As an edtech blogger with years of experience in reviewing apps, I’ve had the opportunity to explore a wide array of tools designed to enhance creativity and productivity in the realm of education. Among these, video editing apps have stood out as vital tools for both educators and students. The ability to create short movies can be a powerful skill, offering an engaging way to present information, tell stories, and express ideas.
In my journey through the ever-expanding universe of applications, I’ve tested and scrutinized many video editing apps, assessing them for ease of use, functionality, and suitability for educational purposes. The apps I’ve selected for this list are the ones that consistently rose to the top in my evaluations. Each of these apps brings something unique to the table, whether it’s user-friendly interfaces for beginners or advanced features for more experienced users.
From crafting simple classroom presentations to producing intricate storytelling projects, these apps cater to a wide range of creative needs. So, whether you’re a teacher looking to integrate more multimedia into your lessons or a student aiming to develop your video editing skills, this list is tailored to help you find the perfect app to make your vision a reality.
Best Apps to Create Short Movies
Here are our top picks for apps to create short movies:
1. Adobe Premiere Rush
Adobe Premiere Rush is a powerhouse for creatives seeking to craft high-quality short movies on the go. It’s designed for ease of use, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced editors. With a user-friendly interface, it offers a range of powerful editing tools and customizable motion graphics templates. Users can easily adjust color, audio, and more, ensuring a professional look and feel to their creations. The app’s cross-platform functionality is a big plus, allowing users to start editing on one device and finish on another, seamlessly integrating with other Adobe products for those who are part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem.
2. iMovie
iMovie stands out as a favorite among Apple users for creating short movies. Its intuitive interface makes it ideal for beginners, while still offering a range of features for more advanced users. iMovie includes a variety of themes and templates that allow for easy creation of polished, professional-looking movies. Users can add music, sound effects, and voiceovers with ease. The app’s integration with Apple’s ecosystem means users can start editing on an iPhone or iPad and finish on a Mac, making it incredibly convenient for those who use multiple Apple devices.
3. Filmmaker Pro
Filmmaker Pro is a robust app designed for more experienced filmmakers looking for advanced editing features on mobile devices. It offers a multi-track editing interface, enabling users to handle complex projects with multiple audio and video tracks. The app includes a wide range of editing tools, from color grading to audio mixing, and supports 4K video quality. Filmmaker Pro also offers a variety of effects, transitions, and text overlays, giving users the flexibility to create highly customized and professional-looking movies.
4. Quik
Quik, developed by GoPro, is perfect for creating short movies quickly and effortlessly. It automatically analyzes your footage to find the best moments, and can sync them to music, making video creation a breeze. Quik offers a variety of themes and styles, allowing users to personalize their movies with text, filters, and music. Its simple interface is ideal for beginners, and the app’s ability to pull footage from almost any source – including GoPro footage, phone galleries, and social media – makes it a versatile choice for quick, fun, and engaging movie creation.
5. Inshot
Inshot is a popular app among those looking to create short movies without a steep learning curve. It’s particularly favored for social media content creation due to its array of features that cater to platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Users can trim clips, merge multiple videos, add music, text, and filters, and adjust video speed for slow motion or fast-forward effects. Inshot also offers a unique feature of resizing videos to fit different social media platforms, making it an excellent tool for content creators who share their work across various channels.
6. PowerDirector
PowerDirector is a comprehensive video editing app that packs a punch with a multitude of professional-grade features. Ideal for users who are a bit more familiar with video editing, it offers a multi-track timeline for precise editing, along with a vast library of effects, transitions, and audio clips. Users can create 4K quality videos, leverage chroma key for green-screen effects, and enjoy advanced editing capabilities like video stabilization and motion tracking. PowerDirector’s intuitive interface makes these complex tasks more accessible, making it a popular choice for those wanting to step up their video editing game on mobile devices.
7. Magisto
Magisto stands out as an AI-powered video editing app, designed to simplify the movie-making process. It’s perfect for users who want to create polished videos without delving into the complexities of editing. Users simply select the videos and photos they want to include, choose a theme and soundtrack, and let Magisto’s AI do the rest. The app automatically edits and produces the movie, making it incredibly user-friendly. Magisto is particularly suited for creating short, engaging content for social media or personal use, where the emphasis is on storytelling rather than technical editing prowess.
8. Kinemaster
Kinemaster is a versatile video editing app that caters to both amateurs and professionals. It offers an array of editing tools, including multi-layer video editing, which allows users to add multiple layers of video, images, stickers, special effects, text, and handwriting. This app supports 4K video editing and export at 30FPS, providing high-quality output for various uses. Kinemaster’s asset store is updated weekly with music, clip graphics, fonts, stickers, and transitions, keeping the content fresh and current. Its easy-to-use interface and robust features make it a great choice for those who want a balance between professional-grade editing and user-friendly design.
9. FilmoraGo
FilmoraGo is an easy-to-use app with powerful editing features, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced editors. It offers a wide range of tools like trimming, cutting, adding themes, music, and voiceovers. FilmoraGo stands out with its ability to create square 1:1 videos for Instagram and 16:9 videos for YouTube. The app also provides stunning effects, overlays, and a variety of filters to enhance the visual appeal of the movies. With its straightforward interface, FilmoraGo is an excellent option for those who want to create high-quality, engaging videos without a complicated editing process.
10. CapCut
CapCut, formerly known as Viamaker, is particularly popular among TikTok users for its straightforward and user-friendly interface. This app offers basic to advanced editing features, including trimming, cutting, merging clips, and adjusting video speed. CapCut is known for its impressive array of filters and effects, which can add a creative flair to any video. Additionally, it provides high-quality editing and exporting options without watermarks, which is a significant advantage for free software. Its seamless integration with TikTok and other social media platforms makes it an ideal choice for content creators looking to produce quick, eye-catching videos for their followers.
Final thoughts
The world of video editing apps is vast and varied, offering a plethora of tools for educators and students alike to express themselves creatively and enhance their learning experiences. The apps I’ve highlighted here, based on my extensive experience as an edtech blogger, represent the best of what this digital landscape has to offer. Each app has its unique strengths, whether it’s user-friendliness, advanced editing features, AI integration, or specialized functions for social media content.
