B-Roll Shot
Created on : December 14, 2023 12:56 | Last updated on : December 14, 2023 12:57
Denotation
In video production, B-roll footage is the secondary video footage shot outside of the primary (or A-roll) footage. It is often spliced together with the main footage to bolster the story, create dramatic tension, or further illustrate a point.
Introduction
The name B-roll comes from the early days of cinema, when editors added extra material, or B-roll, into the primary footage, or A-roll, to cover up noticeable joins between two pieces of film. B-roll refers to all of the footage that is not part of the primary action in contemporary film and video production. All of the photos that don't feature the main individuals conversing with one another or looking directly into the camera are included in this extra film. It may come from archived video or images, stock footage, or second unit teams whose only responsibility is to take B-roll pictures.
Despite the fact that film splicing is no longer an issue thanks to digital video, producers of both scripted and unscripted video still employ B-roll to build scenes, smooth transitions, and remove coughs or extraneous frames without ruining a whole shot. According to director and cinematographer Hiroshi Hara, "B-roll is what creates the nuances of visual storytelling, even though it sounds like it's secondary."
History of B-Roll Shot
The term "B-roll" refers to a specific method of addressing the issue of obvious splices in the 16 mm film's small film material. Splices could be hidden on 35 mm film due to its wider format, while 16 mm film showed the splices as visual faults. To get around this issue, the intended bullets were joined to a black leader that was opaque, disguising the join. Odd-numbered shots were placed on the A-roll, even-numbered shots on the B-roll, and two sequences of photos were put together in such a way that every shot on one film was matched by a black leader on the other roll, creating a checkerboard pattern (the method was also known as "checkerboard printing"). Raw print material for 16 mm film was exposed twice, onceto the A-roll, then it was exposed again to the B-roll.
Until the mid-1970s, news teams shot both main A-roll and secondary B-roll footage on 16 mm film. Sound was integrated onto the film by way of a magnetic stripe at the edge of the film. The A-roll and B-roll scenes, shot at 24 frames per second, were converted to the television frame rate of 30 fps using a telecine system consisting of two film projectors, one showing the main A-roll footage and the other showing the B-roll. The sound from the A-roll footage was used, or sound from narration or voiceover, while MOS images from the B-roll were intercut as desired.
In the 1980s, the term B-roll shot was adopted for linear video editing using at least two video tape machines. The "A" deck is the one with the primary tape, which is where the main action material was filmed. Traditionally, the tape decks in an edit suite were identified by letter. The 'B' deck was used to playback tapes that contained extra video, such as establishing shots, cutaway views, and any other supporting video. The A deck was often the only deck with sound, leaving the B deck with only visuals. An edit decision list (EDL) was used to identify clips as "A-roll" and "B-roll" to denote source machines since linear editing systems could not dissolve between clips on the same tape.