What is B-Roll, and How Do You Get It?

If you’ve ever spent any time around a filmmaker, or even if you know anything about filmmaking, you have likely heard the term B-Roll before. Though the phrasing of the word as we know it wasn’t coined until a few decades ago, the concept has been around since the beginning of film. From this basic information, you probably know it’s something pretty important in the industry; but what exactly is it? 

B-Roll is supplemental footage, considered secondary to the primary footage (or A-Roll) of the video. It’s meant to provide context, add imagery, establish location, in addition to playing other roles. B-Roll is collected separately from the A-Roll- which focuses on characters and plot- and becomes cutaway shots from what is happening in the A-Roll. So if a subject is talking about how she spent her childhood summers at a specific lake, perhaps the film would cut to a video taken of that lake while her voiceover continues. In addition to filling a scene, it can help with transitions between scenes.

So how do you get it? B-Roll can be shot by the film crew, or a secondary crew if they have one. At Windwood, our team prefers to collect it all ourselves. It’s essentially any of the extra stuff we get in addition to the footage that doesn’t directly follow the plot or characters of the project. So as long as you aren’t being super strict about what you’re filming, or dedicating allotted time to getting specifically B-Roll, you’ll be getting it no problem.

While B-Roll can be shot by the film crew, or their secondary crew, it can also be pulled from archival videos that are available for public use. You may see this frequently in documentaries, black and white videos from decades’ past used to help the viewer become situated in the time period. Obviously, the film crew behind this theoretical documentary wasn’t able to shoot this video themselves, so they got this B-Roll by going through license-free footage and cutting that into their film. This adds to the imagery of the subject, as well as immerses and engages the viewer. After all, you don’t want to have just a bunch of interviews back to back; too many talking heads gets boring!

B-Roll is a creative and interesting way to engage an audience further in your video. Getting some visual examples of the different uses of B-Roll can be done easily by paying close attention to any video, movie, or television show you are watching and observing the different uses of B-Roll.