What is B-Roll? The Complete Guide for Brands and Creators

What is B-roll video?

We’re glad you asked! It’s not just a filming term. It’s also a fantastic tool for creating video ads that convert.

We’ll discuss why (with examples!) in a minute! But first, let’s answer your burning question: What is B-roll footage?

What is B-roll content?

You can define B-roll as supplementary footage that enhances the main story and adds depth. The scenic shots, cutaways, and close-ups (all B-rolls) make your narrative come to life.

The main point of B-roll footage is to keep readers interested in the story your main footage (also called A-roll) tells and clarifies details if needed. It is also often used to break up long sequences of A-roll, preventing viewer fatigue and adding variety.

Typically, you’ll gather a B-roll from various videos or filming sessions, then edit and mix the footage to create visual breaks or examples that bolster your main storyline. For instance, imagine you have three main videos, each 30 seconds long, and you’re aiming to create video ads from them. The addition of B-roll footage to these videos will elevate your ads.

So, how can you use a B-roll to create fantastic ads? Here are just a couple of examples:

Unboxing videos

Here’s what B-roll might look like if you use it in an unboxing video:

• A-roll: The perspective you keep returning to throughout the unboxing. This will depend on your personal preference, but it might be a shot that shows your face, or it may be an overhead shot.
• B-roll: Close-up shots of you opening the product’s packaging and revealing its contents, different angles showcasing featured products, zooming in to see specific details, and close-ups of you talking about the products without the box on the screen.

How to video

And here’s how it might look to use B-roll in a how-to video!

• A-roll: This is the primary angle or storyline you’re using to create the video–probably you talking to the camera.
• B-roll: The cuts from edits or other angles that you splice together to show different steps of the how-to process. It might include showing what your hands are doing as you demonstrate something or zooming in on the results. It also includes times when you zoom in or edit the focus of your A-roll to create a different look.

And yeah, we threw another term at you just then: A-roll! Don’t worry. Knowing what A-roll is makes it easier to understand what B-roll footage means.

A-roll is the main storyline, the part of the footage that, if you just had that, you’d be able to create the video you’re setting out to make. B-roll is the stuff that helps you tell that story more fully.

Is B-roll important?

So, at this point, you might be thinking, “If I can tell the story with just A-roll, what is B-roll footage even doing? I don’t need it, right?”

While we admire the commitment to keeping things simple–B-roll isn’t the thing to cut. If you’re doing the video edits for your brand’s ads and organic social media posts, your videos will be better with B-roll.

Why? Well, it holds people’s interest for longer, for one. It helps you SHOW your product. And it just makes your videos look cool! You can get amazing results when you blend different types of footage into your main footage. Check out the examples below to see what we mean. 😉

It’ll be much easier to use B-roll for your brand if you build a bank of B-roll content you can pull from every time you edit A-Roll. Think about the shots you’d like to see of your product and get them filmed!

Oh–and you can also make cuts from the A-roll to create a B-roll to use in the future. Think about it the next time you’re editing a video for your brand!

Examples of B-roll (and A-roll!)

Okay, let’s put it together and see how this might look with some REAL videos! Watch the example below and check the notes.

Product Benefits – Health & Wellness

In this 60-second video, you can see Alison created an entire UGC video for this brand. But if you look closely, you’ll realize many of these shots are not part of the main video. For example, just a few seconds after the start, she mentions her skin has always been a bit of a wild card. That shot is added over there, but it’s not part of the main video, the main filming session.

That’s a B-roll, and it enhances storytelling by showing what is being described rather than just hearing it.

Pay attention to the entire video, and you’ll see a few of them. So, now that we have seen the B-Rolls, the A-roll is simple to grasp: that’s simply the main video on which we add B-Rolls, Capisce?

Get B-rolling 🎥

So, what is a B-roll? It turns out that the parts of your video support the main storyline you’re telling about your product, and it’s something all brands need in their video ads!

Bottom line: Don’t think working with creators to get A-roll content is enough. You’ll need to build a bank of B-roll content to level up your video ads!

But this doesn’t have to be overwhelming–you can cut B-roll shots from each A-roll shoot, store them, and use them later on as B-roll in other videos.

Once you start using B-roll in your ads, you won’t want to stop–it can make your ads much more effective and intriguing.

So start collecting B-roll for your next project, and let us know how it goes in the comments!