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As all movie-makers know, if you want to put butts in the seats, you need splashy special effects.
Like, say, an explosive missile strike or an alien attack. And who doesn’t love a massive car crash?
Bad Robot Interactive’s Action Movie FX 2.0 lets you add Hollywood-style effects sequences to the movies you shoot on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET
It works like this: Choose a sequence, then start filming. When you’re done, the app lets you choose where in the clip to insert the effect. After a few seconds of rendering, presto: you’ve got a clip that looks (and sounds) like a big-budget special-effects shop worked on it.
This is really cool, and really fun. The app comes with four free sequences — a rollover car crash, a missile attack, a giant boulder crashing through the ground, and a massive falling rock slide — with various two- packs of additional effects available for 99 cents apiece.
Start with the boulder. Put your phone or tablet on a level surface — say, a tabletop — and start filming for at least 5 seconds. The resulting effect is incredibly cool; it looks like the boulder is actually crashing through the surface.
When you’re done, you can share the clip via Facebook or e-mail, or save it to the Camera Roll for additional editing elsewhere. (Pinnacle Studio for iPad, anyone?)
Obviously, it would be nice if Action Movie FX offered a bit more versatility, like the option to make a sequence longer or make it slow motion. But it’s so simple, so fun, and so impressive, I really can’t complain. Whether you’re a budding filmmaker or just a kid who wants to blow up his sister, you’ll love this app.
