How long should each b-roll clip be?

Film about ten seconds, use one to three. The edit only ever takes the best stretch, and ten seconds gives it room to choose. Two takes of each shot doubles your odds for the cost of ten more seconds.

Do these ideas need good lighting or a gimbal?

No. A phone, daylight and slow hands. A slightly shaky shot of your actual work beats a polished clip of a stranger's, because viewers judge relevance before they judge production.

Can I reuse the same b-roll across many videos?

Yes, and you should. That is the point of a named folder. Rotate so the same clip does not appear twice in one week, and add two or three new shots a month so the shelf never goes stale.

What about filming clients or customers?

Do not, unless you have written permission. Every idea on this page works with hands, objects, screens and places. The story is the work, and the work photographs fine without a face in it.

What if I have no time to film any of this?

The five universal shots take one lunch break, and that is the honest minimum. For everything you never film, the stock search inside the batch covers the general nouns. It cannot cover your keys, your shopfront or your shredder. Only you can.

Guide

B-roll ideas: thirty shots to film before you need them

The moment you need b-roll is the worst moment to think of it. The camera roll is empty, the stock results are strangers, and the edit stalls. This page is the fix in list form: thirty shots sorted by profession, each filmable on a phone in under a minute. Film a handful this week and the next ten edits start with a full shelf.

Shot ideas on this page, none needing more than a phone: 30
Filming time per shot. One movement, then stop: ~10 sec
The longest spoken take Cutroom accepts: 3 min
A month on Lite: 1,250 credits, about 11 finished 30 second videos: $19.99

Five shots every profession should have on file

The rule behind every idea on this page: film the nouns you say most often. Listen to yourself talk about your work for a week and the same eight things keep coming up. Those are the shots.

Film vertical, hold each shot about ten seconds, and make one slow movement per clip or none. These five work for everyone.

Your hands at your actual work, close enough to fill a vertical frame.
The front of the place you work, walked toward at normal pace.
Your tools laid out, whatever tools means in your trade.
The thing a customer receives: the keys, the report, the finished product, the box.
A slow shot of the area you serve, with something recognizably local in it.

For realtors: six shots that work on every listing

A listing sells and its footage retires with it. These six do not: they are about you working, not about one house, so they slot into any video for years.

The sign going into the lawn, first push to standing straight.
Keys changing hands across a kitchen counter, hands only.
The lockbox opening on a front door.
Your car pulling up and the walk to the porch, filmed from the doorway.
The street scene buyers ask about: the school gate, the station entrance, the Saturday market.
The signing table: paperwork, pens and hands, no names in frame.

This is the whole editor

Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.

For coaches and consultants: six shots when the work is invisible

A coach's work is a conversation, and a conversation does not photograph. So film its edges: the preparation, the tools, the traces it leaves.

Your side of a video call: notebook, hands, the screen soft in the background.
A whiteboard filling up, filmed in three ten second bursts.
A session plan being written in real time, pen on paper.
Your calendar with sessions blocked out, names covered.
Packing the bag before a client day: laptop, notes, charger.
The walk into a client's building, reception in frame, badge in hand.

For advisors and recruiters: eight desk shots that are not a keyboard

Desk professions default to typing hands, the most scrolled-past shot on the internet. These eight show the same work with the generic filtered out. Cover or blur every name before filming, not after.

Advisor: a statement with the two numbers that matter highlighted, the rest out of focus.
Advisor: a calculator mid-sum, a pen resting on the pad.
Advisor: a folder being labelled and filed in one motion.
Advisor: the shredder eating a page. The best ten seconds a story about doing things properly will ever get.
Recruiter: a stack of printed CVs being squared up, face down.
Recruiter: the week's interview calendar, close enough to show how full, not who.
Recruiter: a blank offer letter coming out of the printer.
Recruiter: the phone call from your side: headset on, notes filling, the pacing.

For local businesses: five shots from one opening hour

One morning at the shop contains a month of b-roll. Prop the phone up before you open and collect these five.

The lights coming on and the sign flipping to open.
The first product of the day being made, start to finish.
The card machine beep and the handover, no faces needed.
Restock: boxes in the door, shelves filling.
Locking up: the tried door, the lights going off behind the glass.

Filming the shots is the cheap half. Landing them on your words is the other.

Name every clip for what is in the shot, the day you film it. A folder called keys-counter and sign-lawn is an edit waiting to happen. A folder of IMG_4302s is a chore.

Then the shots need to meet your voice. Upload the folder once to your Cutroom workspace library. Record one talking take, up to 3 minutes. The transcript comes back with every word, and the clips land on the phrases that name them: say the keys and highlight it, and your keys clip covers exactly those words. Stock fills whatever you did not film, from millions of free clips.

A batch is 100 credits and export adds 20 credits per finished minute, so a finished 30 second video comes to about 110 credits. Three finished videos are free inside your first seven days, no card, on the 600 credits granted at signup, and they export with a Cutroom mark across the middle. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of those, nothing on the picture, cancel in one click.

What the thirty-shot habit actually costs

The filming happens once. The pointing happens per video, and it is minutes.

Film five shots from your list10 min
Name the files and upload once5 min
Point them at your words, per video~2 min

Questions people ask

How long should each b-roll clip be?: Film about ten seconds, use one to three. The edit only ever takes the best stretch, and ten seconds gives it room to choose. Two takes of each shot doubles your odds for the cost of ten more seconds.
Do these ideas need good lighting or a gimbal?: No. A phone, daylight and slow hands. A slightly shaky shot of your actual work beats a polished clip of a stranger's, because viewers judge relevance before they judge production.
Can I reuse the same b-roll across many videos?: Yes, and you should. That is the point of a named folder. Rotate so the same clip does not appear twice in one week, and add two or three new shots a month so the shelf never goes stale.
What about filming clients or customers?: Do not, unless you have written permission. Every idea on this page works with hands, objects, screens and places. The story is the work, and the work photographs fine without a face in it.
What if I have no time to film any of this?: The five universal shots take one lunch break, and that is the honest minimum. For everything you never film, the stock search inside the batch covers the general nouns. It cannot cover your keys, your shopfront or your shredder. Only you can.

Thirty shots, one phone, no schedule. Film five this week, name the files for what is in them, and the next edit starts with the footage already yours.

3 videos free, no card3 finished videos free in your first 7 days, no card. They carry a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it