App for journalists: Cameo, a quick video editor for iOS

Credit: By LarsZ on Shutterstock

What is it? A simple video editing app that allows users to trim their footage and enhance it with filters and subtitles in a matter of minutes

Devices: iOS

Cost: Free

How is it of use to journalists? Between a Facebook executive predicting most, if not all, of people's newsfeed on the platform could "likely be video" in the next five years, and publishers doubling down on news videos, all digital journalists are being encouraged to try their hand at recording and editing video.

Originally, Cameo was a more complex video editing tool, with the look and feel of a social networking app, but Vimeo has stripped down some of these features in the second and current version, which relaunched last month.

Cameo now allows users to import, edit and enhance video footage in just a few minutes. Users can either log in with a Facebook or Vimeo account (although this is not mandatory) to start.

After granting the app permission to access their camera roll, they can important as many videos as they wish, as Cameo doesn't impose any restrictions on length or number of videos used in a project.

Tip: Cameo will work better if the videos imported are filmed horizontally rather than vertically.

Videos can be trimmed by simply dragging the beginning and end points on the bar appearing on screen. The same menu allows users to add subtitles of up to 40 characters (emojis accepted), which can be aligned left, right or centre, and turn the clip's default sound on and off.

Tapping the video once in editing mode will maximise it to full screen and display options for adding soundtracks and filters.

A variety of songs are available, which can be browsed by genre, and users can also choose from the 10 default themes of the app. Each theme comes with its own filter and font style and colour.

These are automatically applied to the video, but by tapping the 'A' button in the bottom right-hand corner, users can change the colour of the text and flick through the few font style options available for each theme.

Once the video has been trimmed and styled, there is only one step left: choosing a thumbnail for the clip and adding a title and an optional description.

The video can then be saved to camera roll in HD or full HD – there is also an option to upload your work privately or publicly straight to Vimeo.

Trying out @cameoapp ☀️ pic.twitter.com/J5N1ieXYZT

— Mădălina Ciobanu (@madalinacrc) June 28, 2016

For more mobile video editing apps, check out Lightt and our round-up of 3 free iOS apps to edit short videos for social.

Which mobile apps do you use to edit videos on the go? Let us know on Twitter @journalismnews.

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