I’m covering my favorite phone video editors that I use. They are all free to download! I’ll cover the pros and cons of each one. They’re different enough that you could use all 3 together for different types of videos you make.
Last week: VN Video Editor
This week: iMovie for iPad (and iOS)
App: iMovie
Download link: App Store - Apple iOS
For some reason, iPads became the “thing” in schools in the early 2010s. While I worked IT jobs in public and private schools, the iPad cart was synomonous to the 1990s TV cart and Bill Nye the Science Guy VHS tapes.
I’m assuming the burst of iPads had to do with educational grants, but it could also be due to their simplicity. They are easy for kids to pick and start using.
Which eventually leads me to iMovie.
It’s really simplified
iMovie previously was a constant on my iPad, but I found better apps out there. Compared to some of the more advanced editors, iMovie felt like “video editing on training wheels”. That’s different than an app that keeps you in a trial version until you pay for the full version. It always worked but there were more features elsewhere and it felt like something was missing. I can’t complain too much because this is a “came with the frame” type app. It’s free; all I needed was an iPhone or an iPad. If I wanted more from it, I could switch to Final Cut Pro on a Mac.
However (!) - my kids started using it last summer. For them, it instantly clicked. They were having a blast creating their own videos, and I thought I’m too cranky - this is what and who iMovie is for!
There is a “Trailer” version where the edits and titles are already done - it just needs videos or photos dropped in. My kids made a trailer for “Bear Family”:
iMovie is aimed at entry level users, which could explain why it’s so popular in schools. Apple practically says so in their article about the latest iMovie update:
“This latest version of iMovie, featuring Storyboards and Magic Movie, simplifies video creation even further, and we think it will continue to inspire the next wave of video creators to dive in and get started.”
So if you’re “next wave”, go ahead and dive in!
Creating Movie Video Magic!
“Magic Movie” and “Storyboard” are both new features, similiar to the previous Trailer feature, where iMovie does the hard part of the video for you.
In “Magic Movie”, you choose a bunch of clips and iMovie shapes it into a finished project, adding music and graphics and edits it to the beat. All you have to do is tweak and rearrange the clips until you’re happy with it.
I recorded a few shots while making a PB&J and “Magic Movie” put them together, added music and a cute title. All I had to do was rearrange the order of a few clips, and it was done!
“Storyboard” is more hands-on, and builds upon the Trailers of earlier versions, giving you multiple categories to pick. (Making your own trailer is now listed down at the bottom of Storyboards.)
I chose the DIY template and it created a cookie-cutter shot list for a typical DIY-style video. It even lists what type of video would work in each place. All I’d have to do is shoot the video (which you can do inside of iMovie) and drop it into place, and then voila! the video is done.
It’s designed for iPhone and Mac users
No, seriously. By that I mean iMovie was designed to work with all the latest video features on the latest iPhones, like iPhone 13’s Cinematic mode. It also syncs easily between the iPhone/iPad version and the Mac version, so you can jump between devices and keep editing.
Which is cool..if you have that. Otherwise, it’s just pretty good.
Summary
Compared directly to other video editor apps, it can be bland. I figured it was a simple tool and only used it when I had two clips in my camera roll that I wanted to combine together.
But as a magical story telling device? It’s wonderful. It really gives you a ton of options. If this existed when I was a kid, I would’ve eaten it up.
It definitely still is “video editing lite”, but in the best way possible. I’m not Apple fanboy-big when I say this, but Apple doesn’t do anything half-assed. iMovie is designed to be simple to use on purpose. They’ve stripped away all the complications and made video editing fun to do. Plus, it helps teach the basics of movie- and video-making along the way. What could be wrong with that?