A few years ago you could have asked me what was “B roll” and I would have stared blankly at you like a “staring idiot”.
But I know now.
I have spent a few hours over the last few days watching YouTube videos about B roll, how to make B roll, what is B roll, what is the purpose, why bother learning anything about it, and so on.
The reason I have an interest in B roll is that I have an interest in improving whatever sphere of activity I am involved in. Especially when I can learn for free and at no huge cost of time.
B roll will allow me to add an extra dimension to my video making. And my video making skills which I have picked up over the years, through trial and error and research on YouTube, have been an immensely valuable tool in my business.
And at such a small cost I can incrementally improve that tool-sharpen the saw, if you like.
B roll could be compared, I suppose, to joining words or phrases you might use when writing. It is footage that can emphasise a point you wish to make in your video, or link separate ideas, or add colour to an otherwise boring oral description.
I recently made a video about day trading being the monetisation of hope and greed. I had a script, as I had written a blog post about the topic. But rather than just delivering the script in a talking head style format I looked up some free stock footage I could use to make it a little more dramatic.
Then it occurred to me that I could make my own stock footage, and then I went down the B roll rabbit hole.
I am glad I did because learning how to make and use B roll will allow me to make an incremental improvement in my video marketing.
And as I have repeatedly written and said, video is a key weapon in growing my business.
Here is the video about day trading, by the way: