A well-composed image can become unusable after captions or a different aspect ratio are applied. Hands may sit at the bottom edge, exactly where text needs to appear. Instead of vaguely leaving some room, test the actual overlays and crops. Required margin depends on subject, output and design; one percentage cannot solve every video.
Identify essential picture elements
Decide what must remain visible in every version: face, tool tip, screen text or a hand movement. These form the protected information area. Decorative background elements can more readily disappear during cropping. If everything is indispensable, the composition may be too broad for the requested formats and require another shot rather than a tighter compromise.
Display planned frame boundaries during rehearsal. A static opening may fit while a later gesture leaves the usable area. Check the full action. Product videos must also account for extended components or raised packaging. The maximum occupied space does not necessarily occur in the first frame, so a single screenshot is not a sufficient test.
Try captions of realistic length
Place a representative two-line caption over a sample clip. One short word will not reveal how much room longer statements need. Check type size, contrast and line length on the target device. If text covers the decisive detail, change placement, framing or the edit. Progressively smaller lettering is not a sound strategy for preserving information.
Account for name straps and any interface controls on the publishing destination. These areas may overlap. Keep the design as simple as possible and avoid unnecessary simultaneous layers of text. A contributor's name need not appear at the exact moment viewers are expected to read an important label on the product.
Margin has limits
Recording too wide reduces the visible size of details. Later digital enlargement is also constrained by the available resolution. Decide whether one shared composition genuinely works or a dedicated view is required. An additional close-up may achieve more than a supposedly universal shot that only barely accommodates each version and explains none of them clearly.
Before the main shoot, export a short trial in the important formats. This checks the real crop rather than an imagined safe zone. Keep the accepted composition as a reference, and after changing camera distance or lens, verify that the necessary space still exists for both the action and the planned text.