# B-Roll Overlay Cut — effect skill for cuts & pacing

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Keep the A-roll voice running and lay B-roll pictures over it; edits in the A-roll disappear under the cover.

- **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Cuts & pacing](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/cuts.md)
- **Slug:** `b-roll-overlay`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/blob/main/varg-video-edit-library/references/cuts.md#b-roll-overlay
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI, Any MCP client, varg Studio
- **Requires:** ffmpeg, HyperFrames (npx hyperframes), Remotion, CapCut (by hand)
- **Cost:** Free — the take renders locally; generated footage, if any, bills by the model

## What it does

We hear the speaker continuously while seeing what they describe, returning to their face for key lines.

**When:** Interviews, explainers, UGC ads, documentaries; whenever the speaker's face is not the information.

**Watch out:** Covering emotional or key lines; let the face carry those.

**Timing:** B-roll shots 1.5–4 s; enter and leave on phrase boundaries

**Also called:** B-roll, cover footage, overlay cut, A-roll/B-roll

### In FFmpeg

Overlay B-roll from 1.5 s for 2 s; A-roll audio continues:
```bash
ffmpeg -i aroll.mp4 -i broll.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[1:v]trim=0:2,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS+1.5/TB,scale=1920:1080,setsar=1[b];\
 [0:v][b]overlay=eof_action=pass[v]" -map "[v]" -map 0:a -c:a copy out.mp4
```
`setpts=...+1.5/TB` shifts the B-roll to start at 1.5 s; `eof_action=pass` returns to A-roll after it ends.

### In HyperFrames

B-roll `<video muted>` clip on a higher track/z-index over the A-roll clip; A-roll keeps `data-has-audio="true"`.

### In Remotion

```tsx
<AbsoluteFill><Video src={aroll} /></AbsoluteFill>
<Sequence from={45} durationInFrames={60}><Video src={broll} muted /></Sequence>
```

### In CapCut

Drag B-roll onto the overlay track above the A-roll (mobile: Overlay → Add overlay), resize to full frame, mute it.

### Where this comes from

- [Wikipedia: B-roll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll)
- [FFmpeg filters: overlay](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#overlay)
- [HyperFrames: data attributes](https://hyperframes.heygen.com/concepts/data-attributes)

## Use when

- Interviews, explainers, UGC ads, documentaries; whenever the speaker's face is not the information.

## Not for

- Covering emotional or key lines; let the face carry those.

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a cursor -y`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/how-to/previews/b17d6559b411/take-b-roll-overlay.mp4 — insert between two shots, with the timeline strip of the edit. Footage: Charge (2022), Blender Studio | studio.blender.org, CC BY 4.0; Coffee Run (2020), Blender Studio | studio.blender.org, CC BY 4.0. (credit: Rendered by varg · Charge (2022) + Coffee Run (2020))

## More cuts & pacing skills

- [SmartCut (capcut-ai-editor)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/capcut-smartcut-mcp.md): MCP that reads CapCut auto-captions to cut silences and duplicate takes right inside your CapCut project.
- [Auto-Editor](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/auto-editor.md): CLI that cuts dead space by loudness or motion and exports MP4 or editor timelines; now also an agent skill.
- [AutoCut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/autocut.md): Edit video in a text editor: Whisper transcribes, you delete lines in Markdown, AutoCut cuts the video.
- [Cut Video](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/cut-video.md): Claude Code skill that tightens long recordings with forced-aligned cuts, keeping laughs and comedic pauses.
- [Videogrep](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/videogrep.md): Search spoken words across videos and auto-build supercuts of every match.
- [PySceneDetect](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pyscenedetect.md): Find cuts, fades and scene changes in a video, then split it or export scene lists for the edit.