Best sites to download paid and free stock footages and video clips.
VFX stock footage are very essential tool for high quality visual effects film making. Every visual effects movie uses paid and free VFX stock footage for creating high quality output in less time and cost. On a practical note, it is not viable to shoot every special effects or to create heavy simulation visual effects for each shot. Over the years, these had been integral part of every post production studio’s pipeline. They are heavily used for compositing, motion graphics and visual effects.
Also check out list of top 10 websites from where you can download general purpose video clips and images, royalty free and paid.
Stock video footages are also known as ‘Elements list’. Mostly are pre-keyed for better Compositing practices. Popular VFX stock footage are as follows:
- Explosion
- Blast
- Glass shattering / falling / smashing
- Fire
- Smoke, fog, wisp
- Dust, dirt, debris
- Bullets, shells
- Blood burst / splash
- Atmosphere
- Water splash / blast
- Snow
- Particles
- Muzzle flash
- Sparks
- Crowd
You can buy high quality VFX stock footages from the library of ActionVFX.
Use the Action VFX promo code ‘VIRTUALASSIST10’ to get 10% discount.
Following are the top 7 websites which allows downloading paid and free VFX footage. This list of stock footages is not in any particular or alphabetical order. The list will be updated regularly to keep pace with current developments.
1) Action Essentials 2
Action Essentials 2 is by the world renowned artist Andrew Kramer. Andrew is globally known for his kick ass works of motion design and visual effects through his website VIDEO COPILOT.
Undoubtedly, this is the leader in VFX stock footage arena. Mostly all the visual effects artists have collection of Action Essentials 2. It comes in two variations:
- 720p (HD resolution: 1280 x 720)
- 2K (Film resolution: 2048 x 1152)
This pre-keyed stock footage comes in bundle with Adobe After Effects training. The bundle contains 500 high quality stock video footage. Many of the VFX tutorials have used these plates for outstanding production. It is a great value of your money.
2) HitFilm
HitFilm is visual effects and video editing software. It is also useful for creating top class motion graphics and color grading. Apart from these giant applications, HitFilm Pro 2017 is equipped with 500+ visual effects presets. It supports 3D object integration, particle simulation, compositing, camera animation and tracking integration with award winning mocha software.
Various stock videos under the title of ‘HitFilm ActionVFX Bundle’ are Visual Effects, Explosion & Fire, Gun FX, Animated Mattes, Distortion & Grunge, Film Effects, Light Effects, Motion Graphics and Transitions.
3) FX Elements
FX Elements have 3 categories for visual effects video clip download: FX Clips, FX Packs and FX Collections. All these three packs include royalty free footage. Free movie clips for download are provided every month to check the quality details.
Apart from free stock footage, FX Elements also have another section called ‘Free Zone’. It is a collection of earlier month’s free video clips and other random FX clips. Apart from typical VFX clips of fire, smoke, blood, dust elements; it has great new collections of embers, water, asteria, steam and weather.
4) ActionVFX
ActionVFX has one of the best collections of stock footage elements. They are captured in Log format for better compositing. The visual effects artist can choose pre-keyed or un-keyed version from the library as per the demand of the VFX shot.
Use the discount coupon of ActionVFX ‘VIRTUALASSIST10’ to get 10% discount on your purchase.
Their free stock footage download category consists bullet hits sound FX, bullet hole textures, bullet shells, dust waves, lens dirt overlays and smoke plumes. Also check out their ‘blog’ section for more knowledge based information of VFX stock footage.
5) Hollywood Camera Work
Hollywood Camera Work in one of the most talked brand in the Animation and VFX industry. Their high quality products are appreciated worldwide. Many training institutes and YouTube video makers are using their stock footages for better teaching.
Well, this site is little bit different in terms of stock footages collection. They are more oriented towards compositing, camera tracking and chroma removal stock footages. Complete technical specifications with provided with every footage. Check out following links of video downloads.
6) Detonation Films Stock Directory
Have to comment this: In today’s high end, responsive, clutter free, sleek UI/UX web sites world; Detonation site is still in the era of early age of web sites. It has a pretty impressive collection of free video effects but things are random and scattered.
Multiple links, varying fonts, abstract layout distracts you from reaching out to exact video clips directories. It will take a little bit longer for navigation, but do give try here.
7) Final Light
Final Light comes with unique features of multi layered and multi angled VFX stock footage. It also offers royalty free visual effects stock footage. They are also offering custom solutions of shooting.
On a huge achievement, their demo reel was shown at the 2001 Siggraph Animation Festival, Los Angeles. In 2004, they introduce Visual Effects Toolkits in their compilation.
