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Learn How to Make Cell Phone Movies

Do you know that you can now make high quality movies from your cell phone? From adding dialogue to editing your videos, you can make great videos from your mobile device.

By Misty Faucheux
Desk Tech
Reading time 3 min read
Word count 472
Video Multimedia Filmmaking techniques
Learn How to Make Cell Phone Movies
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Quick Take

Do you know that you can now make high quality movies from your cell phone? From adding dialogue to editing your videos, you can make great videos from your mobile device.

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Making a Video on Your Mobile Device

The stage is set. The actors are in place. Everything is ready to go. The director steps up and grabs his cell phone. His cell phone? That’s right. Movies can now be made on your cell phone.

The technology has been in place for many years, but it has only been recently that the concept of movies being made from mobile devices has really captured the attention of many people, including award-winning director Spike Lee. Festivals in Paris and Sundance has even paid homage to mini-films made from mobile devices or have sponsored films to be shown on mobile devices. Some have just been shorts, but there have been some feature length films made, and the possibilities for the future seem infinite.

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Using Your Cell Phone to Make Movies

But, why would anyone really want to make a movie from a cell phone? Well, the easy answer may just be mobility. What makes these devices so great for surfing the Internet in a café or capturing your friends at club also makes it ideal for cheap and quick films.

Videos can be easily captured from your cell phone. Almost every mobile device out there has this feature. For close ups, these devices can be wonderful, for movement and capturing images far away, not quite as much. The images can be grainy, especially when blown up on a movie screen. But, this same graininess adds an almost an impressionist type of feel to the images. Microphones will capture background noise as well as any spoken words close to the camera.

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But, for all the detractions, these little films are becoming more and more popular. Workshops are now being taught to teach would-be mobile device filmmakers how to make the best of their cell phones and other devices.

Mobile Device Video Production Software

Once you capture your mini-movie, you can download the images onto your computer and edit them just like you would any other video. Most free software, unfortunately, is not yet equipped to handle the mobile device video format. There are several other products, however, including muveeShow , Vegas by Sony and iMovie for Apple computers , that can be purchased.

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These software programs let you splice together scenes, add music and even add dialogue. Most dialogue that you obtain from your mobile device will not be usable, but you can add dialogue by recording it into your PC with a microphone and matching it up with the mouth movements. This can be a pain, but at least your dialogue will be able to be understood.

Now, you are ready to share your films and videos with the world on YouTube, Facebook and others. So, grab your Blackberry, Razor or IPhone and get cracking. Your films may be part of the next wave of filmmaking.

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