# B-Roll > Supporting footage cut over or between the main footage, such as shots of what an interviewee describes. The main footage, the interview or scene that carries the story, is the A-roll. Also known as B roll, cutaway footage ## In practice B-roll is the supporting footage cut over or between the main footage of a film or video. If the A-roll is the interview, the presenter or the scene that carries the story, B-roll is everything that illustrates it: the hands at work, the street outside, the archive photograph, the close-up of the letter being discussed. The name comes from film editing before computers. Editors cut a show from two reels of film, an A roll and a B roll, and alternated between them so that a [dissolve](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/dissolve) or a cutaway could run without a visible splice. The B roll held the footage that would be laid over the main reel. The physical reels are long gone, but documentary, news and video makers still say A-roll and B-roll. B-roll does three jobs. It shows what the speaker is describing, it hides the cuts in an interview so that a trimmed answer plays smoothly, and it sets the pace and mood between talking sections. A documentary with no B-roll is a talking head; one with too much is a music video. ## Planning B-roll in a documentary script **A two-column idea written as a scene** ``` INT. BAKERY - KITCHEN - PREDAWN B-ROLL: Flour falls through a sieve. A clock reads 3:58. Ovens click on, one by one. ROSA (V.O.) My father opened at four every morning for forty years. INT. BAKERY - KITCHEN - LATER A-ROLL: ROSA (50s), sleeves dusted white, sits on an upturned crate and talks to camera. ROSA He never once let me set the alarm. ``` The [voice-over](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/voice-over) carries the story; the B-roll gives the audience something to see while it does, and the interview takes over when the face matters. Labeling the shots A-ROLL and B-ROLL is a documentary and video habit, not standard [screenplay](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/screenplay) format, but planning which footage sits under which words is the whole craft of an interview-driven film. ## A-roll vs. B-roll A-roll is the primary footage, the material whose sound and picture carry the story on their own: an interview, a presenter speaking to camera, a vlogger's [monologue](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/monologue) or the [dialogue](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/dialogue) scene of a drama. If you removed it, there would be no film. B-roll is the secondary footage that illustrates, covers or connects that material. In practice the line is about function, not about the camera. The same shot of a factory floor is A-roll in a scene where the workers talk and B-roll when it plays silently under the manager's interview. Editors usually build the A-roll first, then lay B-roll over it to cover jumps, add evidence and change the rhythm. ## B-roll examples In a news report, B-roll is the footage of the flooded street while the reporter describes the storm, or the courthouse steps while the anchor reads the verdict. In a cooking video, it is the knife through the onion and the steam off the pan between the host's explanations. In documentaries, B-roll includes archive footage, photographs, re-creations, maps and the quiet observational shots that set a place. Ken Burns made one kind famous: slow camera moves across still photographs, now called the Ken Burns effect. Corporate and wedding videos use the same idea with detail shots of hands, rings, logos and rooms. Stock footage sites sell generic B-roll such as city skylines, crowds and keyboards. It is useful for filler, but specific B-roll shot for the story almost always reads better, because the audience can tell when a picture illustrates the words and when it only decorates them. ## How to plan and shoot B-roll Start from the script or the interview transcript. Mark every line where the audience would want to see what is being described, and every place you expect to cut inside an answer. That list is your B-roll shot list: the objects, places, actions and archive you need to cover those moments. Shoot more than you think you need, and shoot sequences rather than single shots: a wide, a medium and a close detail of the same action, each held for at least ten seconds. Editors need choices and handles. Movement helps, such as a hand reaching, a door opening or a slow push in, because a static shot of a static object is hard to cut. In a two-column documentary or video script, the left column often holds the picture, including B-roll, and the right column the sound. In a screenplay-format documentary, B-roll can be written as action under a voice-over, as in the excerpt above, with a label only if the production team asks for one. ## Does fiction have B-roll? Scripted films rarely use the term, but the idea survives as inserts, cutaways, establishing shots and second-unit footage: the exterior of a building, the car on the highway, the close-up of a ticking clock. Those are often shot by a second unit after the main cast has gone, which is why some crews still call them B-roll. A [screenwriter](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/screenwriter) writes them as ordinary action or as an INSERT, never with a B-roll label. The question to ask is the same as in documentary: what does the audience need to see here that the main action does not show? ## Official sources & context Sources reviewed Nov 6, 2026 - [Wikipedia — B-roll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll) - [Merriam-Webster — B-roll](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/B-roll) ## Common questions ### What is B-roll? B-roll is supplementary footage cut over or between the main footage of a film or video, such as shots that illustrate what an interviewee is describing, cover edits or set a location. ### What is A-roll? A-roll is the primary footage that carries the story with its own sound and picture, such as an interview, a presenter talking to camera or a dialogue scene. ### Why is it called B-roll? Film editors once cut from two reels, A and B, alternating between them for dissolves and cutaways. The B reel held the footage laid over the main reel, and the name stuck after editing went digital. ### What are examples of B-roll? Footage of a place while someone describes it, hands at work during an interview, archive photographs, maps, re-creations, product close-ups and establishing shots of buildings or streets. ### How much B-roll do you need? Enough to cover every edit inside an interview and every line the audience should see illustrated. Many documentary crews shoot several times more B-roll than they use, in sequences of wide, medium and close shots. ### Is B-roll the same as stock footage? No. Stock footage is licensed from a library and can be used as B-roll. Most B-roll is shot by the production for its own story, which usually makes it more specific and convincing. ### Do you write B-roll in a screenplay? Not in a fiction screenplay; write the shots as action or inserts. Documentary and video scripts often plan B-roll in a picture column or as action under voice-over. ## Related terms - [Camera Shots](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/camera-shots): The names for how much of a subject the frame shows, from an extreme wide shot of a landscape to an extreme close-up of an eye. Wider shots inform; closer shots carry emotion. - [INSERT](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/insert): An insert is a close shot of a detail the audience needs to notice, such as a letter, a phone screen or a clue. It directs attention within a scene. - [Montage](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/montage): A sequence of short shots that together compress time, show change or build an idea. In film theory, montage also describes how editing creates meaning. - [Voice-Over (V.O.)](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/voice-over): A voice heard from outside the scene's physical space, such as narration, a character's thoughts, a remembered voice or the far end of a phone call. --- Canonical page: