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Guide

B-roll ideas for coaches: the shots your script asks for

Most B-roll lists start with a shoot day. Start with your script. Every line asks for a picture, and you may have filmed some of them already.

A real example

What one 50-second talk asked for

I'm not a coach. This is my own talk about a book on doing less. I ran it through lazycut, the tool I built, with footage from one trip. For each of the 7 lines it looked for a shot. Here is what happened.

  1. Line 1

    “Recently, I read a book called Slow Productivity by Cal Newport.”

    It looked for
    Hands holding the book. Reading in a chair by a window.
    My footage had
    Nothing like it. stayed on me

  2. Line 2

    “…choosing my three columns and pillars of my life and then working towards that.”

    It looked for
    Three stone pillars against a clear sky.
    My footage had
    Hikers climbing a forest trail. kept lazycut's reason: “Hikers climbing steadily up a forested mountain trail show working toward chosen goals.” Three hikers walking up a forest trail toward a rounded rock peak

  3. Line 3

    “So choosing three things that matter the most to you and then focusing on that”

    It looked for
    A hand writing a list of three in a notebook.
    My footage had
    A hiker pausing at a trail sign. kept lazycut's reason: “A hiker pausing at a trail sign suggests stopping to choose what matters most.” A hiker walking past trail signs toward a group of hikers in a pine forest

  4. Line 4

    “…anything else that does not contribute to that, remove it from your life or say no.”

    It looked for
    A hand crossing items off a to-do list. A phone put face down on a table.
    My footage had
    Nothing like it. stayed on me

  5. Line 5

    “…what I want to do day to day, what I enjoy, how I stay creative…”

    It looked for
    Sketching ideas on a whiteboard. Working at a sunlit desk.
    My footage had
    Walking up to a waterfall and stopping to take a photo. kept lazycut's reason: “Walking up to a waterfall and stopping to photograph it shows everyday creativity and enjoyment.” A hiker walking up a dirt path toward a small waterfall

  6. Line 6

    “…produce good work at work as well as enjoy my life outside of work.”

    It looked for
    Typing on a laptop, then closing it and walking outside.
    My footage had
    A group on a canyon walkway. A crowd of strangers was the whole shot. removed by me

  7. Line 7

    “So what are my three pillars? My first one is my family and my partner.”

    It looked for
    A couple walking outdoors. A family around a dinner table.
    My footage had
    A lakeside clip where the couple never appears. removed by me

7 lines, 5 cutaways proposed, 3 kept. Cut from my recording with the Mac version of lazycut. The web app takes a pasted script instead.

Read the “looked for” rows again. A talk about priorities asked for a notebook, a to-do list, a phone, a whiteboard, a desk and a laptop. I had mountains.

The checklist

20 shots to film or dig out

The shots I was missing are ordinary ones. Tick the ones you already have.

0 of 20 ticked

For lines about your method

For lines about the working day

For lines about events, workshops and retreats

For lines about life outside the work

Where they hide

  • Search your photos by the place or the date of your last event.
  • Open the Videos album and scroll back past this year.
  • Ask whoever filmed your last event for the raw clips, not only the finished recap.
  • Look in shared albums and group chats where people sent you clips, and ask before you use theirs.

Three rules

  1. Everyone shown has agreed. For clients and attendees, get it in writing.
  2. Nothing private in frame: no names, no charts, no screens with someone's details.
  3. Hold each shot. The three cutaways in my talk ran about 5 seconds each, so film a little longer than that.

Matching them by hand is the slow part

lazycut does that step. Paste your script and point it at a folder of footage you filmed. It places a shot on each line it can and gives a reason for each one. Lines with no good match stay on you.

You or your editor finish the rough cut in DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut. Not Premiere yet. It uses no stock and generates nothing. Free during the beta.

See lazycut for coaches

Questions

What counts as B-roll in a coaching video?

Anything that plays while you keep talking: your hands, your desk, a room you taught in, a walk you took. It gives the viewer something to look at on lines where watching you adds nothing.

Can I use footage of clients?

Only when everyone shown has agreed in writing. Without that, use footage of yourself, your space and your events with no faces in frame.

Is phone footage good enough?

Yes. The talk and every cutaway on this page were filmed on an iPhone.

How much B-roll does a short video need?

It depends on the talk. In my 50-second one, 3 of the 7 lines got a cutaway and the other 4 stayed on me.

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