Best Filmmaking Apps You Need Right Now
The best camera, as the saying goes, is the one you have in your hand right now – and more often than not, that camera is a small, flat rectangle that resembles a smartphone.
Since it’s becoming more common for filmmakers to shoot, produce, and edit video on their phones, a slew of fantastic filmmaking apps has emerged to improve usability – and boost creativity.
Listed below are just a few of my personal favorites that I use frequently on a film set:
Disclaimer: Peekatthis.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
15 Best Filmmaking Apps You Need Right Now
Artemis Directors Viewfinder
($29.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
When it comes to filmmaking apps, Artemis Director’s Viewfinder is an indispensable tool for filmmakers.
Artemis Director’s Viewfinder replaces the traditional viewfinder that hung around a director’s neck with a more convenient form factor and a far more accurate and adaptable feature set. It is now the most commonly used director’s viewfinder in contemporary filmmaking.
After taking a photo with your phone, use this app to simulate the field of view to see how the image would look with different lenses, focal lengths, and camera formats. Images can be saved and shared with GPS data, focal length, camera format, and other details embedded in them.
Final Draft Mobile for iPad and iPhone
($9.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
When it comes to industry-standard applications, Final Draft is a must-have of the filmmaking apps on this list for screenwriters.
Creativity can now be taken anywhere! Your script travels with you wherever you go. Write and edit your screenplay on the go, send or share files between platforms, and stay in sync with Dropbox and iCloud. Start from scratch or use professional templates. The Tab and Enter keys are all you need to easily move between script elements and format your script.
Lean, fast, and loaded with features. On your iPhone or iPad, Final Draft Mobile makes it simple to write properly formatted scripts.
Produce perfectly formatted (and annotated) scripts from your smartphone or tablet device, in a variety of formats including screenplay, stage play, comic book, and more.
Cine Meter II
If you don’t have a light meter around, this is one of the best goto filmmaking apps available to measure your light readings.
Cine Meter II transforms your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into a reflected light meter, an RGB waveform monitor, and a false-color picture monitor,” they say.
This app functions as a light meter to measure exposure and color, with some manual control over shutter angle, ND filter compensation, and other settings.
DigiSlate
There are times when you want to shoot a video but nobody on the crew has a clapper board, this is one of the best Filmmaking Apps to have in your arsenal.
DigiSlate is a free app with advertisements every 5 times you clap the slate. A clean, dependable digital clapperboard for your music video or production.
To clap the board, DigiSlate uses either a swipe across the board or the volume buttons on your device. This allows you to keep your hands clear of the slate when it claps. Simple.
This clapper app, as the name implies, simulates the analog variety by assisting in the synchronization of sound and image with time snapshots. It also has a countdown timer, a timecode generator, GPS data, and other useful tools.
Easy Release
($9.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
If you are looking to keep all of your paperwork well organized so you can concentrate on creating content, this is one of the best Filmmaking Apps around.
Easy Release by ApplicationGap is a slick, streamlined model release app designed by creative visual media professionals for creative visual media professionals, replacing inconvenient paper release forms. Easy Release allows you to collect all of the necessary data and signatures on your mobile device, then automatically saves the PDF and JPEG files to your cloud storage.
A simple template enables you to create and complete universal model and property release forms on the spot, with space for photos and signatures.
Eager To Learn More Tips & Tricks For Content Creation? Check Out These Articles To Help You On Your Way To Success:
- 10 Quick Tips to Improve the Look of Your Videos
- 7 Best Tripod Tips For Filming – How To Get The Most Out Of Your Tripod
- Creative Lighting Tips For YouTube Videos – How-To Guide
- 4 Popular Ways To Use Ring Lights For Impressive Lighting For Videos
- 10 Creative Indoor Lighting Tricks For Better Video Content Filming
FiLMiC Pro
($14.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
If you are serious about using your smartphone for creating video content, FilMiC Pro is one of the best Filmmaking Apps available today.
FiLMiC Pro v6 is the most advanced mobile cinema video camera ever. FiLMiC Pro is the most responsive manual filming app available on mobile, with cutting-edge capabilities.
FiLMiC Pro enables filmmakers, newscasters, teachers, vloggers, and artists to shoot in a true LOG gamma curve (included in the CineKit optional in-app purchase). By expanding the dynamic range and bringing the iPhone’s capabilities on par with traditional camera systems costing thousands more, LOG V2/V3 allows for greater tonal range and flexibility in post-production.
With an array of impressive features that allow you to customize focus, exposure, shutter speed, and white balance while also storing metadata and preferred settings, this app allows you to boost the capabilities of your phone to shoot high-quality video. Did we mention that you can shoot in slow motion and time-lapse mode as well?
Check out the bundle package which includes all of FiLMiC’s award-winning photo & video tools.
Green Screener
($9.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
In terms of filmmaking apps, this one is intended to assist content creators in achieving proper lighting when using a green screen.
Green/blue screens must be extremely even for good chroma keying, or fine edge detail like hair and transparency will become blotchy, which is the hallmark of bad green screen.
Lighting for green screen requires some skill and practice to achieve the desired results. Green Screener eliminates the need for light meters and waveform monitors by SHOWING you exactly how even your green screen is, allowing you to do literally perfect green screen (and blue screen) with just your phone or tablet.
iMovie
While iMovie has a fairly limited set of editing functions, it has the advantage of being one of the most accessible and user-friendly filmmaking apps for video editing.
What exactly is iMovie? Professionals refer to iMovie as a nonlinear editor. This is a piece of software that allows you to cut and edit videos, music, and graphics without affecting the original files. They are extremely powerful tools for filmmakers and are used to edit nearly all of today’s Hollywood films.
With a streamlined design and intuitive Multi-Touch gestures, iMovie makes it easier than ever to create Hollywood-style trailers and beautiful movies.
Frame.io
In terms of filmmaking apps for collaborating with a team, Frame.io helps you streamline the post-production process.
Frame.io allows you to upload all of your source media, assets, and work-in-progress clips and cuts into private workspaces where your team and clients can collaborate from anywhere in the world. This filmmaking app replaces Dropbox for file sharing, Vimeo for video review, and email for communication, but that’s just the beginning. Frame.io is now with you wherever you go.
LumaFusion
If you are looking for a more robust editing program to add to your smartphone filmmaking apps, LumaFusion is a powerful multi-track video editor created for mobile devices.
LumaFusion is a powerful multi-track video editor designed specifically for mobile devices. LumaFusion is a “desktop-class” editing software with features that are truly comparable to traditional video editing.
The non-linear editing workspace in the filmmaking app is familiar, with three tracks for video and audio and three additional audio tracks for narration, music, and sound effects. There are also several preset layout options to help you tailor your workspace to your editing style.
The app supports a variety of frame rates and aspect ratios, as well as insert, overwrite, ripple, and slip editing options, the ability to mark in/out points from the source, live audio mixing, and keyframes.
Aside from basic editing, LumaFusion includes a plethora of built-in effects, titles, video transitions, animations, color correction tools, and royalty-free music.
Admittedly, the $30 price point is on the higher end of the App Store, but, after using it for the past few months, I believe it’s worth every dollar. If you wish to make videos of any kind, LumaFusion is the on-ramp to making that happen.
Eager To Learn More Tips & Tricks For Content Creation? Check Out These Articles To Help You On Your Way To Success:
- Building A Film Gear Kit For Less Than $1000 – Essential Filmmakers Guide
- 7 Best Lightweight Gear For Filmmaking – An Essential List For Filmmakers On The Go
- Are You Too Old To Become An Actor? 5 Best Tips To Chase Your Acting Dreams
- Best Acting Books: 10 Recommended Books All Actors MUST Read
- Essential Guide To Nailing Auditions – 7 Best Steps For Actors
MovieSlate 8
Movie Slate is one of those go-to filmmaking apps that every filmmaker needs if you’re looking for a more robust digital slate that can do more for you on set.
“MovieSlate is the Rolls-Royce of slates,” according to HandHeldHollywood.com. This professional production tool is the easy way to log footage and take notes as you shoot—saving you valuable time later when capturing/editing footage and creating reports. It is a convenient, all-in-one digital slate, clapper board, shot log, and notepad that is used for film, TV, documentaries, music videos, and interviews. All for a fraction of the price of a bulky digital clapperboard.
This adaptable app functions as both a digital slate and a clapper tool. It records production information, logs notes, syncs timecodes, generates daily shot reports, and works with popular software such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere.
pCAM Pro - Film+Digital
The ultimate film and TV manual for camera professionals – an elegant, simple, compelling iOS app with superior graphics.
pCAM PRO is a low-cost, go-to iOS app that is essential for directors of photography and assistant cameramen, lighting directors, and rental house managers who have questions and need answers, or who need to educate others.
24 essential functions, including depth of field and field of view calculators, as well as very useful (and relevant) camera and lens focal length matching; app supports almost every camera and lens combination, in portrait and landscape modes; Updates for future cameras and formats are automatic; Mired shift gel selector, eye light chroma key function, and HMI flicker-free utility are examples of lighting-specific features. The reference section is like carrying around an encyclopedia in your pocket.
In the field, test charts (Siemens) are useful for setting lens back focus and checking lens tracking, for example, after a bad tumble. The only thing this filmmaking app doesn’t do is take the shot for you.
Shot Lister
($13.99 for iOS & Android // Website)
A film’s production never goes as planned. Don’t scribble on a printed spreadsheet anymore. With the flick of a finger on this filmmaking application, you can now change the course of your day.
SHOT LISTER iOS is free and includes all of the features you’ll need to Shot List and create a detailed schedule for your shoot. The free version can only work on two projects at once.
With the flick of a finger, you can easily organize and store hundreds of scenes and thousands of shots. Scene letter revisions, 1/8 page counts, I and “o” exclusion, and cast breakdown tracking are all supported. All to accommodate a wide range of professional workflows.
The only software available for easily creating a shot-by-shot and minute-by-minute shooting schedule. Rearrange scenes in Stripboard view to see what needs to be shot or scheduled.
Experience the truly revolutionary “Live” production mode, which allows you to see exactly how you’re doing down to the minute and re-organize your day in a matter of seconds. Shot Lister shows you how many minutes you are ahead or behind schedule.
Every project and director is unique, so customize and order each category to meet your specific requirements. Rename the user category for specific applications such as tracking props or wardrobe. Make changes to the Lens and Gear list to fit your needs.
Assign different cameras to different shots and group them together to be shot at the same time. It can accommodate up to 26 cameras.
Basically, this app acts as a digital assistant, allowing you to manage and edit shot lists, storyboards, shoot days, and your overall filming schedule.
Helios Pro
If you are looking for the right lighting conditions for your content creations, this is one of the best filmmaking apps to help you achieve the best results possible.
Helios Pro is a light-tracking app for filmmakers, photographers, and designers. Not only can you pinpoint the position of the sun, moon, and stars, but Augmented Reality and light simulation allow you to see exactly how shots will look in any location, at any time of year or day. You can see how the light will illuminate and the shadows will fall.
These dynamic 3D meshes for terrain landscapes were created by Chemical Wedding to show how the light changes throughout the day across hills, mountains, and valleys. Similarly, OpenStreetMap building data is used to generate a 3D reconstruction of the buildings and streets. So, no matter where you’re shooting, you can see how the light will fall on buildings or mountains throughout the day.
You can bundle Helios Pro & Artemis Pro here
Adobe Premiere Rush
(Free for iOS & Android // Website)
If you are looking for filmmaking apps that collaborate with smartphones, laptops, and desktops, Adobe Premiere Rush is the editing app for you.
Adobe Premiere Rush is a free version of Adobe Premiere Pro for iOS devices. While it is a lite version, it is very similar to the desktop version, and Premiere editors will feel right at home. Filmmakers can shoot, edit, and share video content from anywhere using a mobile device.
By opening your Rush files directly in Premiere, you can also create between your devices, including your desktop. Drag and drop allows users to arrange video, audio, graphics, and photos on the intuitive and very familiar multitrack timeline. You can change the audio, change the color, add titles, transitions, voiceovers, and other effects.
Free your creativity with Adobe’s most popular social apps for photo and video editors in a single download. Adobe Social Photo and Video Editors Bundle includes: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC is a free, powerful, yet intuitive solution for editing, capturing, and sharing your best photos.
Want to Learn More About Filmmaking?
Become a better filmmaker with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by film masters, including Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Spike Lee, Jodie Foster, James Cameron, and more.
Eager to learn more?
Join our weekly newsletter below featuring inspiring stories, no-budget filmmaking tips, and comprehensive equipment reviews to help you turn your film projects into reality!
If you found this post useful, please do consider sharing it or letting your friends know via social media. Have something to add? Please feel free to do so in the comments section below. I really appreciate it!
📌 Don’t forget to save the blog for later, pin the image below!
About the author: Trent (IMDB | Youtube) has spent 10+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. He writes about his experiences to help (and amuse) others. If he’s not working, he’s either traveling, reading or writing about travel/film, or planning travel/film projects.
