The smartphone revolution hasn't just put a video camera in your pocket. It's given you a whole movie-making studio in one compact package. With the right apps, you can add special effects and filters that the Hollywood experts would be proud of—and you don't even have to transfer your footage to a computer first. In this guide, we'll take you through six apps you can use for the job. Whether you want to send a dinosaur stampeding through your scene or give your footage a woozy, dream-like effect, you've got all kinds of possibilities to play around with.

Action Movie FX

The clue's in this app's name: Action Movie FX can overlay explosions and monsters with such aplomb that it's previously earned an Apple award. From natural disasters to wandering spaceships, it offers a ton of high-quality visuals to explore, though most of these effect packages require an in-app payment. That said, you do get some effects for free—look for them under the All menu—so you can see how the app works on your clips before you start paying.