Introducing Matches VFX Packs
Strike Anywhere!
Real Live-Action Match Flames, Horizontal and Vertical, Pre-Keyed and Ready to Go
Lighting a match is one of cinema's great small moments. It reveals a face in the dark, lights a fuse, starts a fire, or burns down to a fingertip while a character decides what to do next. It's also a shot that rarely goes right on the first take. Today we're releasing two brand-new FX packs to help: Matches – Pack 1 and Matches – Pack 2, featuring 64 real live-action match flames filmed against a black background on RED cinema cameras.
Every clip is pre-keyed with an alpha channel and delivered in 4K ProRes and 4K EXR, with the original RED R3D files included at native resolutions ranging from 4K to 8K. Both packs cover the complete life of a match: ignition, a steady burn, a flame fighting the wind, and the final flicker into smoke.
Matches – Pack 1
Matches – Pack 1 puts 32 live-action match flames at your fingertips, all filmed with the matchstick held horizontally. The pack includes the strike and flare of ignition, extinguish clips that burn down and fade into a wisp of smoke, and windy clips where the flame bends and stretches against a gust.
The horizontal orientation makes these clips a natural fit for a hand reaching across frame to light a fuse, a cigarette, a lantern, or a candle, as well as for extreme close-ups where the match runs parallel to the lens.
Matches – Pack 2
Matches – Pack 2 delivers 32 live-action match flames filmed with the matchstick held upright, giving you a vertical companion to Pack 1 for shots where the match is raised toward the camera or held straight up in a character's hand. Like its sibling, it includes ignition, extinguish, and windy variants.
These are the details that sell a scene: the single match struck in a dark basement, the flame cupped against the wind on a rooftop, or the last match burning out in a survival story.
Free Match Downloads
To help you get started with this new footage, we've made several Matches clips available to download for free. Head over to our free VFX stock footage page to grab them, test them in your workflow, and start striking matches in your projects today.
Light the Fuse
Whether it's a quiet character moment or the spark that sets off your third act, the Matches FX packs give you a reliable, realistic flame every single time. Pick up Pack 1, Pack 2, or both, and never wait on a stubborn matchstick again.
- Two orientations: Horizontal and vertical matchsticks mean you can match the angle of the hand in your plate without awkward rotation.
- The whole story of a flame: Ignition, extinguish, and windy variants cover every beat, from the first spark to the last curl of smoke.
- Drag-and-drop ready: Every clip is pre-keyed with an alpha channel, so it composites over any background with no keying work.
- Fix it in post: Rescue a take where the match failed to light, went out too early, or lit on the wrong line of dialogue.
- Room to scale: RED R3D source files from 4K to 8K give you plenty of resolution for tight close-ups and slow motion.
Matches pair naturally with our Candle, Cigarette Smoke, and Sparks libraries. Strike a match, light a candle, and let a thread of smoke drift up, all without a single flame on set.