In an e-mail interview, Abrams called Action Movie FX the first of a “slew” of “cool projects” that his Bad Robot is working on in the interactive space.

“I think it should be noted that this is the first time I have used the word slew,’” the filmmaker noted, adding that the endeavors include “movies, some TV shows or books, some short-form filmed and animated projects, some music and some apps.”

The app was financed by Bad Robot and overseen by Andrew Kramer, the visual effects wizard whom Abrams plucked from his website, Video Copilot, to work on the opening credit sequences of the Fox series “Fringe” and the 2009 feature film “Star Trek.”  He and Bad Robot executive David Baronoff worked on the app with a small team of outside programmers for about two months.

“I just loved the idea that people could add high-quality visual effects to their footage, all with a phone they already carry with them,” Abrams said of the app.

Kramer said the biggest challenge was getting the app to track moving images while also making the interface as foolproof as possible. “We went through so many different versions while wondering, ‘How are people going to use this app? Should we have director’s notes? What about on-screen tips?’”

“Action Movie FX” debuted Dec. 22, and surged to No. 1 on the list of most downloaded free entertainment apps and since then it ranked consistently among the top 25 free apps of all kinds.

Los Angeles Times    –   www.netkaup.is