Hey, how's it going? Welcome back. Today, I wanted to discuss B-roll with you. I think it's something that a lot of people, uh, don't quite know how to use and either avoid it like the plague or overuse it or underuse it or don't get enough out of B-roll. So I think the first thing we need to start with when we're discussing B-roll is exactly what it is. B-roll is essentially a shot that doesn't come from your main camera. Referred to as your a camera, um, that gives you a detail about what it is you're talking about or helps move the video or the story along in some way. It's normally completely contextual to what it is you're talking about. If you're making a factual video or, um, it helps sort of tell the story for the viewer in something that's narrative. So in a lot of films and TV shows to help sort of create a mood, what you might have is as two people are having a conversation. It might cut away to a closeup of the fingers on a cigarette and someone taking a drag off of it like that. Less and less nowadays 'cause there are less cigarettes or somebody picking up a cup. And as they're talking, as people are having a conversation on camera, um, you see a cup sort of swirling a little bit like that. Um, and you get these cutaway shots that help sort of give you an idea of what people are thinking, what people are feeling. Are they nervous? So they're excited as somebody's talking to something else. Say somebody's getting arrested by a cop in a movie, you might see them sort of clenching their fist, like a hand tightening. It might be as we're talking about the manufacturing process of something that we cut to a shot of that manufacturing process actually happen. If I'm talking about using this film camera, I might cut, cut to a shot of me actually discussing how to change the film speed on the film speed dial right here. That's the equivalent of the iso, by the way, on cameras like this. Anyway, that's not this video. That's another one. Using B roll I think is incredibly important to helping you tell a more interesting story through your video. Again, whether that's narrative or whether that's factual, you talking to a camera or talking about how you feel or something, just knowing how this is used can dramatically help your storytelling and help you keep viewers more engaged. There are a lot of videos out there that you'll see where people have shot beautiful B-roll sequences of them making a cup of coffee, and I'm not pointing fingers at anybody who does this. People shoot these fantastic sequences of things happening and they make them look very pretty, but they serve no actual purpose in the story of the narrative of the video. And ultimately what happens is it takes away from the video, it doesn't make sense for the viewers, the people who are watching, um, because it doesn't really relate to what they're speaking about. They're adding things in for aesthetic value only. And look, I love beautifully shot sequences and sometimes I actually love watching people sequences that make no sense within the context of their video. But you'll find that your video is. Far more engaging and far more, far easier for people to follow along when your B roll sequences, sequences of shots that you insert into your video makes sense and help further the narrative in some way. So I think it's good to have that context. But what I really wanna get to now, let's dive straight into it, is the formula to make sure you get B roll that actually works. For your video. As you get more competent, as you get more confident, what you're gonna find is you don't need to use this method as much. But at the beginning of making videos, this can really, really help. So the formula, it's really simple what it is. You can take a document and Word or Google Docs. Um, you can take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle columns on a digital document and on the column on the left. Put what you're gonna say. So even if you haven't written a script, if you just talk off the top of your head, normally you know roughly what you're gonna say in a video. Um, unless it's a daily vlog and there's a different approach for those. I'll talk to, talk to you about that in a second. Go through each thing that you are going to say. Um, have your script or the bullet points for what it is you're going to cover. Have a little bit of a think about what it is, you're going to actually speak to the camera. And for every clear point that you make, for every idea that you communicate, come up with a visual for it. Come up with a way you can visually represent that on screen. Um, whether that's me talking about the buttons on a camera and getting closeups of those, whether it is me, um, introducing you saying I'm in London and getting a shot of London. To show you that I'm in London. So basically what you're doing is you're coming up with a visual for each thing you're gonna talk about. It doesn't mean you need to use every single one of these visuals, but basically you can then look, you can make a list of what you're speaking about. What would be helpful if you actually showed on camera, because it's better to show than just to tell. Hopefully I've been doing that a little bit in this video, and basically what you do is you take that list with everything you're gonna say, every corresponding visual for that, and try and film visuals. Or source visuals to match. So you can use stock sites like motion array and art list and story blocks and all those sorts of other places. Film supply, if you've got a hell of a budget, um, all those sorts of places to find stock footage or what I like to do. 'cause I think it feels more natural in it. All tends to fit the tone of your video better, um, is to film things myself. Um, I film closeups of things and then insert closeups of my hand pushing buttons. Uh, my feet shuffling forward and backwards if I'm doing a video about where to stand in front of camera, pressing a button on the DGI mic. Whatever that might be, using real practical visuals that demonstrate what it is I'm talking about to do that. So hopefully I've got some visuals there of planning out the things I'm going to say and going to show. I actually found a really cool, uh, platform for doing this called Clip Flow. Um, I'll, I'll put a link to it below. They've come up with this, and this isn't sponsored by the way, but Clip fo have come up with this whole platform for not only planning out your shots, planning out your videos. Planning hooks and thumbnails, but also for collaborating with other people you are creating videos with. But you don't need a special platform. You can just use the notes app on your phone if you want to. Um, just have what you're gonna say, what you're gonna show, and then make sure you've got a little list of things that you capture. You might only use a quarter of what you film, but the fact you have it, you can then put it into your video in your edit and decide, okay, is the energy lagging a bit in the video? And add a visual that corresponds to what it is you're talking about. Also, if there is a detail that's important to what you're talking about and people need to see it to understand it. See where a button is on a camera. See a specific ingredient being applied to a recipe in a specific way. See a particular tarot card. See the lacing method for your shoes on, your running shoes, whatever your video's about, you can do that. Okay? So look, I hope that helps. Because I think vlogging is such a unique and different format, and I don't think you can necessarily always plan out everything you're gonna talk about when you're making a travel video, when you're vlogging, when you're documenting experience. I am going to make a whole other video on that, and I'm gonna go out and not be disingenuous and sit the desk indoors and talk about it, but I wanna show you in the field. So when that video's ready, it's gonna be linked here. For now though, if you want some more tips on how to, uh, frame yourself, light yourself, get good audio outdoors, I've got a video on that. Then that playlist is gonna be linked right up here as well. I hope this helps you capture better B roll and move your story forward in a more natural way in all of your videos. So until next time, take care. Check out the playlist, subscribe if you haven't already, and write cheese in the comments to let me know that you made it all the way to the end. I just think it'd be funny. Discuss cheese. Tell me your favorite cheese. I love cheese. Let me know if it helped. Let me know in the comments what else you'd like to see. Take care. See you next time. Bye.