What Is B-Roll and How to Use It in Video Production

B-roll plays a significant role in almost any high-quality video project. It can highlight key details and hold viewers' attention throughout your videos. Plus, it lets you cover up cuts, mistakes, and transitions. When used properly, it's a practical part of any video production.

What Is B-Roll and Why Is It Important in Video Production?

B-roll or "B-reel" comprises your project's non-primary footage. This includes various types of clips, such as wide shots of locations, close-ups of scenery, and multiple angles of products. B-roll can boost the quality of your video production by adding context, filling in gaps, and making your final video more visually appealing. 

B-roll has various purposes in movies, commercials, and pretty much any video content. Examples include:

• Smooth transitions
• Crowd reactions
• Product demonstrations
• Ambience
• Highlighting key details and themes

Types of B-Roll Footage

There are many different ways to approach B-roll. Your best shots and strategies will depend on your specific video production. 

Establishing Shots

As the name implies, "establishing shots" introduce your location and other important context. In most cases, this will be a static shot outside a building, often with a banner or sign introducing more context. Many of the best establishing shots use drones and cranes for engaging video intros. 

With B-roll, you can get more creative and work in multiple clips. Depending on your video, you can establish context with the following types of B-roll:

• Building exteriors to establish specific locations
• Local landmarks, culture, and scenery to establish a greater location
• Signs, decorations, and props to establish events
• Specific items or products about to be discussed
• People entering or leaving an area to establish the passage of time
• Clocks to establish the current time

Cutaways

Cutaway shots briefly draw the viewer's attention to a key detail. This can be a prop in the room, a product schematic, or an action taking place elsewhere. In many cases, cutaways can also cover issues with your primary footage, such as the camera being momentarily out of focus. 

Cutaways should generally match the video's current context. So, if a person is discussing a product, you could cut to clips of the product being used or assembled. If someone is talking about their community, try footage that includes the people who live there. 

Atmospheric Scenes

Your atmosphere impacts how people interpret your video, especially thematically. For example, a slow-moving video and limited lighting immediately create a somber, introspective tone. On the other hand, bright lights and fast action can excite viewers about what they'll see next. 

The right B-roll can help you fine-tune your atmosphere and keep your audience locked in. The following elements can improve your B-roll's visual storytelling:

• Shadows and lights
• Color, or lack thereof
• Movement and action
• Camera framing
• Camera focus
• Depth of field

Dramatic Reenactments

History and true-crime documentaries generally don't have actual footage of the events they describe. Instead, they use actors, props, and various settings to reenact the events, usually with disclaimers.

Of course, dramatic reenactments can be used for various, less-dramatic purposes, such as mimicking people's daily activities. This can give you relevant, secondary footage to cut to, especially during dialogue-heavy moments without any action. It can also boost your project's authenticity by "showing" rather than just "telling."

Examples of dramatic reenactments for B-roll videos include:

• A person entering a building
• Acting out a scene described by an expert
• A patient visiting a doctor
• A person going about their morning routine

Reenactments for B-roll can also include pickup shots and small close-ups that add context. For example, if a person grabs an object in your primary footage, you could later record a close-up of a hand reaching for the same object. This lets you immediately establish the object while maintaining continuity. 

A-Roll vs. B-Roll

Whereas B-roll is your supplemental, alternative footage, A-roll is the primary footage essential to your project. Many productions assign separate teams and units between A-roll and B-roll, usually giving A-roll the better equipment. 

The B-roll team can then capture the action from various angles while the A-roll team gets the essential shots. During downtime, when secondary cameras aren't needed, the B-Roll team can branch out around the area. For example, if "camera one" interviews specific individuals before an event, "camera two" could record active entryways and event-specific decorations.

In general, you should always edit A-roll footage first and only introduce B-roll after assembling your timeline. This way, you can focus on your video project's most essential points and weave the B-roll where appropriate. 

Techniques for Shooting Effective B-Roll

Even if you're working with talented and creative videographers, you shouldn't send out your B-roll team without a plan. This is when your script and marketing strategy come into play. 

Consider your project's most important points and themes, and communicate these clearly to your B-roll crew. List any essential B-roll shots you'd like to include, such as a specific person, sign, or landmark. 

Make sure to capture everything from multiple angles to give your editors plenty of content to work with. A diverse variety of shots can also keep your video visually appealing. For example, viewers will quickly notice if you zoom in on every object the same way. Instead, try zooming out, changing focus, and moving the camera. Integrating different video production tips and strategies can diversify your content and amp up your overall quality. 

Depending on your available video storage, keep your B-camera running as long as possible. This gives you more coverage overall and ensures you don't miss any spontaneous moments. 

Editing B-Roll

The first step of editing your B-roll footage is splitting and organizing usable clips on a separate timeline. Watch all the available footage and separate the moments that stand out the most. These can include shots with great framing, attention-grabbing action, and anything relevant to your video's story. 

Prioritize your video's pacing and timing as you work in the B-roll. Make sure viewers have time to breathe between key points. For example, you could use B-roll to add a brief gap and a smooth transition between interviews. 

Place each clip where it feels most relevant and cohesive without distracting from the overall focus. For instance, if someone speaks for 30 seconds, you could fill in at least 20 of those with relevant B-roll. However, you could lose your audience if the clips are irrelevant to the topic or if you use B-roll for the entire 30 seconds. 

Shorten, add, and remove the additional footage as you see fit. Some back-to-back B-roll clips take up only a second each, while other projects benefit from long, drawn-out shots. Prioritize whatever fits your themes and narrative the best.

Tips for Incorporating B-Roll

Juxtaposition significantly alters how viewers interpret your B-roll. For example, a shot with ambient lighting could elicit emotions of hope, grief, or fear, depending on where it appears in your video. That said, there are many factors to consider when incorporating B-roll into your final video. 

Great places for B-roll shots could include:

• Intros and outros: B-roll can introduce your audience to your video's setting and remind them about key points at the end of the video. Most importantly, visually appealing intros and outros can grab viewers' attention, guaranteeing they keep watching. 
• Mistakes and cuts: People are bound to stumble a bit when speaking in almost any video project, and the camera may have to shift or refocus. Instead of replacing otherwise great takes, you can easily cover these errors with B-roll.
• Extended dialogue: Interviews, speeches, and monologues are perfect spots for quick B-roll clips. B-roll in videos can also help you trim the dialogue without viewers noticing the cuts.

Common Mistakes To Avoid With B-Roll

Mixing B-roll into your video project is a generally creative process. There's really not a "wrong" way to do it, as long as your clips fit your video's theme. However, you still need to be aware of a few common mistakes:

• Ignoring B-roll during location scouts: Consider your B-roll opportunities when scouting different locations. This can help you identify key visuals and landmarks you might overlook later. 
• Not having enough: Reusing the same types of shots, such as zoom-in close-ups, can impair your transitions and cause your final video to look repetitive. Give yourself plenty of content to work with, including when capturing and editing B-roll. Record multiple takes of reenactments and pickup shots, and try getting every possible angle for essential items.
• Mismatching colors and tones: Cutting from an exterior shot to an interior shot can be jarring, especially if they're recorded at different times of the day. Make sure your back-to-back B-roll clips maintain consistent colors and motion. 

Elevating Your Video Production With B-Roll

B-roll is only a small part of video production, but it plays a huge role in your final cut. As such, it's crucial when devising any strategy or guide for video productions. Working with a professional, multi-camera team can guarantee the best possible secondary footage — as long as you clearly communicate your vision. Contact Charter & Co. today to start planning your next project.