A Roll vs B Roll

The interview. The talking head. The spokesperson delivering your key message to camera. These are A roll – your primary footage. It's the spine of almost every corporate video from case studies and brand films to product explainers.

B roll is everything else. It's the supporting visual layer that plays over the top while your subject is speaking. But its job is more specific than simply "everything else." Good B roll underpins the narrative being revealed by the speakers or the film itself. It showcases or demonstrates what you're trying to promote – or offers a striking juxtaposition that makes the viewer sit up and take notice.

It's also what makes a successful edit possible. B roll gives editors the ability to move smoothly from topic to topic and line to line, intercutting supporting imagery that keeps the film flowing and the viewer engaged. Without it, you're cutting between talking heads and hoping for the best.

A roll tells you. B roll shows you.

What B Roll Looks Like in Practice

It varies enormously depending on the type of video, but here are a few examples from the kinds of projects we work on.

In a video case study, B roll might be shots of the client's workspace, team members collaborating, products being used, or the end result of the project being discussed. If someone is talking about a major office fit-out, you want to be showing that fit-out – not just cutting back and forth to their face.

In a brand film, B roll is often what does the heavy emotional lifting. Wide establishing shots of a location, close-ups of hands at work, candid moments between team members. When we made Sanctuary for Unorthodox Boxing, the B roll of the gym – gloves going on, children interacting, Tiffany moving between her athletes – told the story as much as the interviews did.

In an interview-led piece, B roll breaks up the visual monotony of a single talking head and reinforces the narrative. When we shot with Vine FX at their studio in Cambridge, we captured B roll both inside their facility and out on location at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. That footage gave the edit real breathing room – and meant we had material to build not one, but two versions of the final film.

In a product video, B roll is the product itself. In use. In detail. From angles that highlight its best qualities. Close-ups, slow motion, context shots that show the product in its natural environment.

In every case, the principle is the same: B roll puts pictures to words.

Drone Footage Is B Roll Too

Aerial footage – establishing shots of a building, a location, a landscape – is some of the most visually impactful B roll you can get. A drone sweep over a manufacturing facility or a construction site can communicate scale in a way that no ground-level shot can match.

But drone B roll comes with its own set of considerations.

Flying commercially in the UK requires the operator to hold a valid flyer ID and the operation must comply with CAA regulations. Not to mention the added insurance. Beyond the legal requirements, you're also dealing with weather windows, no-fly zones, airspace restrictions, and the need to plan flights well in advance. Some locations – near airports, over certain public spaces, in built-up areas – require additional permissions that can take time to secure.

None of this is a reason to avoid it. Drone footage is a genuinely powerful tool. But it's not something you bolt on at the last minute. It needs to be planned for properly.

Should B Roll Share a Day With Your Main Shoot?

Sometimes, yes – and we often plan for it. Depending on the scope of a project, there's real value in capturing B roll alongside your A roll on the same shoot day. It keeps costs down and makes logistical sense when your location, crew, and subjects are all in one place.

But it has limits. A shoot day is already a finite resource. Your talent has energy. Your crew has a schedule. When B roll gets squeezed into the margins of a busy interview day, it tends to show. You end up with a few safe, functional shots rather than a good selection of considered, cinematic ones.

For larger projects – brand films, multi-location case studies, product campaigns – B roll deserves its own dedicated shoot day. Or more than one. Time to move around a space properly. Time to wait for the right light. Time to get creative rather than just competent.

The honest answer is that it depends on the scope, the locations, your budget, and what you're asking the footage to do. We'll always give you a clear view of what's realistic within your brief – and what the trade-offs are if the schedule is tight.

B Roll Isn't a Luxury. It's the Edit.

You can have a brilliant interview and a mediocre film. If the edit has nowhere to go visually, it flatlines. B roll is what gives an editor options – the ability to pace a film, to land a moment, to make something feel alive rather than functional.

The best B roll isn't random coverage. It's planned with the story in mind, shot with intention, and chosen because it actively supports – or interestingly contrasts – what's being said. That takes thought. It takes time. And it's worth both.

Get in touch to talk about your next project and how we can plan B roll that actually works.