"Creative software is expensive." If you've ever
thought this, you are not alone. Subscription models
dominate the market like a plague, their ever-growing
prices rendering them seemingly inaccessible to those
at the bottom. Those with little money, little experience,
and no consistent work. Given you're here, I assume
that means you're of us.
I want this guide to make film - the artform I love so
very much - as accessible as possible. Removing the financal
barriers by curating and explaining all the programs you
can use to make damn good art completely for free!
Now, there are some prerequisite's for this guide that
you have to keep in mind.
USABLE COMPUTER
You need a computer for the vast majority
of apps in this list. The goal here
is to bring you up a level to making films
that are a step up from what is possible on
your phone. You'll need a semi-stable computer
to achieve this.
If you can't access a computer at all,
keep making them on your phone for now :)
(If you have an ipad, a few of these apps should
be avaliable on there!)
CAMERA
Unless you want to be an animator, you'll
need a camera. Thankfully, you probably have
one on your phone. It's not perfect but it
will do!
(Please Please Please if you buy anything
get a tripod for your phone. Static shots are
so so so important!!!)
Always check and see if family members have old
camcorders or DSLR's lying around.
They may not be good at all but learning to use
them can help you in the long run!
PATIENCE
Learning new stuff takes time, making
films takes time. Start small and build up,
and don't compare the quality of your films
to movies with budgets in the hundreds of millions!
Believe in yourself, make some cool stuff :)
PRE-PRODUCTION
Before you make a film, you have* to have an idea.
Pre-Production here covers everything from writing your script
to making a storyboard to organising your day. Basically
any work that occurs before you hit record.
Keep in mind that Pre-Production is honestly quite well suited to paper,
especially if it involves drawings, storyboard apps
can be hit or miss in my experience so I prefer paper.
WRITING
Now, you might be wondering "what's the point of a screenwriting
app? Surely Google Docs would do the trick?" The answer is formatting.
Screenplays are formatted with specific conventions to make them as
readable as possible. You can do this in Google Docs if you enjoy
dragging margins around for every line of text - but don't do that.
Using a dedicated application saves you a world of time, and it teaches you
what goes where. There's no shortage of these apps in the world, many of them
yammering about all their fancy features like intergrations with other apps,
included cloud storage, etc. And they all cost money.
If you can forego all these bonus features (you were using Google Docs before,
you'll be fine) then you should get Fade In.
Fade In is a free (100% optional paid upgrade. Does not affect use.),
simple, and fully local screenwriting app that's easy to use
and ultra efficient. It's also my primary screenwriting app
of choice.
It has a surprising amount of features under the hood, but
for simplicity this guide will focus on the main interface. There
are four (4) formats to choose from, each presenting you with
a page, a breif example, and a set of shortcuts to switch between
different formats.
The Fade-In home screen
As I said, there are many more features in the program to take advantage of,
but most of that is beyond my scope. I'm hardly a writer - only writing my own
shorts when necessary and sticking to passion projects.
Fade In does have an option paid upgrade. The primary thing this unlocks
is live remote collaboration on a doccument. While convenient, you probably
won't need it until you're writing much larger projects with other writers.
The paid version also removes the reminder that you're using the trial version, as well
as removing the watermark that appears at the bottom of the screen. (Between us, if
you have a pdf editor this watermark is no problem at all.)
Once you're ready to get your script looking proper,
Fade In would be my first choice!
BETTER PHONE CAMERA
If you're using your phone's camera, you loose a lot of
the control that stand alone cameras have. Phones are
actually capable of recording with a lot more formats
and settings than you can access in the defualt camera app.
BLACKMAGIC CAMERA
Type: Camera
Cost: 0
Optional Upgrade: No
Avaliability: IOS + Android
Blackmagic design create some of the most competitively priced
hardware and software on the market, and this won't be the last time
they appear on this list.
The Blackmagic camera app unlocks the full capabilities of your phones camera,
allowing you to control the ISO, shutter speed, white balance, focus, and iris. It uses
the same menu designs as Blackmagics cinema cameras - the most user-friendly UI
of the sort.
This app allows you to get the best looking footage out of your phone and
helps you learn about camera settings along the way! Its not strictly necessary
but it will help you in the long run.
Now its not perfect, the low-light capabilities of this manual-control app
aren't as strong as the defualt camera app at least in terms of my iPhone 13.
Furthermore, I can't speak to its performance on Android devices as I don't use one.
On iPhones, and in daylight conditions the app performs exceptionally.
You'll be surprised about how versatile your phone camera can really be!
POST-PRODUCTION
Chances are, if you're after free software for film/video, you're looking for
something related to post-production. I'm willing to bet that mostly means editing
software - which makes sense, it's the main thing you need to create audiovisual media.
While most of you will be here just for the editing software, I also cover programs for
sound, VFX, music, and delivery.
Post-Production is my area. It's what I'm making a carrer out of, I have the most fun editing,
sound designing, and (sometimes) doing VFX for films and videos. You may notice that entries in this section
are a lot longer and more detailed - that is why.
EDITING
Unfortunately, searching for "free editing software" often just returns crap and leaves out a lot
of legitamate options. I cover two primary choices in this list, one of which is also avaliable on mobile
but is comparitevely less powerful.
DaVinci Resolve is (in my completely biased opinion) the single best thing to happen to the
editing software market. With AVID's Media Composer being utterly inaccessible, Adobe's Premiere pro
seemingly never improving, and HitFilm being killed in early 2025 - Resolve has been growing in popularity
like mad over the past few years.
Starting out exclusively as a colour (color for those who dislike u's in their words) grading tool,
Blackmagic purchased Resolve and aimed to use its position as a popular grading software to make gains
in editing too.
It's almost-unrestricted free version and one-time payment Studio version are capable (with very
minor exceptions) of being both a professional grade software and user-friendly enough for amatuers who
are just starting to learn.
Now, while people who have had their adaptability to change eroded by Avid will tell you that its "not the
industry standard" (my thoughts on that coming soon enough), it absolutely can support at the very least a strong
indie carreer.
DaVinci Resolve, like many of these free, open source or "alternative" programs has a strong community,
which of course means a lot of resources to help you learn it. This is especially true for beginners and I'll
have some tutorials from creators I personally watch!
In terms of restrictions on the free version, there is no watermark - something all too common in free software -
and the rest of the limitations will seldom affect beginners.
The limitation you're likely to notice using the software is that some of the stock effects are studio-only. While
they would be nice to have, they're not a dealbreaker and you can always source them from elsewhere.
Aside from this, the main restriction is the lack of 10-bit colour support (excluding BRAW), and not allowing
high-frame-rate exports over 4K. The former is more relevant, as if you upgrade to a camera that supports higher bit-depth
you won't be able to take advantage of it until you purchase Studio.*
Far in a way the thing I like most about Resolve as a program for filmmakers is its versatility, it can do so much more than
just edit, you'll be seeing it more than once on this list...
