# Screen zones for vertical video

Edit / Edit effect / Layouts. Checked 2026-11-13.

Each layer sits where the eye and the interface leave room for it.

- Use when: Any talking-head video with a text hook and captions.
- Phrase: text hook in the top fifth, the face in the middle, captions in the lower fifth above the platform's buttons
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/effect/screen-zones
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/effect/screen-zones.json

## Watch out

- Keep text at least 10 percent away from every edge; devices crop differently. (practitioner; The Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report))
- Do not stack hook text, face and captions all in the dead centre. (practitioner; The Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report))

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Give me an edit brief: where it goes on the timeline, the exact settings, and what to check before export, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is screen zones for vertical video: each layer sits where the eye and the interface leave room for it. How it works: text hook in the top fifth, the face in the middle, captions in the lower fifth above the platform's buttons. It is right for: any talking-head video with a text hook and captions. Keep text at least 10 percent away from every edge; devices crop differently. Do not stack hook text, face and captions all in the dead centre. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- Caption safe zones: https://directorchair.ai/effect/caption-safe-zones
- Text on screen first: https://directorchair.ai/hook/text-first-hook
- Three-layer hook: https://directorchair.ai/hook/three-layer-hook

## Source

Own words from the Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report)

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.