Maybe a small question that doesn't fit anywhere, maybe a more nuanced discussion:

Specs for video projects, what are ideal dimensions/aspect ratio and fram rate? For YouTube, various social media platforms?

Apologies, I know these kinds of questions are annoyingly sophmoric (I catch them on the audio side where I'm less of a fuckwit). The trouble is I have the means of production: decent camera, scanner, software, video card, ideas for video projects. It seems like every time I start a project I go back through web research, the project properties in my software, the settings in my camera, the size of my template for scanning still images, and sometimes I mess something up and have to mess with those kinds of specs mid project- stretching something or having a black frame around what you are looking at.

There's a deeper question about frame rate and how motion looks in various capture modes as well.

This is more confusing if a different platform requires different specs. I need to make a Google doc, and some project templates so when I get back into this stuff once a year, I don't have to trust the guy on reddit who came up in my Google search.

What do you savvy visual creators recommend?

Have you ever messed with Adobe Rush it's kinda the Adobe Premiere for posting social media posts and a little simpler then the full Premiere program. The younger folks who are amazing on their phones knock out pro level videos on their phones with this program, but I still feel more comfortable using it on a computer with full keyboard and stuff. ANYWAYS. A very nice feature to this program is when you are done you can "share" or "export" your project with presets that are made for all the main social media platforms (youtube, instagram, facebook etc). You also have the option to manually set them up, but the presets are super easy and haven't failed me yet.

For example I was finishing a little social media video and if I wanted to save it to my local hard drive it looks like this:

As you can see I can adjust simply the resolution, frame rate (30 is always the default), quality, etc. If I go to the drop down for presets it gives me options like this:

Then off to the left you have different social media platforms, for me I was making a Reel for Instagram. I selected Instagram and then it gives me specific options for outputting for Instagram. You can set it for a Reel or a Story, etc. It looks like this:

I have my YouTube account linked to the program so if I select YouTube it outputs directly to YouTube.

Back when I learned this stuff in the late 90s, video dimensions and aspect ratios, frame rates all had to be manually inputted, and most of the editing software sorta takes that part out and does it for you because it can be easy to fuck up and the platforms can change things on you.

^ That's awesome. I swore off Adobe when the subscription model took over. I'm faffing around on DaVinci Resolve. For all I know there's a setting or update for this buried deep in that behemoth that I should try and locate.

I have to admin this shit for work and when it went to subscription it was such a pain in the ass. I have been using Adobe since the 90s, through college, then through work and have never paid for it. I would feel similar if I had to pay, but its all I know now.