Add b-roll and overlays
Eddie places cutaway footage as overlays exactly where you describe, keeping the speaker's audio running underneath.
B-roll is the cutaway footage that plays over your main audio. Eddie places it as overlays on the timeline, so the speaker's audio keeps running underneath.
Direct where b-roll goes
Point Eddie at moments by content:
- "Add b-roll wherever they mention the product."
- "Cut away to the workshop footage during the intro."
- "Cover the jump cut at 0:45 with b-roll."
Where b-roll comes from
Eddie draws from the footage in your project. Import the cutaway material into the same project (or add it later) and describe how to use it.
How Eddie places it
Eddie works like a careful editor and follows a consistent method:
- Match the footage to what's said. A literal match wins — cover "we shipped the new dashboard" with dashboard footage, not a generic office shot. General shots (signs, hallways, logos) are saved for openings and scene changes.
- Aim for real coverage. Eddie targets roughly 70% b-roll coverage on a typical talking-head cut — enough to keep it visual without burying the speaker.
- Build continuous scenes. Where you have a run of related shots, Eddie keeps them together as a continuous sequence rather than scattering single cutaways.
- Stay on the person when it matters. It holds on the speaker for their first appearance and their most emotional or important lines, and never stretches a clip past its usable length or reuses the same shot twice.
A good prompt to reach for (Alok's canonical example):
"Add B-roll to my rough cut. Use footage that matches what the speakers are talking about, stay on the person for intros and the most emotional moments, and skip anything that doesn't really fit."
Afterwards Eddie tells you roughly how much of the video it covered and flags anything it wasn't sure fit.
Overlays on the timeline
B-roll, titles and captions live on overlay tracks above the base clips — you can see them in the timeline and player.
In export
Overlays travel to every NLE as clips on upper tracks, and bake into MP4 renders.
Next: Titles and graphics, Music and audio.