Video production
B-roll
B-roll is supplementary footage cut over the main shot, typically over an interview. It hides edits, illustrates what is being said and holds the viewer's attention.
What it means in practice
Without B-roll an interview is just a talking head and every cut in it reads as a jump. With B-roll you can build a two minute video out of an hour long interview without it feeling chopped up.
A practical rule from our own shoots: budget at least three to five minutes of usable B-roll for every minute of finished video. Gathering it is the fastest part of a shoot day and also the first thing a crew skips when running late. If it is missing later, the whole video shows it.