Fire effect

Mmm..all I can suggest are the Fire elements from Motion and blend them with your footage, but this would require Motion or the fire video for that matter...

I guess it also depends on how you want to apply the fire.

Like Bonanza fire? Or film burning on the bulb fire?

CaptM

You can try simulations for days and never get what you want. Never used FCE so I don't know what came with it but LiveType has several interesting pyro effects, textures, and objects.
A few years ago the stock answer for these inquiries would be "go out and shoot it." Call your local fire department and find out if they're doing test fires or training fires. Go shoot it.

bogiesan

That's actually a pretty good idea. I dunno how available they would be to do a specific fire you need, but it should be fun...even if it doesn't do it for your film 🙂

I do believe LiveType is shipped with FCE though, so the idea of using LT's pyro should also do it. But again, it wouldn't be as fun as making things kaboom with the fire department. 🙂

Yeah, I once got a mate to help me set fire to things and filmed it.

Burnt stuff over a black background, blue background.
Gas flames,
paper burning.

Easy to composite, and has been used LOTS of times.

Nothing beats real flames.
Those fake ones look flaky!

The easiest thing to do is get a cheap can of hairspray and a lighter.
Place the camera a distance away, and zoom in.
I found black back best.

Wait till night time,
shutter fast, aperture wide open,
Fire some bursts of hairspray and light.

Be careful though.

Still worst case and you might have $10,000 from AFV!