If you’ve ever been tasked with the challenge of making uneventful b-roll appear exciting then hopefully you’ll appreciate this post.
I was working with a producer who did a lot of great videos for tech companies and startups. We did a wide variety of projects ranging from success stories, company profiles along with commercials and various marketing material for campaigns.
The interviews were great and the people on camera were always passionate. We also had our usual on location b-roll coverage, but most of the client provided assets demonstrating the product in action was very simplistic. (see image on the right) Not exactly riveting stuff.
MobileApp Stills
So how do we inject life and energy into these stills? How do we present them in an exciting way that not only matches the energy of our interviews, but also ads value to our message and the rest of the video?

Well, with a little After Effects magic We can take this

and turn it into something Like this

Breakdown

Now there is a lot going on here of course but a general breakdown would look a little something like this. (see animation steps below)

  • #1,

    Take a 2D image of a tablet and place the screen-still on top

  • #2,

    Select desired blending mode for realistic screen reflection effect

  • #3,

    Create 3D camera in your environment and set angle

  • #4,

    Still looking too flat… let's add thickness for more realism

  • #5,

    Crank up the depth of field for some lovely macro-lens goodness

  • #6,

    Last but not least Animate!

By creating a short “Hero-Shot” sequence with the above mentioned techniques, we just made a world of difference. See for your self from the excerpt below taken from one of our recent projects

Putting together a sequence of 3-4 shots, we just created an additional 6-10 seconds of b-roll. Might not seem like much but if your interviewee ever stutters, mumbles or stumbles over his words, having more B-roll at your disposal to cover cuts will be a “Godsent” to you as an editor.
Another important benefit is strengthening the multi-pronged approach of video. The goal is always to drive your message home to the viewer from multiple angles. In this particular case Audio, Visual and Text.
Combine this with the right music, pacing and atmosphere and you’ll keep your viewers engaged, entertained and most importantly listening to your message.
In closing, here are some real life implementations from actual projects.


Until next time,
Bertalan