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TITEL: Talking Photo API - White borders on 9:16 videos, how to fill entire frame?

FRAGE:

Hi HeyGen Engineering Team,

I'm using the Talking Photo API to generate vertical videos (1080x1920, 9:16 aspect ratio) for social media (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts).

Problem: My videos have white/black borders at the top and bottom. The avatar doesn't fill the entire frame.

My current API request:

{
  "video_inputs": [
    {
      "character": {
        "type": "talking_photo",
        "talking_photo_id": "xxx",
        "scale": 1.0
      },
      "voice": {
        "type": "text",
        "input_text": "...",
        "voice_id": "xxx",
        "emotion": "Soothing"
      }
    }
  ],
  "dimension": {
    "width": 1080,
    "height": 1920
  },
  "background": {
    "type": "color",
    "value": "#000000"
  }
}

My questions:

1. What scale value should I use to make the avatar fill the entire 9:16 frame without borders?

2. Is there an expression parameter for Talking Photos? I read about "default" vs "happy" - does this exist in the API?

3. What aspect ratio should my source photo be to avoid letterboxing in 9:16 output?

4. Would Avatar IV API handle this better than standard Talking Photo?

5. Is there a crop or fit parameter I'm missing?

Goal: Generate videos where the person fills the entire vertical frame, similar to native TikTok/Reels videos.

Thank you for your help!