One of the iPhone camera apps I have been enjoying the most is ReelDirector. It allow you to add a title and credits to any video which gives it a far more polished look. The company has also released ReelMoments, an app that allows you to take stop-action, time-lapsed pictures and seamlessly tie them together to create a movie. Over the last few days I have used both of them to create some nice movies right on my iPhone. Let’s take a look at both and how they work together.
The app starts with little fanfare. It simply shows you the familiar camera shutter.
After that, however, it shows you all of the various settings you can use. There are enough to let you customize your “video” but not so many as to be overwhelming.
You can adjust how often the shutter snaps a picture. Obviously the more frequent the snapping the smoother the movement will be when it is sewn together. I shot the video at the top with the shutter going every 15 seconds. The one at the end was done with is snapping every ten seconds.
You can adjust how long you want the session to run. This way you can “set it and forget it” without worrying that it will shoot pictures for the next nine hours… unless you want it to.
You can choose whether you want it to play back at 15 or 30 frames per second. 30 fps will yield a smoother video but will require a far greater number of images it you want the “movie” to last more than a few seconds.
You can decide what size movie you want it to produce.
And since the app will take a large number of pictures, you can set it to stop shooting when the iPhone’s storage gets down to either 25% or 50%. This is a nice feature that can help prevent issues with the iPhone being too full.
You can choose to shoot images at the normal level or…
… you can zoom in on whatever it is you want to “film”.
After that you merely set the iPhone, tap start and let it work its magic. I found the GorillaMobile (reviewed elsewhere on the site) was perfect for setting up the iPhone and holding it stable during the process.
That’s it. When you are done simply tap “stop” and the movie is created.
If you want to make the video more polished, however you can use ReelDirector. (It works with any video shot with the iPhone not just those from ReelMoments.)
When you start the app it presents you with all of the videos you have previously done. As you can see I have been having some fun using it already.
Once again, the setting page allows a good bit of customization but without overwhelming the user. You can add an opening title, and a line of credits. (This will appear in a smaller font beneath the title.)
Tapping “position” yields this page. Here you can set the location of the title and credits, the style (you can currently choose one of four) and the length the title appears. (Side note: when the app first appeared you could not adjust the time. Both Larry and I found this to be problematic. We emailed the developer and were told that the next version would allow you to adjust how long the text appears at both the beginning and the end. When the next version appeared it did just that! Thanks!)
You repeat the process for the end credits as well. One nice feature is that you can use a different style and location at the end than you did at the beginning.
The app allows you to use multiple videos in a single “movie”. This feature alone is worth the price of the app. Better still, you can decide what type of transition you want between clips. Think about it, all this is being done right on the iPhone!
ReelDirector also allows you to decide the size of the movie you produce.
After tapping “Done” (as in “Done setting the credits) you are asked to begin adding video, photos or sounds.
Tapping “video” brings up your camera roll.
You then select a clip to use and then decide whether or not you want to trim it. Once you are satisfied you can add more or select “Done”. The app then renders the movie which can then be emailed or saved to the camera roll. From there it is as easy as sending it to YouTube. (Which is what I did with this longer sunset last night…”)
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