No-one wants to see a 30-minute video of your cat being mildly amusing; and even that 60-second comedy classic Drunken Mate Falls Off Chair is too long.
But cut out the boring bits, drop in some transitions and add a soundtrack, and you’ve got social media gold. Possibly.
So, whether you’re a budding Hollywood director armed with a smartphone, or just someone who wants to make an Instagram clip look more Instagrammy, grab some of these editors and get cracking on your masterpiece. After all, you’ve only another 29-and-a-half minutes to chop out!
iMovie
Considered a benchmark iOS release, and impressively similar to the Mac desktop version, iMovie should be on every iOS device. The app makes it ridiculously easy to splice together shot footage, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
You can use it to add titles, music, voiceovers and photos to your work of art - and if you want to cheese it up, take your pick from a bunch of TV-style templates and movie trailer themes. With recent Apple hardware, it’ll even deftly deal with 4K.
Download iMovie for iOS (£free)
PowerDirector
Android often ends up second-best when it comes to creative fare, but that’s not the case with video. PowerDirector in many ways echoes iMovie, providing a user-friendly but powerful editor.
Clips can quickly be arranged and trimmed, titles can be added, and you get a decent set of transitions to experiment with. However, you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription (£4.79 – although as low as £2.79 if you pay for a year upfront) to rid your movies of watermarks and export at up to 4K. On iOS and feeling jealous? The app’s available there too – although subs are slightly pricier.
Download PowerDirector for Android (£free + IAP)
Download PowerDirector for iOS (free + IAP)
KineMaster
One of the most impressive things about this video editor on Android is that it’s so simple to use - even on quite a small smartphone. It uses screen space remarkably well, making it a cinch to arrange your clips, add additional layers (captions, images, and even ‘handwriting’), quickly import extra footage and play around with effects.
But like PowerDirector, it’s a pity the developer saddled the app with a restrictive subscription payment model rather than a one-off cost: the monthly subscription will set you back £3.19, or you can get a year for £18.99. Again, it’s on iOS as well (£3.49 per month/£18.49 annually), although you’d be better off investing in LumaFusion.
Download KineMaster for Android (£free + IAP)
Download KineMaster for iOS (£free + IAP)