How to make the other aspect ratios from an approved master without rebuilding it

Last updated 2026-09-15 · 8 min read

What is the short version?

A second format asked for as a new video gets built as a new video. Different shots get chosen, the captions land differently, the music is mixed again, and you are now reviewing two edits instead of checking one adaptation.

1. Get one format approved with Vizard Agent.
2. Ask for the others by recomposing that master's layers.
3. Ask for each one played back beside its master.

What do you need before you start?

An approved master and a list of what is not allowed to change. Vizard Agent treats the approved version as the source of truth, and stating the protected list explicitly is what keeps a recomposition from drifting into a re-edit.

• The approved master. Signed off, not nearly.
• The target formats. Which ratios you need.
• What must not change. Order, wording, mix, timing.
• What may move. Framing, overlay positions.
• Whose face must stay clear. It drives the reframe.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Say "do not creatively rebuild". It is blunt and it is the instruction that works, because a request for another format reads by default as a request for another video in that format — and Vizard Agent, given a free hand, will make a good new video rather than a faithful adaptation of the one you already approved.

Prompt

Variants worth knowing:

• "Do not creatively rebuild." The one instruction that holds Vizard Agent to the master.
• "Recompose the existing layers." Names the method.
• "Each one against its master." The check that proves it.

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the Vizard Agent sequence on a real set of seven approved videos adapted to a second ratio. Note that the framing is planned shot by shot before anything renders, because a single global crop cannot serve every shot in a film.

1. Opens the approved masters and their existing edit layers.
2. Checks the framing and end-card layouts across all of them.
3. Reviews each master for faces, subtitle clearance and end cards.
4. Prepares shot-by-shot framing guides for the new ratio.
5. Positions the graphics, captions and end cards for that frame.
6. Recomposes the layers, keeping text, timing, order and audio.
7. Renders the adaptations.
8. Checks durations and audio against the approved masters.
9. Compares each new version with its master, shot by shot.
10. Plays them back side by side for transitions, subtitles and timing.

Step four is what stops the adaptation being a crop. Each shot has a different subject in a different part of the frame, so the new ratio needs a per-shot decision — and making those decisions before rendering is far cheaper than discovering them afterwards.

Step eight is a quiet but decisive check. If the adaptation's duration or audio differs from the master's at all, something was re-edited rather than recomposed, and the number tells you that before anybody watches it.

Step five matters because overlays do not scale. A caption that sits comfortably in a tall frame can collide with a face or a platform's interface in a squarer one, so their positions are redesigned for the new shape rather than carried across.

What does the result look like?

The same videos in another shape. The words are the words, the cuts are in the same places, the mix measures the same, and the only thing that changed is what fits inside the frame. Vizard Agent hands back a set that a reviewer can approve by exception rather than watch end to end.

Vizard Agent also reports each adaptation's duration and audio levels against its master, which is the evidence that nothing else moved while the framing did.

When does this not work well?

Some ratios cannot hold the same composition. A 16:9 master with two people at opposite edges will not recompose into a vertical frame without losing one of them, and there the honest answer is a different edit rather than a different crop.

• Very different ratios. Wide to vertical loses the sides, and Vizard Agent will say so.
• Two subjects far apart. The frame has to choose.
• Text designed for the shape. It may need rebuilding.
• Masters that are not final. Give Vizard Agent the approved cut, not a draft.
• Full-frame graphics. Those get remade, not recomposed.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Say which video it is and what moved in it. Because Vizard Agent adapted each master separately rather than as one batch job, a note about one of them does not disturb the other six, and a vague "something changed" becomes a specific thing that Vizard Agent can check against that video's own master.

• "The face is cut off in shot three." That shot is reframed.
• "The mix sounds different." It should not be; re-checked.
• "The end card lost a line." The layout is rebuilt for the shape.
• "This one was re-edited." Compared against its master.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

By hand a second format means opening the project and cropping, which works until an overlay collides with something, and then it becomes a re-edit. Halfway through, the two versions have quietly diverged and nobody is sure which one is current. Vizard Agent starts from the approved layers instead, so there is only ever one set of decisions.

Common questions

Why not just crop it? Because one crop cannot suit every shot, and the overlays collide. Vizard Agent frames shot by shot.

Will the audio change? No. Vizard Agent keeps the approved mix and checks that it measures the same.

Can it do several at once? Yes, though Vizard Agent adapts each master separately so each stays checkable.

What if a shot will not fit? Vizard Agent flags that shot and asks rather than silently cropping somebody out of it.

Do the captions move? Their positions do, because Vizard Agent lays them out for the new shape. Their wording and timing do not.

Should I approve one format first? Yes. Giving Vizard Agent an unapproved master means adapting the whole set twice.

Will the durations match? Exactly, and Vizard Agent checks that as evidence nothing was re-edited.

What about full-screen graphics? Vizard Agent remakes those for the new shape rather than recomposing them.

Can it compare against the master? Yes. Vizard Agent plays them side by side, which is the point of the final step.

Does the end card need redesigning? Often. A wide end card rarely fits a square frame, and Vizard Agent rebuilds its layout.

What if the master changes later? Vizard Agent re-derives the adaptations rather than patching them.

Can it keep the same file naming? Yes. Vizard Agent names each one with the ratio as a suffix, which keeps the set manageable.

Does this work for a square version too? Yes. Vizard Agent derives any ratio from the same approved layers.

Why did my second version drift? Because it was made as a new edit rather than as an adaptation. Ask Vizard Agent for the adaptation.