If you are like me, your iPhone houses a plethora of random videos and photos showcasing you, family, friends, pets, the guy down the street who doesn’t seem to own a shirt, and other bits and pieces of your life. Silent Film Director (formerly Vintage Video Maker) allows you to take these memories and turn them into quirky silent movies, which you can share via social networks or email (just be careful who you share them with, I mean you don’t want your boss seeing you do a keg stand last Friday, no matter how awesome it looks in black and white).
If you frequently take videos, you probably have at least a dozen photo and video-editing apps in your arsenal, but what you don’t have is an easy-to-use video-editing app that gives your personal videos the Charlie Chaplin magic.
Curious? Learn more after the jump.
The Basics
Silent Film Director allows you to become Producer, Director, Art Director and Sound Mixer for vintage looking films with one straightforward video-editing app.
This app allows users to take pre-recorded videos and modify them with vintage “effects,” soundtracks, slick transitions, still photos and title cards easily with the simple editing process. And with the app’s share function, your silent films just might bring on semi-stardom.
Take One
When the app launches, you are given a choice for “Standard Mode” (Free) and “Pro Mode.” For this review, we will be focusing on the Pro Mode version.
Silent Film Director offers both a Standard Mode and a Pro Mode
After selecting the Pro Mode version, you will be directed to Movie Projects. Since you don’t have a Movie Project yet, you need to begin one. After tapping the add sign in the right hand corner, you are given the opportunity to name your movie. Let the creativity ensue.
Silent Film Director then asks you the hardest question you will get: what effect to use? The choices include: 20’s Movie, 60’s Home Video, Sepia, Sepia Vintage, 70’s Home Video and the option to have no effect at all. You also have the choice to choose the level of quality for your movie, which starts with low, then ramps up to medium, high and HD.
Choose a soundtrack to fit your film
In addition to having the ability to control quality, you can apply a relevant soundtrack to your video. Silent Film Director comes with eight classic silent movie soundtracks, and offers the option to import sound files from a shared folder or your library — just in case you need to add Rebecca Black’s “Friday” to really highlight the vision of your film.
After setting the options, you are ready to start working silent film magic. At the most basic level, you can choose a pre-recorded movie, render the video with your pre-chosen settings and voilà! New silent movie.
Time to Get Fancy
Put up title cards at your discretion.
Silent Film Director has a number of easy-to-use options available to help you turn your basic video into a semi-professional looking film. These options include setting the scene with title cards that come in seven variations with five different font options, or adding still photos from your library for unexpected surprises or close-ups. Transitions are also available for any aspect of the video and can add an air of professionalism in addition to just plain awesomeness. There is also a very handy option to edit the length and splice the video you upload, so the special chicken-wing dance move your friend pulled on the dance floor the other night can be relived again, and again, and again.
While you wait, Charlie Chaplin entertains you with random factoids. Silent Movie Director also makes it extremely easy to share using Facebook, YouTube and email
After you are finished with your new masterpiece, Silent Film Director easily allows you to share your creation through YouTube, Facebook and email.
How Silent Film Director Compares
While there are many video-editing apps such as iMovie and Splice in the App Store, Silent Film Director is the one of the most dedicated to vintage-looking filters. There is a free version of Silent Film Director, which gives you the ability to use the basic functions such as filters, sound, quality and speed. If you want the full experience, Silent Film Director’s Pro Mode will only set you back $0.99.
The End
With the overabundance of video-editing apps available in the App Store, I find that Silent Film Director is one of my favorites. Everything from the random factoids that appear on the loading screen while your video is being rendered to the assortment of classic vintage filters available for your video and the enhanced rendering technology adds to the overall appeal of this app.
The only suggestion that I would make is add more choices for vintage sounds, and to add Twitter to the sharing function.
Overall, I think Silent Film Director is a fun, video-editing app that is perfect for anyone wanting to play with vintage filters.