B-roll

B-roll is supplementary footage that supports, illustrates, or cuts away from the primary A-roll. If the A-roll is a product manager explaining a feature, the B-roll might be screen recordings of that feature in action, a wide shot of the team at work, or close-ups of hands on a keyboard. B-roll gives editors the material to cut away from talking heads, cover interview splices, and add visual variety that keeps viewers engaged. A video built entirely on A-roll tends to feel static; B-roll is what gives an edit rhythm and motion.

The term "B-roll" comes from the same dual-reel editing heritage as A-roll. The B-reel held supplementary shots that were intercut with the main content to create a complete visual narrative. In modern production, B-roll is shot during the same day as the main interview or scripted content — or sometimes on a separate shoot dedicated entirely to capturing illustrative footage. Good B-roll planning starts at the script stage: every major claim, feature, or concept being discussed should have corresponding visual material that can accompany it on screen.

For B2B and SaaS video production, B-roll is disproportionately valuable. Product screenshots, screen recordings of workflows, team interaction shots, and customer environment footage all serve as B-roll that makes abstract software concepts tangible. A salesperson saying "our dashboard gives you real-time insights" is far more compelling when cut to an actual shot of that dashboard in motion. This is why production-grade demo videos need real product B-roll — generated or illustrated visuals can't replicate the credibility of seeing the actual UI in context.