Top Apps I use for creating the PERFECT Instagram story videos

Have you been wondering how some Influencers are adding color or cool effects to their videos? How can you also edit you videos or Instagram stories to have these cool effects on them!? Ever since Instagram brought out the story and highlights features, it’s been all the rage to get the perfect aesthetic for your videos and make beautiful stories that you can look back on whenever you want!

This post will have you covered, so you can create stories that will get your followers wondering how you made them in no time! Listed below are five of my top favorite apps for making your videos stand out, and some extra honorable mentions, that will satisfy all your video editing needs!

iMovie

Let’s start with the basics! A lot of people think that you can’t edit vertical videos in iMovie, but I’m here to show you the secret way you can! Upload the video you want to iMovie, select the film and then press the plus sign in the top right corner. Then just pinch the video all the way out. That’s all you need to do!

 You can then go through the video and make any edits you want. For example, you can crop out any bits of the video you don’t want. The app also lets you easily change the speed of the video, so you can speed it up or slow it down.

For me, iMovie is perfect for making mini vlogs or “What I do in a day” videos. It saves me time when I’m at an event that I want to document, so I don’t have to spend a lot of time on my phone trying to edit the perfect Instagram story video. I film everything just using the camera on my iPhone, and then at night when I’m in bed I’ll upload everything into iMovie and make a short video of my day.

It’s free, easy to use, and I think it’s a necessity for anyone wanting to make good quality Instagram stories.

The only downside of iMovie is that when you save a vertical video, it saves with black bars on either side of it. However, there is a way to get rid of these black bars, which I will explain later in this post!!

Hyper Lapse

This app is great for when you want to capture a video of something that changes over time, such as a sunset, cake rising in the oven, or even doing your makeup.

All you have to do is press record and let it sit for a few minutes (or however long you want) and it’ll create a hyper-lapse for you. Once you stop it, you can choose how quick you want the video to go.

It’s a very basic app but is great for when you want a super-fast-paced time lapse! No other app allows you to increase the speed of videos as much as Hyper Lapse does!

Prequel 

This app is great for editing both photos and videos. You simply upload which video you want to edit using the central button at the top of the screen.

The app lets you rotate or crop the video, so it can be whatever angle and shape you want. You can even set it to feed crop, so you can see what it would look like if you posted it on Instagram.

You can add a stunning filter to your video! A list of trends will show up to show you the most used filters, so you know exactly which ones are popular at the moment! You can, of course, pick whatever filter you want, and the one which suits you and your Instagram aesthetic the most!

There are some really cool filters on the app, including VHS and cinema, which can give your videos such a fun look! Prequel also allows you to add music to your videos if you have an iTunes subscription.

There is a free version to this app, which is what I use and it has some really great features. The only downfall to this app is that if you want the premium version, it costs $5 a week for the premium version and is only really worth it if you’re a professional and regular videographer.

 Filmm

This is actually my FAVORITE app to use! Filmm was brought out by the famous YouTuber, Zoella. I’m sure anyone who likes YouTube (and hasn’t been living under a rock) knows who she is! This app saved me when I got in a bit of a rut and couldn’t decide how to edit my photos!

Once you have uploaded your video onto the app, click on the film button, and this will show you all the effects and overlays you can use. There are different packs that each have a filter and color gradient all to suit the same theme. This makes it so easy when you are editing your videos to ensure you choose edits that all work together.

You can then choose an effect as an overlay on the video. For example, I always use a nice grainy effect so I can create the perfect vintage look to match my Instagram theme!

If you choose to edit anything on iMovie, you could use Filmm to get rid of the black bars by cropping the video. I choose the 9×16 crop, and this gets rid of those black bars straight away!

Pixaloop

This one is a great app, and I’m going to show you how to use it in a way that is half photo, half video.

I love using this app for making the skies in photos pop and adding a video-like movement to it.

All you have to do is choose a photo where you can see a lot of the sky and upload it into the app. Then, click on the sky button along the bottom of the screen. It’ll show you all the different types of beautiful skies which you can use!

Select which sky from the filters at the bottom you want to use. Then boom! It’ll look like you’ve been out in glorious sunshine! Just make sure you pick a sky that matches the photo and looks natural.

Ambient is a great tool on the app which plays with the tone of the bottom half of the photo to help make it match your feed and look completely natural! Horizon is another feature in the app which helps make it less obvious that your photo is edited.

 When you press play in the bottom right, the sky will then start moving, and so you can save the photo as a video and post it to your Instagram story!

Now time for some honorable mentions!

• Cut story – use to Cut Story to cut my longer videos into the perfect 15 second Instagram stories.

• VSCO – the basic way to edit videos. Just like for photos, upload and add your filter

• Video LUT – great for manipulating specific colors in photos. You have to pay $2.99 but that gives you access to everything!

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So, there you have the best five apps that’ll allow you to edit your videos so you can have high-quality Instagram stories! They’ll look so stunning and like they’ve been shot by a professional videographer. You won’t be able to stop looking back at your beautiful Instagram highlights!

Follow your joy,
Millie