How to Make Portrait Video with Blurred Background in Premiere Pro

Let's face it, most social media apps, including TikTok and Instagram, always record portrait video in vertical orientation for stories by default. If you're looking to post these recorded portrait videos to other platforms like YouTube, you may get black bars on the sides of your video, which often make it look unappealing.

Then, you may ask for a solution to enhance your vertical videos for display in widescreen 16:9 format. Just try a blurry background for your portrait video to fill the black bars around your project now!

In this tutorial, learn how to blur sides of the vertical video and make your portrait oriented video with blurry background in Adobe Premiere Pro for a better view in widescreen.

Contents:

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How to Blur Side of Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Make Portrait Video with Blurred Background in PR

Premiere Pro is a powerful editing program that lets you create and edit clips using its wide range of features and tools. The best thing about the software is that you can quickly blur the background of your footage to help you add a blurred background to your portrait video, giving a better view for your vertical video when display in landscape orientation.

Below, we've provided a step-by-step guide to help you make a blurry the background for your portrait oriented video in Premiere Pro:

Step 1

Ensure that Premiere Pro is installed on your computer. If not, download and install it, and then launch the program.

Step 2

Inside the program, the first thing we need to do is to create a new sequence in the frame size of 1920x1080 and 16:9 ratio.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Create New Sequence(Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 3

Once you’ve got the sequence ready, you can import your vertical video to the program and drag and drop it onto the timeline with the existing setting keeped.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Add Clip(Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 4

Now, we need to right-click on the video on the timeline and select Set to the Frame Size from the pop-menu to keep your vertical video in original size.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Set to the Frame Size(Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 5

Duplicate the original vertical video layer and place the new layer above the original one.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Duplicate (Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 6

Select the bottom video layer, and go to the Effect Controls panel. (If you don’t see it, go to the Window tab and select Effect Controls.)

Step 7

Once you've access the effect controls panel, increase the Scale value of the footage until it fills the frame.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Scale Background (Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 8

Then switch to the Effects panel, search for the Gaussian Blur effect and apply it by dragging it onto the bottom video clip.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Gaussian Blur (Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Step 9

Now, back in the Effect Controls panel, raise the Blurriness value as much as you want to make the background blurry to your taste.

Blur Background for Vertical Video in Premiere Pro - Adjust Blurriness(Screenshot from @PetarLeykov Channel)

Also check the video tutorial below to learn how to create blurry borders for vertical videos in Premiere Pro in detail.

Make Portrait Video with Blurred Background in Premiere Pro

Bonus: Online Alternative to Blur Sides of Vertical Video - No Download or Installation Needed

Comes with an easy blur tool, offering different blur effects, including Gaussian, Bokeh, Grainy, Radial, Square, and Rhombus, FlexClip enables you to quickly blur the video background for your vertical video with just one click. After making a blurry background, you can easily layer your original vertical video on the background with the pip feature, and customize and enhance your video with other useful tools and stunning special effects. All these adjustments can be completed with a single click.

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Blur Sides of Vertical Video Online with FlexClip

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Sandy /

Has 4-year of professional photographing experience. Very much into recording every detail of life. She is passionate about all things related to video production, and loves to exploring tips and tricks about it.