Back in the day before the almighty iPhone, cool things often caught me with my pants down. Godzilla attacking the city, meteor showers destroying the local metropolis, or my niece taking a dump on the floor. Not anymore. No longer will I sit idly by as awesome events blaze the back of my cornea. Now I can record events at will with the better-late-than-never video capabilities of the iPhone 3GS.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Using Reel Director (iTunes | $1.99), the iPhone’s version of Final Cut semiPro, I can cut real events (or any old video) the way they should’ve happened. Why, if I had had these tools a few years ago, I could have changed my 325th placing in the KC marathon to 1st. Hocus pocus alakazam! I just took the subway to first. The possibilities are, uh, more possible.
Nexvio has created a pretty fantastic app (originally $7.99, but $1.99 as of 5/26/2011*). It’s simple to use and produces a great product (well, family-Oscar caliber). First, shoot the video and save it to your photo library. Next, open Reel Director, create a new project, fill in the blanks and add videos, images, and sounds to the project timeline.
- Videos can be trimmed on or after import, visually transitioned on the timeline, and the sound can be faded in or out. And, iPhone 4 users can take advantage of HD provided the first video imported is HD and the app is configured to HD quality.
- Photos can be trimmed as well, the duration adjusted, and you can add panning and zooming (although a wee clunky to get used to) for a bit of visual flair.
- Audio can be record in the app with the iPh’s mic or imported over WiFi from your computer (eh, not great, but workable). Pro: when recording your own sound or after importing a soundtrack, the app allows you to “preview” your timeline as the audio plays. Con: If you import audio, you cannot edit it in the app.
- Text on video. Prior to version 3.0.1 you could only add text on the title or credit roll. Now, you can add title and subtitle to the opening and closing clips, and/or each clip with adjustable length and fonts. Sweet!
- Video rotation. I really don’t know how I do it, but on occasion I record videos upside down. To correct this, double tap on the video in the timeline and select which way you want the video to be rotated (icon with 90 right/left). I’ve tried it, it works. Sweet!
For the below video, I downloaded SlowMo (iTunes | $.99), another Nexvio app, to add a slow motion effect to a video clip I then used in my Reel Director project. Have a look (and forgive the ridiculous use of transitions. That was added at the request of my nieces who were also the film’s directors).
And now for the stuff I wish I could’ve done with the app (kind of ridiculous that I would be upset with a program running on a phone, but hey).
- Long titles/credits. Naming a movie is fun. It’s what distinguishes the finished product from others. And adding the names of the people who worked on the project is necessary. Everyone wants to see their name on the big screen. When I tried to add a long title/name (five words) the title/name didn’t fit (and I didn’t find out until after the 15-minute rendering((the latest 3.0.1 update to the app has improved the rendering time considerably, but it still takes time))).
- Batch import photos. Sweet mother of time! If I take a bunch of photos and want to create a video out of them I have to import them one at a time. This is a huge pain in the ace and I hope the functionality is added in a future update.
- Add audio more easily. Having to watch the video in a choppy player is okay, but it’s not always accurate. FYI,
until they add the featureif you want to add a song, you’ll need to (old way) play it on some other device and record it using the iPhone’s mic, or import the sound file using a WiFi connection or via iTunes in the iPhone’s app section. When I boast I’ve made a 100% iPh vid, I don’t want to admit that I had to use my PC/Mac to grab a song. It’s like I said earlier, the audio import isn’t great, but it’s doable. FYI, the iMovie for iPhone 4 app hooks directly into your iPhone’s music library. Hopefully Apple will let 3rd-party apps do the same. - Edit imported audio. As noted above, you can import audio over WiFi. That’s great, but if you want to use only :05 seconds of a :30 clip, you’re SOL.
- Play without rendering. Editing can be laborious. It would be so much easier if the timeline could be played without rendering it each time you want to see a rough cut.
- Title slide. When adding opening and closing credits to my movies I have to import a black photo in order to have a black background. Would like to see title cards added at some point. Until then, here’s a quick tip. Place your camera on your lap or the table and snap a shot. Presto! Instant black title card.
- Share. This is my biggest issue. Exporting the vid to the iPhone’s library is pie, but once you get it there, uploading somewhere else blows. A two-minute video is too large to email, and compressing it in the app takes away from the quality. Uploading an uncompressed video to YouTube or MobileMe (oy, there’s a sore spot) doesn’t work 90% of the time. The workaround requires either compressing (which improves the failure rate to 50%) or importing the video into iPhoto (Mac) or Windows Exploder (PC) prior to uploading to your site of choice.
Sure, the app isn’t without its flaws, but it’s the best (and only) of its kind. And, Nexvio offers a full blown iPad version (for free) with their latest update (which is awesome). So, because it rocks more than it sucks, I (still) give Reel Director 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone with an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or iPad.
Tell me about your experiences with Reel Director below or send me an e-mail at TiTy@y2kemo.com.
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