First I will start with the iPhone's mainstay,iMovie. It can be purchased for $ 4.99 from the iTunes store. When first opening it loads up quickly. It has the ability to hold multiple projects at the same time, which can be accessed underneath the Movie House Marque. Workspace wise, it appears on the surface to be a crisp workflow. Importing video and stills were easy, though it does require moving through multiple screens for each import. One quirk about it is that each download ise inserted in front of previous imports, most NLE's that I have experience with don't work this way but it only takes a minute to get used to. Editing is slow and cumbersome, there is very limited room for adjusting clip length which my fat fingers found difficult to manage and forced multiple attempts for each cut/trim. Transitions are limited to two- Crossfade and a stylized wipe. For the majority of transitions anything more than a crossfade becomes kitschee, it is comforting when you have multiple options than just two. I found that the truncated ability of the title editor, with its annoying insistence that you work within its templet structure disappointing. You can work around this by purchasing another app (extras4iMovie) but why should I go through another app just to display text in my video. The inclusion of themic music is a nice touch, particularly when you need some background music to pull the video together.
After having spent several hours editing multiple video clips using this app, I have come to the conclusion that while relatively stable, is a pain to work with. You can get the job done,but only within the confines provided. Then again it is on my phone......I am editing 720p video on my phone!
Splice
The next big player in this market is Splice. Available (currently on sale for $.99) from the iTunes store as well. This editor has some significant improvements over iMovie. One of them isn't loading time. It takes forever to load up( I believe that the improvement take longer to load). However, once it is loaded a near-fully functional NLE is at your fingertips. Two quick peeks at the "How to..." videos on Youtube.com had me off and running. The cramped work area that plagued my editing with iMovie was solved by Splice by dropping the chosen clip into a new screen, enlarged and by itself, where you can manipulate it as you see fit. Outside of its annoying tendency to crash at various stages( most often when previewing the edits) it is a significant improvement over iMovie.. There is an ability to purchase some "extras" from the Splice store(i.e. sound effects, music, borders,etc...) but I don't believe any of that should be to necessary. Think iPhone Foley, and check out http://incompetech.com/ for royalty free music.
Either editor can give you the ability to edit video. That is the most important ability. I personally will continue to use Splice as my iPhone editor (CS5.5 on the laptop) but you cannot go wrong with either.
So now you have an edit, but you want more! More from your iPhone ? "What more can you do?" You ask. Color grading !!!! For my next review I will be checking out Red Giants "Movie Looks" as well as Nexvio's "CinemaFX for Video".
Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
Saw the Wienermobile in the parking lot while getting gas. Decided it would make a good subject for testing out the iPhones video and video editing capabilities. Edited using Splice. Audio comes from an old 1960's ad.
