Lights, Camera, ACTION! Nearly everyone has wanted to try their hand at movie-making and today’s mobile devices put all the tools you need right in the palm of your hand. It’s a great creative outlet, a way to document events or milestones, and just plain fun to make the memories. Check these apps out, no matter if you want to make the most of your amazing shots, try your hand at animation, or add some incredible special effects. There’s something here for everyone.
Movie Maker Apps
Video Shop – Video Editor
Jalijujejo – Free with in-app purchases
This app boasts tons of tools to enhance your videos and clips, including a trim feature that makes it easy to keep just the right scenes and a merge feature that lets you pop in new ones seamlessly. You can add music and adjust video speeds either faster or slower than the original. There are filters and effects to play with, and you can add music and voice-overs.
This app is free to download and offers in-app purchases that range from ninety-nine cents to $89.99. Subscription options, a lifetime subscription offer, and extra features are all on the menu if you want to enhance your experience. This app has hundreds of thousands of ratings, and they are overwhelmingly positive.
Film Maker Pro – Free Movie Maker and Editor
cerdillac – Free with in-app purchases
Simple and professional, this movie maker app can put your films over the top on social media or YouTube, or maybe even help you create a hit. It includes some great tutorials, as well as tools you need like merge, transitions, filters, speed control, and cropping. There are also options to add stickers, music, and other effects. Developers even are in the process of adding green screen/chromakey capabilities.
The app is free to download. In-app purchases range from $2.99 to $13.99. The ratings on Google Play are really positive, a whopping 4.6 average from hundreds of thousands of users.
Movie Master – Film Maker Pro
zhang dan – Free with in-app purchases
This app features easy-to-use techniques and effects, including jitter, retro style, and more. You can trim, crop, and duplicate scenes with ease, and also use manual controls to change contrast, white balance, brightness, and saturation. Choose from over 50 fonts and text effects to wow your audience with the title, credits, and other texts. There are also animated stickers, regular stickers, and even a selection of sound effects that you can add to your films.
The app is free to download and offers some in-app purchases. You can grab an assortment of additional features for $2.99 each, or you can subscribe for $3.49 monthly or $8.99 per year to get access to all of the add-on features.
Special Effects Apps
Ghost Lens AR Fun Movie Maker
Shenzhen Qianhai Happy Tour Network Technology Co., Ltd. – Free with in-app purchases
Ever wonder what your spirit would look like if you had an out of body experience? This app will show you! Using its features and tools, you can change the transparency of video characters and fade them in and out. It’s also useful for swapping body parts in and out, add ghost stickers, text, and background music. It’s a spook-lover’s dream, and a great way to prank your friends at Halloween or any time.
This app is free to download. You can grab some extra features as in-app purchases ranging from ninety-nine cents to $4.99, or you can become a full-fledged subscriber for $5.99 per month. There’s even an annual deal for $29.99 for dedicated users.
A similar app by a different developer is available on Google Play: Ghost Lens Studio, Twin, Clone Camera Video
FX Guru – Movie FX Director
Picadelic – Free with in-app purchases
FX Guru allows amateur and pro movie makers alike to grab some outstanding special effects to really make their work stand out, whether it is science-fiction, horror, fantasy, or even just to prank your friends. Use the effects to film “ghosts” in your room, natural disasters wherever you want them, explosions, aliens, animals, and more. It’s easy with FX Guru!
This app is free to download. You can purchase additional effects singly for earthquakes, nuclear explosions, and more for ninety-nine cents each, or you can grab specialty packs for $4.99. Or, you can grab a super 82-effect pack for only $19.99.
Animation Apps
Goldfish Movie Maker
Campbell Soup Company – Free
This app may be just what you are looking for- it’s completely free! You can add up to 7 characters per scene and have them interact for your film. The possibilities are endless. You can add music, combine scenes to make a major film, and collaborate with your friends. It’s even great fun to discover each character’s hidden moves.
This app is completely free to use and play with. Each setting includes a number of interactive items to find, and each character has secret moves that only time and trials will uncover. Have fun!
Toontastic 3D
Google LLC – Free
Toontastic puts an animation toolbox at kids’ very fingertips. There are tons of built-in characters, tools to design your own 3-D characters, or you can incorporate your own photos. Choose from three story arcs: short stories, classics, and science report, and share creations when they are completed. It’s a powerful tool that will build kids’ language and story-telling skills, and that offers great options for more mature cartoon creators.
This app is completely free and does not even have in-app purchases. It’s also very child-friendly, so if you want children to use it, you can rest easy. It’s got a five-star rating from Common Sense Media, and a host of other awards.
Stop Motion Studio Pro
Cateater – $4.99
This powerful, yet easy to use app will put you right up there with the big producers of professional stop-action animation films that are so popular in theaters and on social media platforms. There is a free version on both Google Play and the App Store if you want to try it out, but the full-featured version offers such an amazing set of tools you’ll be glad you made the investment. You can cut, paste, and follow animated objects with the built-in guides, and there are features such as foreground and background effects for you to choose from.
You’ll only be limited by your own creativity- this app also includes layering capability, touch up, and an eraser tool. Use a second device as a remote camera, too. It’s great for everything from creating GIFs to full-feature length stop-motion films.
And Check These Out….
Sometimes even the young ones want to get into the act! There are some fun apps to help kids make videos, too. Check out the review for Lipa Theater Story Maker and Animation Kit for some movie-making fun that is both easy enough for children and a great way to nurture creativity!