B-Roll
Supplemental or alternative footage intercut with the main shot.
In depth
B-Roll is used to add visual interest, cover edits (jump cuts), or provide context to what is being said in the A-Roll. Without B-Roll, a video would just be a talking head.
Example
“While the chef describes the dish (A-Roll), we see shots of chopping onions and sizzling pans (B-Roll).”
Origin and history
Like A-Roll, the term comes from the era of two-roll film editing, when supplementary footage was loaded onto a second physical roll for intercutting. In modern non-linear editors, B-Roll lives on its own video track above the dialogue track and is used to mask cuts in the interview, condense time, or visually illustrate what the speaker is describing. The concept now extends well beyond documentary into corporate video, social content, and even narrative filmmaking.
Why filmmakers use it
Strong B-Roll is the difference between a video that feels static and one that feels cinematic. It does three things at once: hides edits, supplies new information, and gives the audience's eyes somewhere fresh to look. A skilled editor uses B-Roll to control pacing — short, fast cutaways increase tempo, while long held shots slow it down. The discipline of capturing enough B-Roll on a shoot day is what separates rough footage from a finished story.
More examples in cinema
- A travel vlog uses landscape drone shots as B-Roll while the narrator describes a destination.
- A news package about a factory closure cuts to B-Roll of empty workstations whenever the laid-off worker is speaking.
Common confusion
B-Roll is not the same as 'cutaways' in scripted filmmaking, though they overlap. In drama, cutaways are planned reaction shots; B-Roll is more often gathered opportunistically and used flexibly in the edit.