Cutaways: When to Use Them and Why
Cutaways: When to Use Them and Why
Cutaways are the shots you show over your voice instead of your face. They do three jobs: showing what you're describing, hiding the join where you cut your speech, and resting the viewer's eye from a single static shot. What ruins them most is using them as decoration — a beautiful shot with no relation to your words distracts rather than adds.
What they actually are
In a video where you talk to camera, the main shot is your face. A cutaway is any other footage appearing while your voice continues: your hands at work, the place you're describing, the object you're discussing, or archive material.
They're commonly called B-roll, and you'll hear that term constantly.
Job one: letting the viewer see what you're saying
When you say "the street was crowded," the viewer hears the sentence. When you show a shot of the street, they understand it.
The rule: every time you mention something concrete — a place, an object, a person — that's an opportunity for a cutaway.
Job two: hiding the cut
This is their most practically useful function.
When you delete a sentence from the middle of your speech, a visual jump occurs: your head suddenly snaps from one position to another. Viewers notice it even if they can't name the cause.
The fix: place a cutaway over the join. The audio continues seamlessly, the picture covers the jump, and the video reads as smooth.
This means cutaways give you more freedom to cut — which is the heart of good editing, as covered in Editing Basics: Start by Deleting, Not Adding.
Job three: resting the eye
The same face in the same frame for ten unbroken minutes tires the viewer, even when the words are excellent.
Changing the picture periodically renews attention. It needn't be spectacular — a simple shot of the location is enough.
How many do you need?
The practical rule for beginners: one cutaway per main point in your script.
If your video has five points, film at least five cutaways. And film each one longer than you think — ten seconds for a shot you'll use for three, because the start and end usually get trimmed.
Where do they come from?
Film them yourself. Always best, and easier than it sounds: after you finish talking, film the things around you that you mentioned.
From your own archive. Footage from earlier projects — a good reason to organise and keep your files.
From licensed libraries. Ready-made clips licensed for use. Mind the licence terms, exactly as with music.
Don't take them from someone else's video without permission or a licence. This works just like music, and it's detailed in Music in Your Videos: Where Do You Get It Safely?
Common mistakes
The beautiful unrelated shot. A gorgeous sunset while you talk about scheduling tasks. The viewer engages with the image and loses your words.
Excessive length. A cutaway running twenty seconds makes the viewer forget you exist. The rule: three to five seconds in most cases.
Repetition. Using the same shot three times in one video feels threadbare.
Total coverage. A video that's all cutaways with no appearance from you loses the relationship between you and the viewer. Show up periodically.
Late timing. Showing the shot after you've finished talking about it. The cutaway should appear while you mention the thing, not afterwards.
Write them into your shot list
The biggest mistake is leaving cutaways to chance on location. You come back from filming and discover in the edit that half your words have no picture.
Write the supporting shot next to each point in your script before you go out to film. How to build the list is covered in From Script to Shot List: The Bridge Between Writing and Filming.
In short
A cutaway isn't decoration but a tool: it explains, it hides cuts, and it rests the eye.
Ask one question of every shot before you place it: what does this add here? If you have no answer, your own presence in frame is better.