Making a movie on an iPhone can be quite easy—if you plan it correctly. Today we’ll be covering this in detail, to allow you to get the best out of your iPhone.

What Type of Movie Can You Make on an iPhone?

The iPhone’s stellar experience means that you can record almost any type of movie on it. However, if you’re planning to record and edit both on the iPhone, we’d recommend keeping it limited to short movies, since editing can be tricky on small devices. A workaround for this is to record all your clips on your iPhone and edit them later on a computer, but we’ll discuss that later on.

We’ve broken this down into three phases to make it easier for you—planning, shooting, and editing. There are specifics and tips in each section that will help you make better movies on your iPhone.

1. Planning

The first step that goes into any movie is planning. You need to plan out the basics of your entire movie, including different scenes, characters, etc.

Equipment

One of the most important factors for any movie is the type of equipment used. It’s not necessary to have the most expensive equipment in order to make a movie excel. But some upgrades over the defaults can make a major difference.

Sound

The most noticeable difference comes in the sound category. Depending on the type of movie you’re planning to shoot, it is worth investing in an external mic. If you’re planning to shoot a movie with audible dialogue (for example, an interview), investing in a lavalier mic may be very beneficial. On the other hand, a simple external mic (such as the Rode VideoMic Go) can work for recording vlogs.

If you do not want to purchase an external mic, you can record the audio separately on another device placed near the speaker. For example, if you’re recording a documentary, use the Voice Memos app on another iPhone and place it near the speaker, which will record a separate, clearer track of audio that you can use later. You can also choose to record voiceovers for other segments, which will result in more refined audio in the final video.

Lighting

Another important aspect to consider is lighting. Since mobile lenses such as those found on the iPhone have tiny sensors, they don’t perform that well in low-light. Hence, it is paramount that the entire scene is well-lit. Try to film where there’s plenty of light, but make sure you never shoot into the light.

Always shoot away from the light, or try to use reflectors to reduce contrast. You can choose to use a ring-light or lightbox if it fits your budget, otherwise, a table lamp can do a great job at lighting a subject.

Stabilization

You may not realize this, but a majority of handheld videos are so shaky that it becomes unbearable to watch them. You don’t want this happening when you’re making a movie. You need to ensure that whoever’s shooting the video has super-stable hands—or simply uses a tripod.

They’re incredibly cheap these days, but make sure you find one that’s stable and easily supports your phone’s weight. If you’re looking to shoot moving scenes, consider investing in a stabilizer, which makes the footage look super-smooth.

2. Shooting

Once you’ve prepared all your equipment and scene, it’s time to get down to shooting. There are some things you should check and ensure before shooting your scene. Always make sure your iPhone is on Airplane mode before starting to shoot, as this can help you avoid unnecessary distractions such as random phone calls or notifications.

Adjust Your Settings

Before shooting your film, the first step you should take is to check your settings. If you’re shooting for the first time, this may not matter a lot to you, but for professional filmmaking, you should be shooting at a specific resolution and frame rate, depending on what type of footage you’re recording.

For instance, you should be shooting cinematic footage at 24fps, whereas action footage should be shot at the highest frame rate available. This allows you to slow the footage down while editing if required. You can adjust these configurations from the Settings > Camera > Video Format on your iPhone.

Check Your Sound

You’d be amazed how many times filmmakers have shot an entire scene, only to find out that the sound configuration was messed up while editing it. If you are using an external mic, ensure it’s connected properly and is recording your sound. You can do this by shooting a short clip and checking the sound.

Lock Your Exposure

Depending on where you’re shooting your movie, you may want to lock your iPhone’s exposure to a fixed setting. This will prevent the camera from adjusting lighting based on the surroundings. This may sound like a bad thing at first—but the iPhone camera often misjudges the exposure in contrast settings and massively over or underexposes the scene.

To lock the exposure, tap and hold the important part of the image until AE/AF LOCK appears. Then adjust the slider up or down to the right of the box to make the image brighter or darker if necessary.

Check the Frame

Another important aspect that is often overlooked during shooting is the frame position. Make sure you have ample space on either side of the subject (apart from closeups), and that you aren’t missing anything in the frame. Following the rule of thirds during your framing can be quite helpful too.

Be sure to use a zoom setting appropriate to the scene. You can experiment with the standard 1x zoom, telephoto 2x zoom, or wide-angle 0.5x zoom, all of which give a very different point of view and can be used in different ways.

Add a 3-Second Window and Use Effects

Adding a 3-second gap before and after the actual recording is a personal preference of mine. This can sometimes be helpful during editing, especially if you’re looking to add in transition effects later.

Depending on what type of footage you’re looking to record, you can also try experimenting with different shooting modes. Slow-motion footage (shot using the Slo-Mo feature) can emphasize scenes, whereas a Timelapse shot can add a beautiful landscape view (such as the sunset or cars traveling on the road). It ultimately comes down to what type of footage you’re looking to record.

3. Editing

Once you’re done with all the shooting, it’s time to edit the footage to compile it into one final movie. It’s always a good idea to organize all your clips together (and delete any unwanted ones) in the Photos app before you start editing. This reduces confusion over different clips later on.

If you’re looking to edit the movie directly on your iPhone, we’d recommend using Apple’s own iMovie app. Download it from the App Store, create a new project with your movie name, and import all your clips. You’ll now be able to arrange all your clips and edit them as needed.

I personally prefer to edit my movies on my Mac, as the bigger screen and the added functionality of the keyboard and trackpad make it much easier to edit. You can choose to use iMovie (if you have a Mac), or Lightwork (on Windows)—both of which are free.

There are many other professional video editing apps if you’re looking to spend some money, the best of which is considered to be Adobe Premiere Pro. Keep in mind that most of these have a steep learning curve.

Share Your Movie for the World to See

Once you’re done with the final product, export it at the highest quality and share it for the world to see! If this was your first time producing a movie on an iPhone, don’t be too worried if it didn’t turn out quite as expected. There’s always a first time for everything.

Planning, shooting, and editing a movie on an iPhone is indeed a feat—which can also lead the way to professional video editing in the future.