Making new technology produce old-looking media seems to be all the rage right now (see Hipstamatic), so it’s only natural that the developers of ReelDirector have brought forth an app to turn your video clips vintage. CinemaFX For Video only works on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and it’s more than worth its $1.99 download price.
CinemaFX comes with two filter packs, “Essential” and “Classic.” “Essential” offers nine effects such as sepia, black and white, and negative. “Cinematic” has 20 filters, including night vision, Victorian and surveillance-cam effects. There are two additional packs, “Toycam” and “Vintage,” available for in-app purchase at 99 cents apiece that have 12 filters each. I love that the developers allow users to try out the filters in the add-on packs before purchasing. A watermark is added to your movie when you exercise this option, but at least you’ll know what you’re buying. There are also settings to change brightness, contrast and exposure levels, so you can create your own effect.
Users can shoot video in-app or import existing clips from your camera roll. Each clip can have up to three effects and you can view the original version of the video alongside the new version to see how the filter changes it. Although you can scrub through the video and see the effects, you can’t fully play the clip with the effect until you’ve rendered it. Rendering is pretty slow on my iPhone 4, even at the lowest quality (options range from 360p to 720p), so this process is time consuming—and the only problem I had with the app itself. Luckily, the app will render in the background so you can do something else until it notifies you via a push notification that the file is complete.
After your movie had rendered the effects, you can save it to your camera roll or share it via email or YouTube. CinemaFX is a great supplement for iMovie users and a must for anyone serious about shooting movies on iPhone.
