What is B-roll in UGC? Meaning and examples
B-roll: B-roll is supporting footage cut between or over a video's main shot, such as product close-ups, hands, screens or settings, used to show what the main shot describes.
B-roll is supporting footage that cuts in between or over your main shot. If the main shot is you talking to camera, the B-roll is everything else: your hands on the product, a close-up of the screen, the kitchen, the gym. It shows what you’re saying instead of only telling it.
How it works
The term comes from film editing. Editors working with 16 mm film split shots across an A-roll and a B-roll to hide splices, and the name stuck for secondary footage (Wikipedia).
In a UGC video, the main footage is usually a talking head or a voiceover. B-roll plays while the audio continues, so the viewer sees something new every few seconds. Common UGC B-roll:
- Hands unboxing or using the product
- Close-ups of packaging, texture or details
- Screen recordings. In tech UGC, the app demo does this job.
- You in the place the product gets used: desk, car, bathroom, gym
- Before and after shots
Example
You record a 30-second talking head about a meal-planning app: “I used to spend Sunday night staring at the fridge.” As you say it, cut to a half-empty fridge. When you mention the grocery list, cut to the app building one. When you say dinner took twenty minutes, cut to the plate. Your voice never stops. The picture keeps changing.
B-roll as a deliverable
Brands often ask for B-roll as separate files next to the edited video, so their editors can build new ads from it. That’s raw footage, and it’s worth more than the one video it came from. List it in your deliverables and agree on usage rights before you hand it over.
Why it matters for UGC creators
- It holds attention. A static shot of one face for 30 seconds is hard to watch. Cuts give viewers something new to look at.
- It makes faceless work possible. A video built from B-roll plus text or voiceover is faceless UGC.
- It’s reusable. General product and lifestyle shots can support many scripts for the same client.
- It can be priced. A pack of B-roll clips is extra work and extra value. Quote it as its own line item.
Related terms
- Talking head: A talking-head video shows a creator speaking directly to camera, usually framed from the chest up, often cut with B-roll to show what they're describing.
- App demo: An app demo is a short screen recording of an app in use, shown in a UGC video to prove the app does what the hook says.
- Raw footage: Raw footage is the unedited video a creator films for a project, such as full takes, reaction shots and screen recordings, delivered before cuts, captions or music are added.
- Faceless UGC: Faceless UGC is user-generated-style video where the creator never shows their face, relying on hands, product shots, screen recordings, voiceover and on-screen text.