Mobilizedtv

A First Look at 1st Video: video editing on the iPhone

One might wonder why you would want to edit video on the iPhone, to which I say…why not! You could use editing tools to create a mix of home videos or mini personal documentaries right on the phone. I spent some time editing on my iPhone with 1st Video and the following are my impressions.

1st Video from VeriCorder is not the first attempt to put video editing tools on the iPhone. Reel Director, which has been out for a while, has the look and feel of a slimmed down iMovie, the way it trims films and places effects.  It is simple and intuitive, you can figure it out in as much time as it takes to figure out most iPhone apps: no more than 5 minutes or we are on to the next thing.

But 1st Video is different. VeriCorder built this after creating an audio editing program and a slide show program (stills and text).  It seems that their target market is mobile  journalists which is a booming market.

The program does all the things it should: trim, add titles, add sound, rearrange picture, and export.  The big advantage over Reel Director is its sound editing. You have “rubber band style” editing where you can accurately adjust the level of a clip, so you can duct it down over a loud crash or bump it up over a whisper and have real control. Nice.

But the real revelation of the program is the way you use it. You can swipe point-and-drag through buttons under menus and your fingers really can dance around as your edit.  This interface and structure take advantage of the iPhone and iPad mouse-less world.  More than anything else this app points to a new way–not just for video editing–but for how more creative work will be done, both on the phone and the pad.

There are plenty of other signs that we’re moving in that mouse-less direction. At NAB in April, Apple Touch was shown with a control surface for color applications, meaning it’s moving into the traditional editing world.  At Sundance I saw a  demo of an editing system that used gloves and sensors and projectors, a la Minority Report.

But getting back to 1st Video, although this app will give the user more control over editing than Reel Director, it does have a few drawbacks. First you need to read the manual and it takes some time–more than five minutes–to figure out the interface. On my 3Gs, the app keeps crashing which is very annoying. My hope and assumption is that the next version will fix that.

I would not edit a feature film using 1st Video, but I could cut together a nice little video of what I did while waiting for someone to meet me at a restaurant and email it to them before they show up.  Or I could  be looking at some footage while waiting for my espresso, find some interesting connections I wasn’t thinking about, edit it together and send it to a festival. The point is you can take those down moments and create something different. This app gives you the control to say something with your video.

Bart Weiss teaches mobile movie-making as coordinator of the film/video program at University of Texas at Arlington. He is also the founder of the 23 year old VideoFest in Dallas and is a contributor to MobilizedTV.

Tags: 1st Video, Apple Touch, iMovie, iPhone apps, Reel Director, VeriCorder, video editing on the iPhone

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Advertising/Marketing, Content, Devices, Home Feature.