Smartphones are not only changing the way we watch films, but also the way we make them. When director Malik Bendjelloul ran out of money filming his documentary feature Searching for Sugar Man, he took a punt: he decided to shoot the remaining shots on his iPhone using an 8mm Vintage Camera app. It paid off. The film won the 2013 Academy award for best documentary feature.

You see, smartphone movie-making is Oscar-winning.

And if it’s good enough for the Academy, it’s good enough for us – the home movie-makers, the enthusiasts, the vloggers, the seasoned pros. If you’re anything like me, your smartphone is brimming with video clips already: mementoes of holidays, birthdays, nights out, ice bucket challenges, and tiny, surprising, chance encounters. Rather than leaving these clips estranged on your camera roll, a broad range of smart, cutting-edge, video-editing apps can turn even the rawest of footage into something fantastic: stringing together the best clips, trimming off the parts where you mistakenly filmed your foot, and adding a variety of subtle – and not so subtle – special effects.

1. HYPERLAPSE FROM INSTAGRAM
(Free)

Capable of shooting up to 45 minutes of footage, Instagram’s new time-lapse app is extraordinarily simple. When you open Hyperlapse, you have one option: record. (If you’ve shaky hands, Hyperlapse’s in-house stabilisation is stunningly efficient.) You can preview your video in speeds ranging from 1x to 12x, then share to Instagram or Facebook.

2. VINE
(Free)

Andy Warhol overestimated the future. In 2014, everyone can be famous, but for six-and-a-half seconds, not 15 minutes. Vine is both a fun video-making app – it allows users to create six-and-a-half-second looping vignettes and share them online – and one of the coolest social media platforms. The world’s biggest Viner, 16-year-old Nash Grier, has a staggering 9.3 million followers.

3. VIDEO EDITOR FOR FREE
(Free)

My favourite video-editing app: Video Editor For Free – well, mostly free – is less popular than the iMovie app, but I’d argue it’s faster and easier to use. It lets you trim, merge and share your videos, and some nifty additional features – transitions, adding music from your iTunes, recording voiceovers etc – cost 60p a pop.

4. ACTION MOVIE FX
(Free)

Torpedo your granny! Blow up your cat! Action Movie FX is a shameless “guilty” pleasure. Created by Bad Robot, the US production company owned by JJ Abrams, it allows you to add action movie-style visuals to your videos – missile attacks, car smashes, avalanches, spider strikes – and its intuitive interface is easy to navigate. Above all, it’s brilliant fun.

5. STOP MOTION STUDIO
(Free)

Stop Motion Studio lets you take photos (or import ones from your camera roll) and string them together to create stop-motion masterpieces. A tripod (or a makeshift one) is pretty essential, and so is patience. The free app lets you add music and your own narration, while in-app purchases include green screen, paint tools and sound effects.

6. SUN SEEKER
(IOS £4.99)

On location shoots, Sun Seeker is the app that I use most frequently. It’s killer. You can tell exactly where the sun is going to be throughout the day – invaluable when blocking a scene or planning a shooting schedule. Pair it with first-rate weather-forecasting app Dark Sky, and you’re prepared for anything from rain to shine.

7. CINE METER II
(IOS £13.99)

A good light meter can cost 400 quid, and most have horrible little screens that look like 90s calculators. This Cine Meter app turns your smartphone into a light meter – not quite pro-level, but a laudable alternative if you’ve a limited budget, or for recces when you might not have your actual meter with you. Think of this app as a “light meter lite”.

8. ARTEMIS DIRECTOR’S VIEWFINDER
(IOS £20.99)

On TV and movie sets worldwide, professional cinematographers and directors are using Artemis Director’s Viewfinder to roughly frame shots before moving a heavy camera, for location scouting, and for storyboarding. It can be configured to match any camera system. The priciest app, it is worth every penny.

9. RØDE REC
(IOS £3.99)

Like the Cine Meter II, the RØDE Rec app is a blessing for low-budget productions that can’t afford radio mics. It’s a broadcast-quality audio recorder for your phone, and it works great when paired with a lapel mic. It features a suite of editing tools, and an introductory version of the app, RØDE Rec LE, is available for free.

10. DIGISLATE
(Free)

MovieSlate® is probably the best clapperboard app, but it isn’t cheap. Save your pennies. DigiSlate is a class act. In bright sunlight, it can be hard to see it on a smartphone screen, but in lower light it has the edge over traditional clapperboards; you don’t have to shine a torch on it for the camera to see.