Shoot and Find B-Roll
What is B-roll?
B-Roll is footage that you take in order to intercut the main footage. This footage is usually supplementary footage that is related to the A-roll and is used to give more insight into the topic. Whilst shooting B-roll, you should always:
1. Start with a wide lens that should show the exterior of the building- this is usually a tilt or a pan
2. Shoot a scene where the subject is walking into the building- let him/her walk in and out of the frame and pan the camera across quickly
3. Try to use different angles: shoot high and low angles when you are in an interior space
4. Use different camera movements like panning, sliding and tilting
5. Avoid bright windows, and try to shoot where you can give your subject a lot of space
6. Consider your background: try to change the focus from the foreground to the background and vice versa
7. Take shots without a lot of talking or conversation because it will be more useful after
8. Don't lose important scenes! Just shoot and don't change exposure settings whilst shooting
I think the example in the video below was a good insight into what a good documentary type video should look like. Firstly, it included excellent quality B-roll which were all steady shots, included a variety of angles and gave us further insight into the work the interviewee does. The B-roll was also directly related to what the interviewee was saying at all times.
B-roll in my documentary
B-Roll ideas:
- Shots of Hong Kong's oceans- wide angle shots
- Dolphins- probably from the internet or our charity's Facebook page
- Shots of us going to our interview- panning of walking
- Charity's office and building- establishing shots
- Maybe litter on beaches?
Folder with all the B-roll taken on our interview day and other times of the HK oceans
Evaluation of the B-roll in the video
0:00 - 0:04, 0:11 - 0:21, 1:02 - 1:09, 1:19 - 1:21, 2:58 - 3:21: This B-roll was found on YouTube from National Geographic, we used this because we couldn't shoot any footage of dolphins
0:22- 0:27: This B-roll was found on YouTube again and it is originally from RTHK on their documentary about saving the Chinese white dolphins
0:59 - 1:01: This short clip was taken when we were walking to our interview
1:35 - 1:44: These clips were taken when we were going to our interview
All other short clips of B-roll were mostly pictures that we sourced from Google Images
In the short clips I took, I think that the camera work was not extremely stable but still at an acceptable level. I included techniques I have learnt like panning and tracking, whilst also trying to maintain a rule of thirds although it wasn't really obvious. My b-roll clips did not include any sound. However, if you look in the folder, I think I took some creative shots of basic things like the lift doors opening with the subject walking out, the lift display moving, zooming into street signs etc. but these weren't included in the final video. Most of our b-roll had to be sourced from the internet because we weren't able to take clips of actual dolphins.
Full Analysis
Is your footage steady?
As mentioned, I think my footage wasn't extremely steady. Although I did use a tripod during the whole filming process, whenever I touched the tripod or had to move it in order to give some movement to my shots, the camera would shake a bit. I think I could have avoided this issue if I took longer shots so that there would be less shaky footage to work with. Another method would be to use a heavier tripod that would not move as easy.
Is it well composed of adequate headroom and lead room?
I don't think headroom and lead room is relevant in terms of B-roll for our video. However, there were a few shots with the group members walking and in those shots, there was enough space around each person for the viewer to feel comfortable.
Is there a variety of shots?
In the video, there wasn't much variety in the shot I took because most of it was either establishing shots or mid-shots with a bit of panning and zooming in. However, if you look in the folder, you will be able to see that I had many close-ups, and a few long-shots of the scenery around (I wasn't able to control what the editor decided to put in the video). In terms of the content, I think I had a lot of variety because I took basically everything- the sky, the exterior of the building, the interior, street signs, the lift, the office but most of it wasn't included in the video (I had no control) which is a shame.
Did you manually set the exposure, white balance and focus to get a good shot?
My camera was set on aperture priority mode so yes I technically did set the exposure myself in all the shots. I didn't touch the white balance much- meaning that I just kept the settings that I made when I last touched my camera. For focus, I put it on autofocus because I know that this is a function that is messy to play with because I might forget to focus it properly or the focus will be incorrect which will ruin the whole shot. That is why I did not take the risk and just set my camera on autofocus.
Did you remember to use the rule of thirds sometimes to help you frame the shot?
This was one of the things that I always remembered to do- this is evident in the shot with us walking. I had more evidence of this in my other shots but again I didn't have control on what was included in the final video.
Can you hear what is being said?
All the audio from the b-roll was removed so this is not applicable.
Did you use any interesting camera angles or camera movement? Was the camera movement smooth?
I used a variety of camera angles and movement but I wouldn't call them special in any way. I think it definitely did make the whole shot look more interesting as compared to a still shot. On the other hand, I think I need to work on my camera movement because I found keeping the speed constant really hard. Therefore, you can see that whilst applying camera movement, the shots weren't entirely steady. This is something I need to improve on if I ever do this again.
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