FiLMiC has become the de facto app for video capture on mobile devices. It has been and is used in professional video productions and feature films with a simple and powerful user interface that gives the user a lot more control over the image than the built-in video app. It is also reasonably priced and hasn’t had a paid upgrade ever. Or at least I can’t recall a time I had to shell out a few bucks to update.
All Things Change
This month FiLMiC announced they are teaming up with Bending Spoons, a globally-renowned mobile technology and app development company known for their video editing app Splice.
The past couple of years at FiLMiC have been a period of innovation and growth, with a spirited drive toward creating the best mobile filmmaking experience possible for our community. We’ve explored new technologies and new practices, and now we’re excited to announce new partnerships.
This month, FiLMiC joined forces with Bending Spoons, a globally-renowned mobile technology and app development company based in Milan, Italy. Bending Spoons brings to FiLMiC its legacy of building cutting-edge mobile technologies and brands, providing a backbone of technological expertise and digital marketing innovation.
The support of Bending Spoons will help fuel our plans for growth, accelerate our development cycles, and ultimately build an even stronger, more valuable FiLMiC experience for our customers in the ever-expanding Creator Community. That’s all we can say for now, but we’ll be back in touch early this fall with more details. Thank you for all of your support, and here’s to the future!
FiLMiC
What does this mean? The answers will come over time. On Twitter, many users are concerned about a subscription base for FiLMiC that will make purchasing the app a thing of the past.
I have a love-hate relationship with the subscription model, okay maybe more hate than love, but it seems it’s the way everything software is heading. Maxon and Red Giant come to mind. Their new plans just ruined the experience of using Red Giant plug-ins. I don’t use them anymore.
For the FiLMiC app, this means it’s going to be more expensive. Will it come with more features and apps? Who knows. It’s a bit early to say, but Splice is a subscription app. Below are the tiers they offer.
- Movie editing for your videos USD $4.99
- Splice Monthly USD $9.99
- Splice Trial USD $1.99
- Splice USD $4.99
- Splice Weekly With Free Trial USD $2.99
- Splice Yearly With Free Trial USD $69.99
- Splice Monthly With Free Trial USD $9.99
- Splice Yearly With Free Trial USD $29.99
- Splice Yearly With Free Trial USD $69.99
- Splice Monthly With Free Trial USD $9.99
The new pricing structure for Filmic Pro
In-App Purchases
- Cinematographer Kit $13.99
- Filmic Weekly With Free Trial $2.99
- Filmic Weekly With Free Trial $4.99
- Adamant Film Pack $2.99
- Novus Film Pack $2.99
- Filmic Weekly No Free Trial $2.99
- Charcoal Film Pack $2.99
- Infrared Film Pack $2.99
- Filmic Weekly With Free Trial $0.99
- Filmic Weekly No Free Trial $4.99
The above pricing is nothing short of confusing. In the past, it cost $19 for the FiLMiC Pro app. Now it looks like they are moving to a plan that is $2.99 a week. If you keep it for a full year, it’s approximately $144.
Mobile filmmaking is only going to expand as the cameras on them are improving to a point that the mirrorless cameras could be in some serious trouble. Video cameras are probably not far behind. Growth and innovation always come at a price. The question is will consumers be willing to shell out more money for it?
I hope the best for FiLMiC as they provide an excellent app that is so much better than anything you get with a stock app on both platforms, but a weekly subscription is just plain weird.
