ANY BUDDING FILMMAKER NEEDS THE RIGHT ACCESSORIES

So, when it comes to shooting on the iPhone, having the right accessories can make a world of difference. While setting up a rig for your mobile device might make you look a little more professional, there are even apps that can truly help you to exceed expectations.

CASES

A good quality case will not only protect your iPhone from scratches and scuffs but also allow you to mount your device on a tripod. A case with a modular design and a removable lens mount means that you can customize and play with your rig until you’re 100% comfortable with your setup.

LENSES

If you’ve already dabbled with iPhoneography, then you’ve probably already taken a look at some external lenses that will improve your movie making. Much like a DSLR, these lenses will allow you to distort, enhance, and zoom on your iPhone in a way that you wouldn’t be able to without them. The majority of lenses on the market will include a macro, wide-angle, and fisheye lens but this obviously differs from brand to brand.

AUDIO EQUIPMENT

While the microphone on the iPhone can pick up many nearby or fainter sounds, those who want to achieve higher quality will benefit from additional audio equipment that works hand in hand with the iPhone X. On-device mics, lavalier mics, and wireless mics are just a few options you might want to try out.

STABILIZERS AND TRIPODS

One of those bad habits we talked about before is shooting footage without the help of a stabilizer or tripod. Arguably the biggest pro of using a DSLR camera is the fact that they use expensive rigs to hold the device in place, making the final product look completely professional. However, your iPhone X is considerably smaller than a sturdy DSLR, so you’ll be able to opt for a less expensive option that works in exactly the same way.

LIGHTING

As all budding filmmakers will know, lighting plays an incredibly important role when it comes to creating a certain mood. For the iPhone X, even some of the cheaper, less sophisticated lighting options will work well. Though, if your budget can stretch, and you want to control your lighting further, there are options that can be used with a selfie remote so that you can change color and brightness when needed.

THE BEST APPS FOR PRO VIDEOGRAPHY

It doesn’t matter whether you want to be the next Christopher Nolan or you just want to share

your videos on social media, video-editing is still important to enhance your clips. Here are some of the best video-editing apps available for iOS.

iMOVIE (FREE)

For those just starting out on their iPhoneography journey, iMovie is a great app to help you get to grips with assembling your clips, adding titles, filters, effects, and split screen scenes. If you have a Mac, you can easily move your movie from your iPhone to continue working on a bigger screen.

CLIPS (FREE)

Another free app you’ll probably want to get your hands on is Clips. Much like iMovie, you can assemble a few pre-recorded videos from your iPhone and add filters, titles and graphics before you share. You’re not going to make an Oscar winner with Clips, but it’s a good place to start if you have limited video experience.

FILMMAKER PRO ($5.99 PER MONTH/$39.99 A YEAR)

If you’re absolutely serious about showing off your filmmaking skills, then Filmmaker Pro is definitely worth the price. This app has more than the basic features found on iMovie and Clips, allowing you to adjust the color gradient of your footage to make it appear like a classic film or to give it extra pops of color. You can also change any green screen scenes that you’ve previously recorded, replacing the background in only a few taps. There’s also graphics, titles, and transitions, as well as a manual video app that gives you more control.

LUMAFUSION ($19.99)

What makes LumaFusion stand out is that it gives you the ability to work with multiple video tracks at once, which can be used for graphics, titles, stills and video. The Chroma key allows for advanced blue/green screen work, color correction, slow motion and reverse, live audio mixing, audio editing and effects, and much more. In fact, we’ve heard that this is the editing software of choice for some dedicated filmmakers.

FINAL CUT PRO X ($300)

Don’t let the price put you off, for a professionallevel movie-editing app it’s almost a bargain. In fact, Apple used to retail this software at $1000. Running as a 64-bit application, it allows you to use as much RAM as you can fit into your Mac and it uses GPU to speed things up even more. It renders and transcodes media in the background so that you can keep working, includes tools to automatically organize your media, and lets you drop several shots in one edit point and cycle through them in context. You can try it out for free before you commit to buy.

With all of this in mind, it seems clear that the hype surrounding the iPhone X camera is not unjustified. The device has earned a spot in the toolboxes of many professional videographers thanks to its 240 fps 1080p mode, and it’s ability to shoot 4K films at 60fps. How long is it until our smartphones truly replace what is deemed a “proper” video setup? Soon – we think.