Using a good B-roll can keep your audiences engaged and sharing your content. Read on to understand this great tool.
We know that having the subject talk into the camera can be engaging. There’s nothing like the viewer having eye contact with the speaker. It can be entrancing. It’s the reason for the success of many otherwise vapid talking heads. But you don’t want to be a vapid talking head, you want to share something and you want to keep your viewers interested, not just on your speech but on the subject matter.
If you’re sharing you adventures in on the Dalmatian coast, or about your mishaps preparing Ethiopian cuisine, or you’re interviewing someone on the continued water problems in Flint, Michigan, then you want to be sure to keep your audience there with you and engaged.
Eye contact does that.
But also interesting content does that. A B-roll.
In this blog we’ll discuss what is a B-roll, and different ways to develop it, use it, and make it effective.
What is a B-roll?
The “B-roll” gets its name from the time when film was actually in rolls. They would film the main stuff, the interview or what not, on one roll (the A-roll), and the filler shots on the other roll (the B-roll). Then they would do all sorts of fancy work to splice them together. Though now with digital film, physical rolls are rarely used, the name has stuck.
“B-roll” now refers to everything that isn’t part of the primary action. In terms of a travel vlog, we’re talking about random sunset shots, plane shots, people eating shots, and so on. These shots may seem like plain filler, but it works to keep viewers engaged on the content. Sometimes looking at a person speaking can get a bit boring, especially if they don’t have the level of charisma that nighty newscasters can wield.
Show, not tell
It is an age old adage: Show, not tell. Let’s say you are interviewing someone about their experience working as a winemaker. You’ve gone to the Georgian countryside, talking about the birthplace of wine, and you want to introduce a winemaker who’s reviving their ancient traditions.
You have them in a nice area, perhaps with the vineyards in the background, slightly blurred so all attention is on them. As they talk, perhaps the interview is lagging. Spice it up! Show what they’re talking about! As they’re discussing using qvevris, ancient vessels used to ferment wine, show them scooping out some wine or sealing one up.
Qvevri on display at a wine festival in Georgia
See what I just did there in this blog? I brought the subject matter into focus with that one picture. Now you know what a qvevri is. But connect the qvevri and the speaker, show the speaker at work. Now they’re talking about picking grapes? You got that right, show them picking grapes!
There’s a story to be shown, not just told. And as a vlogger, you must remember that you’re also a filmmaker, showing us a story.
The B-roll should connect to the subject
Always make sure that the B-roll matches what’s being discussed. If the subject is talking about using a wine press to crush the grapes, don’t show videos of traditional Georgian dancing. If they’re talking about picking grapes from the fields, don’t show videos of planes landing on the tarmac. The B-roll must always connect to the subject.
If it doesn’t connect to the subject, then it’s a distraction. It will make your viewers think of something else, and then you’ll lose their attention.
Plan to shoot the B-roll
When you’re going on site somewhere, always keep the B-roll in mind. If you’re going to do an interview with someone, make sure that it’s not just words on a page. Ask the interviewee if you can take shots of the various things you discussed in the interview. Of course, depending on the subject and how controversial it is, you might want to film the B-roll before the interview.
Back to the winery example, ask the winemaker to work the winepress, pull wine out of the qvevri, and so on. Say, “I know it seems weird with me with the camera, but I’m going to take a shots of you working, even though you’re only really pretending to work… but walk me through your day. Show me your day.” Because that’s what the viewer wants to see.
Secondly, don’t just think of scenes with the people you’re talking to. You do want those travel shots, those cultural shots, various scenery shots. Those can be especially useful in montages.
Keep it short
Don’t drag on with the B-roll. Even in a montage you want to be short and sweet. During the interview or any talking head sequence, we should still see the speaker the majority of the time. The B-roll splices are only for breaking up monotony. The same goes with doing montages. The montage shouldn’t be the video, it should only be a storytelling device.
Montage
A montage is a brilliant tool to segway between sections of our video. It can show the passage of time, location, or subject, or display the activity that is being described. Back to the winemaking scenario, instead of using B-roll during the interview, if the interview is short enough it can be followed by a montage of all the things the winemaker has described. The interview can be preceded by a montage of getting to the winery, shaking hands with the winemaker, and so on.
During the montage is also a good place to have active and upbeat music. Turn it up and capture the attention of the viewer. It refocuses their attention on your piece, so that when the next bits of dialogue are in they’re back and focused. Just make sure that it’s not too long. Also make sure to check out our collection of stock music for your next montage.
A man working on his B-roll montage
Cover up your editing
In an interview, there can be a lot of parts that you cut. And that’s okay. The trick is to make those cuts look natural, or to make it look like they don’t exist. One good way of doing this is using the B-roll shots. Just before a cut comes up, flip to the B-roll and then bring back in the scene after the cut. Professional level studios use this trick all the time, and you’ll notice it on TV shows as well, especially reality shows and interviews where they can’t necessarily make more takes.
Music and sound
It’s important to note that you’ll want to mute all your B-roll footage. The sounds are often full of wind and noise, and just distracting to watch. Mute it and let music or talking play over it.
Music is especially important on montages, but it can also add mood to any B-roll shots. Our stock music service is a great source, with an algorithm that allows you to change the length of the song and the song will automatically be restructured to fit. You can also raise or lower the energy by choosing different mixes or variations. Click here and try it out!
Always keep your B-roll in mind
Wherever you go, keep your B-roll in mind. Make videos of everything you think might be cool, even if you need to buy some more SD cards. You never want to get back to editing your show and then think, “Oh, that would’ve been cool!
