvent the new restrictions.
Things get complicated when one of the androids happens to be a dead ringer for Utsumi’s former high school classmate Fujino (Kawashima). It felt like we were constantly being filmed in close-up.” Kawashima leans in close toward Masakado’s face to demonstrate just how close “close-up” could get. Vertical drama changes more than the shape of the final image.
According to Masakado, the director and crew explained that shooting vertically effectively shrinks the amount of usable space in the frame. There is less room to arrange actors, props and backgrounds, meaning filmmakers have to think differently about how they construct a shot. Sometimes that means putting as much as possible into the frame.
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