One of the most important decisions we need to make before beginning production of your marketing or promotional video is the size — or more specifically, the resolution — of the final product.

Although it sounds like a pretty simple decision (“there are standard sizes, right?”), there are actually a number of critical elements to consider.

The Skinny on SD vs. HD

First, we need to choose between SD (Standard Definition) and HD (High Definition). SD is the more “classic” format we are familiar with from older TVs and computer screens, and is a slightly rectangular shape with a ratio of 4:3 (1024 X 768, 800 X 600, 640 X 480, etc.).

HD, on the other hand, is much more oblong, like a movie screen or a modern digital (LCD or plasma) TV, and has a ratio of 16:9. Have you ever watched a Hollywood movie on a non-HD TV? So you noticed that either the broadcaster added a black strip above and below the scene in order to show the long horizontal picture (aka “letterbox”)… or, more likely, the broadcaster zoomed into the middle of the screen because directors know to leave non-essential elements off to the sides so they won’t be missed if viewed in this format.

YouTube and the Rise of HD

Now, the reason you’re hearing more and more about HD online, is that YouTube has made HD its standard: 1280 X 720, or when full-screen isn’t required, 640 X 360. It actually goes up to a format called 1080p, or 1920 X 1080, but this is generally way beyond what you need for a home page video.

Read the next section carefully, as it’s important to understand this YouTube issue.

Because YouTube’s content is frequently photographic video filmed in HD, they encourage contributors to use that format — and this is the shape of the player you will find on pages of the YouTube site itself. Sadly, instead of customizing that player to the shape of the video (there are millions of SD videos on YouTube using the more square, less oblong format), they simply fill the extra space on either side with those familiar, ugly, black letterbox strips.

We assume this is to push HD aggressively and to “dissuade” us all from using the old format. Yeah, it’s annoying. The upshot? If your video is going to be seen heavily on the YouTube site itself, you may want to stick with native HD format.

However, if you are embedding the video on your own site while simply hosting it on YouTube, YouTube does give you the ability to customize the player size so that it fits your video perfectly, without letterboxing. This means a video playing on your site can indeed look just fine in SD, the more square shape.

Designing for High Definition

So why wouldn’t you want to simply stick with HD? Here at RapidFire Video, we’ve see two primary reasons. First, webpages (homepages especially) are often designed with much more “square” elements, and with vertical rectangles of text. A long, thin, horizontal rectangular element doesn’t always fit the design.

Aside from the page design, there’s the video design: keeping objects in the center of an oblong frame means that there is plenty of space often wasted on the left and right sides.

Generally, when a promotional video is short and focused, you want the viewer to concentrate on a central object or text element, and many video designers (including us) prefer a more square design space where we can use objects that aren’t…well…long and horizontal. It’s certainly not a showstopper, but we think it makes for a less elegant design structure. Finally, if you are using screenshots and your screen is the classic shape (not “HD” long and thin), then those screenshots won’t fit nicely into the HD shape. There will be blank space above and below.

A Sizable Decision

So let’s assume you have chosen one of these two shapes. There is still one more consideration, and that is the actual size in which we create the video: the common, compact web-promo — 640X480 (SD) or 640X360 (HD) — or something that takes up 2/3 of the screen — 800X600 or 800X450…or even full-screen.

You may think it doesn’t matter because we should simply be able to create it large and shrink it down if needed for a smaller space. But the problem is simply…the level of detail in the video, as well as, to a lesser extent, the cost of the images we use (larger, higher resolution pictures are somewhat more expensive).

If you plan to use screenshots or any other elements with medium or small text that needs to be seen (somewhat) clearly, you need to either present the video on a standalone page where it can take up plenty of room…or present it in a light box that pops open when clicked and can likewise dominate the screen.

If, however, you decide to show the video smaller and compact as is commonly done when embedded on the page, we will need to zoom into and then pan around the screenshots to make them readable. This is not a problem, but needs to be taken into account when deciding on the videos size as well as on the content elements. In short, the ultimate viewing size dictates how detailed the content must be, which in turn has an impact on how large as space we have to work with.

And of course, if you plan to show the marketing video at sales meetings, trade shows, etc., you’ll certainly want the highest resolution available. This option though, comes with a modest additional cost to cover the higher-resolution photos.

Finally, the most important thing to understand is that whatever size we produce the video in is the maximum size at which it should be shown. It can be shrunk down, and while the resizing may distort the entry a little bit, the effect will be negligible (except for on the smaller items that you naturally might not see as well because shrinking them means a little less detail). If we design at 640 X 480, it just won’t look good blown up to full-screen size.

This all may seem a little overwhelming, but don’t worry — we, here at RapidFire Video, will walk you through the decision when the time comes. Understanding the facts above, though, will help you make the right decision.