{"id":150665,"date":"2021-03-10T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=150665"},"modified":"2021-03-09T14:47:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T20:47:45","slug":"documentary-trends-aerial-b-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/documentary-trends-aerial-b-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentary Trends: Using Aerial B-Roll to Help Tell Your Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Try these tips for using aerial B-roll and stock footage to help set the perfect mood in your genre documentaries.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s amazing to think that in a world full of entertainment, from first run superhero Blockbusters to an almost endless stream of online films, shows, and programs, that the most popular styles of content are documentaries. And, before you get too upset or excited, there\u2019s one genre of documentary that stands out above all the rest\u2014the true crime genre of documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve seen countless examples on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. You know the ones I\u2019m talking about, shows with titles like Making a Murderer<\/a><\/em>, American Murder: The Family Next Door<\/a><\/em>, and other popular docuseries like Tiger King<\/a><\/em>, The Staircase<\/a><\/em>, and Wild Wild Country<\/a><\/em>. The latest one that I\u2019ve binged has been the Netflix series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer<\/a><\/em>, which tells the story of the notorious Los Angeles serial killer known as the \u201cNight Stalker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a filmmaking perspective, these docuseries are quite fascinating for several reasons. One element is simply the mystery of it all, as true crime itself obviously carries a great deal of emotional weight. However, to appreciate these series properly, one has only to look at how they’re presented, shot, and edited\u2014and most notably, how they use aerial B-roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike all the archival footage and modern-day interviews, the real trick to this style of genre documentary is to have a masterful control of weaving a narrative and setting the scene. And, as far as footage available to these filmmakers, aerial B-roll finds frequent use and offers its fair share of advantages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Establishing Shots<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Night<\/a>
Image from the docuseries<\/em> Night Stalker, which showcases how the docuseries uses aerial B-roll footage for its establishing shots. Image via Netflix<\/a>. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When taking a macro look at creative trends for 2021<\/a>, specifically at how stock footage has been searched and used for film and video, aerial footage focused on sublime elements like mountains, cliffs, and cityscapes have grown in popularity. This might have a little bit to do with breakthroughs in drone technology making aerial videography easier, cheaper, and more cinematically inclined over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps if we look a bit closer, it might also have to do with just how powerful these sublime aerial shots can be for a variety of projects. Looking specifically at these true crime docuseries and documentaries, in general, having location-specific aerial footage (whether it’s something you\u2019ve recorded yourself or stock) to use for establishing shots can be the perfect way to provide information, as well as develop visual motifs and cinematic themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Background for Voiceovers<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Aerial<\/a>
Use a voice-over during your aerial B-roll footage. Image by GaudiLab<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another way ti use aerial B-roll footage in your documentary projects pertains to voiceover. More specifically, we\u2019re talking about any documentary-style use of voice or audio that could be coming from narration, as well as important phone calls, voice mails, or any other audio source that pertains to the true mystery of the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found it almost amusing how much the Night Stalker<\/em> series used this style of aerial B-roll as the background for the majority of its recorded phone call segments. For example, if you have archival audio of a 9-1-1 dispatch for an important part of your story, but you don\u2019t have any strong visual information to go along with it, just simply having the audio play over some desaturated aerial B-roll of city highways can help set the scene and create tension within the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Traversing Time and Space<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Winter<\/a>
Use aerial B-roll to transition between scenes. Image by Piotr Gibowicz<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, many of these docuseries programs use aerial B-roll as a quick way to traverse time and space\u2014and so should you! Even if you\u2019re just shooting content for YouTube or branded video work, the use of stock B-roll can be a perfect way to transition from one scene to the next. This is especially true if you need to convey that your story is making a \u201cjump\u201d (so to speak) from one scene and location in time to another one which might at first appear drastically different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another example. In many of these docuseries programs, we go case by case or event by event in the narrative. When one of these mini-segments wraps up, the story needs to jump to the next event, which sometimes takes place days, weeks, or years later. A crafty trick to convey this traversing of time and space would be to include some scenic aerial B-roll shots similar to the next location in the story. Be sure to add some moody soundtrack music underneath<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interactive Elements to Include<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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