In filming, we use many terms which might not mean anything to people outside of the industry (and a few within) but most people have heard the term b-roll, especially over the last few years with the likes of YouTube becoming popular as well as video as a social media format for many businesses. So what is ‘b-roll’? Well if you think of ‘a-roll’ as the main subject story without which the video would not make sense, then ‘b-roll’ is any supplemental video footage which helps support the story, immerse the viewer and keep their attention. It doesn’t actually make a difference to the story. It could be a second camera angle which gives your video more dimensions; it could be cinematic and help with emotion or setting the scene; it could be some really cool video footage of your product looking absolutely awesome! Also, it doesn’t have to have music with it but nowadays – with the likes of YouTube ‘b-roll’ especially ‘ cinematic b-roll’ is sort of becoming a segment within a video, with amazing music and videography to help show off a product or service and otherwise entertain the viewer, more than just talking about it (which is what most of YouTube is). Check out the sample of b-roll footage below which is a selection of footage I filmed in 2020 for my YouTube channel. This  gives you a great idea of what it is and how you might apply it to your videos.

Below is a video with loads of examples of video b-roll