"Just add B-roll" is easy advice and hard practice. The real question is *which kind* of B-roll each moment needs. Here is a simple way to choose.
Use animated scenes for ideas and data
When you are explaining a concept, a number, or a process, motion graphics win. A moving bar chart or an animated code scene holds attention far better than a stock clip of someone typing.
- Numbers → stat or bar-chart scenes
- Code and commands → code and terminal scenes
- Steps and models → steps and framework scenes
Use AI images for specific, hard-to-film things
Need a visual that does not exist as stock and is not data? A generated image can fill the gap — a concept, a metaphor, a scene you could never shoot.
Use stock for real-world texture
Sometimes you just need a real place, a real face, a real product in the wild. That is where licensed stock footage earns its keep. The trick is relevance: surface clips matched to your transcript, not a keyword you guessed.
Let the edit mix all three
The best cuts are not all one thing. A single video might open on a stock establishing shot, explain with an animated chart, and punctuate with a generated image — all in the same timeline, all in your brand style.
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