Glossary · video-editing
What is A-roll?
A-roll is the primary footage that carries a video's story — usually a person speaking to camera, an interview, or the main action the video is about. B-roll is the supporting footage cut over or between it to show what is being described. In a typical business video, the owner explaining the service is the A-roll, and shots of the workshop, products and customers are the B-roll. The A-roll's audio usually runs continuously while B-roll appears on top, which also hides jump cuts. Strong A-roll needs clear sound, steady framing and a speaker who has rehearsed enough to sound natural rather than recited.
What does A-roll mean for a business in Pakistan?
Many Pakistani business owners are more comfortable speaking in Urdu or a mix than in English, and their A-roll is almost always better that way. Recording in a quiet back room rather than the shop floor, with the generator off, saves more A-roll than any editing software can.
A worked example
Imagine a 60-second video for an Islamabad physiotherapy clinic. The A-roll is the physiotherapist explaining, in Urdu, three habits that worsen back pain. Over each habit, the editor cuts B-roll of a patient doing the corrected exercise, so viewers hear the advice and see it at the same time.
Terms that go with this one
These come up in the same conversations and are worth reading together.
- B-rollb-rollB-roll is the supporting footage cut over your main shot — hands working, the shop front, a close-up of the product, someone walking through a door.…
- Jump cutjump cutA jump cut removes a chunk of time from the middle of a continuous shot, so the speaker appears to jump slightly between frames. In classical film…
- Shot listshot listA shot list is a written list of every shot a video shoot needs to capture, usually in shooting order, with notes on framing (wide, medium,…
- ScriptscriptA script is the written plan of what gets said, and it exists on a spectrum. Word-for-word scripts produce tight, quotable videos but sound stiff…
- Lavalier miccollar micA lavalier mic, or lav, is a small microphone clipped to clothing near the speaker's chest, either wired to the camera or phone or sending its signal…
A-roll — quick answers
What does A-roll mean?
A-roll is the primary footage that carries a video's story — usually a person speaking to camera, an interview, or the main action the video is about. B-roll is the supporting footage cut over or between it to show what is being described.
A-roll ko Urdu mein kya kehte hain?
اے رول — though in practice almost everyone in Pakistan says "main footage". Many Pakistani business owners are more comfortable speaking in Urdu or a mix than in English, and their A-roll is almost always better that way.
Why does A-roll matter for a business in Pakistan?
Many Pakistani business owners are more comfortable speaking in Urdu or a mix than in English, and their A-roll is almost always better that way. Recording in a quiet back room rather than the shop floor, with the generator off, saves more A-roll than any editing software can.
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