Add b-roll and overlays

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."

Or point at the moment itself: on the timeline, hover a clip, hit ✨ and choose Cover with b-roll. Eddie shows you candidate shots for that exact line and you pick before anything lands. See Pick b-roll from the timeline.

Where b-roll comes from

There are three supplies, and Eddie reaches for them in this order:

1. Your own footage. Import the cutaway material into the same project (or add it later). Eddie logs it visually as it comes in — a description, shot type and themes, even for silent clips — so you don't have to describe every piece by hand, though a specific prompt still gets you tighter placement. If you want your b-roll library cut into specific moments first — "just the smooth aerials", "locked-off product shots only" — Eddie can generate b-roll subclips on demand from your guidance.
2. Stock footage. Clips from Pexels — free to search and free to import — plus your own Shutterstock catalogue if you connect a key. See Find stock b-roll.
3. Generated clips. When neither has the shot, Eddie can render a short AI clip for the moment. Generating it costs credits of its own, and the price is quoted first. See Generate AI b-roll.

Importing a project that's all b-roll, no interviews? You get an editable montage rough cut out of the box.

What it costs

Getting b-roll into the project and putting it on the cut are two separate costs.

Free: searching stock, importing clips into your media bin, and planning a b-roll sequence as a shot list. Reading what's in your own b-roll is free as well — that analysis runs at import, which already paid for it.

Paid: asking Eddie to place b-roll on a cut costs 350 credits per hour of the b-roll files that cut uses. Each file counts once, at its own full length, however many clips Eddie takes from it. You pay once per edit, so a later revision that reuses files you've already paid for costs nothing, and so does clearing the b-roll track and rebuilding it from the same files. A revision that reaches for a file the edit hasn't paid for bills that one file and nothing else.

The rate is the same whichever supply the clip came from — your own footage, stock or generated. Generating a clip is charged separately, on top, when it is generated.

Eddie quotes the figure before it places anything and waits for your go-ahead. It also quotes what the rest of the build would cost at most, if it drew on your whole b-roll library. If your balance won't cover the placement, Eddie refuses the whole build and tells you the shortfall rather than placing part of it.

Full detail: How credits and billing work.

How Eddie places it

Eddie works like a careful editor and follows a consistent method:

• It isn't limited to matching spoken words. Every b-roll clip gets a visual log at import — what's on screen, its shot type, the themes it touches — whether or not the clip has usable audio of its own. A silent wide shot still gets understood and placed on that basis, not just clips whose audio happens to match the transcript.
• Match the footage to what's said, when there's a literal match to make. 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:

"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, Documentary and interview workflow: multicam, B-roll and export.