Chapter 20 — Quiz

Twenty-five questions to check that the vocabulary, the sequence recipe, and the coverage mindset have stuck. Mix of multiple choice, true/false with justification, short answer, and "what's wrong with this?" perception questions. Answer from memory first; the key and a short review map are at the end.

Multiple choice

1. The A-roll in an interview-driven documentary is:

  • (a) the pretty establishing shots
  • (b) the main footage the piece is about — the interview and core action
  • (c) any footage shot in slow motion
  • (d) the second camera angle

2. The single most important job B-roll does in an interview edit is that it:

  • (a) makes the video longer
  • (b) adds a cinematic look
  • (c) covers your cuts, so a trimmed or reordered interview reads as continuous
  • (d) replaces the need for good audio

3. A shot that points the camera away from the main subject to something else in the world of the piece is a:

  • (a) cutaway
  • (b) insert
  • (c) master shot
  • (d) sequence

4. A tight shot of a specific detail within the main action (the hands on the tool, the cup on the saucer) is an:

  • (a) establishing shot
  • (b) insert
  • (c) over-the-shoulder
  • (d) L-cut

5. The three obligatory sizes of a sequence, in the usual order, are:

  • (a) close-up, medium, wide
  • (b) wide, medium, detail
  • (c) detail, wide, medium
  • (d) medium, medium, medium

6. With a single camera, you get three sizes of one action that still cut together by:

  • (a) zooming during the take
  • (b) having the subject repeat the action once per size, keeping the action the same so it overlaps
  • (c) cropping one wide shot in post
  • (d) shooting only the detail and hoping

7. The Chapter 9 technique that hides the fact that a sequence is three separate takes is:

  • (a) crossing the line
  • (b) the 180-degree shutter rule
  • (c) matching action — cutting on the movement
  • (d) the jump cut

8. When interview audio keeps running while the picture cuts to B-roll, the cut is called a(n):

  • (a) J-cut
  • (b) match cut
  • (c) L-cut
  • (d) hard cut

9. A reasonable B-roll shooting ratio to expect for a short documentary is closest to:

  • (a) 1:1 (shoot exactly what you use)
  • (b) 2:1
  • (c) 10:1 or higher
  • (d) you should never shoot more than you'll use

10. "Wild sound" (nat sound) is:

  • (a) music you license
  • (b) audio recorded wild — not synced to a line — to lay under B-roll
  • (c) the interview dialogue
  • (d) distorted, clipped audio

11. The best one-sentence test for whether a B-roll shot is worth your daylight is:

  • (a) "Is it in slow motion?"
  • (b) "Is it beautiful?"
  • (c) "What is this shot for — what beat does it show or what cut does it cover?"
  • (d) "Is it a wide shot?"

12. A coverage plan is built directly from:

  • (a) the camera's menu
  • (b) the story beats — the A-story/B-story outline from Chapter 17
  • (c) the client's logo
  • (d) whatever looks good on the day

True / False — and say why

For each, mark true or false and give the one-sentence reason.

13. "B-roll" is optional polish; a strong interview doesn't really need it.

14. A cutaway and an insert are both B-roll and both can cover a cut in the interview.

15. You should shoot your "nice-to-have" atmosphere shots before your "must-have" story shots, while the light is good.

16. Every B-roll shot should get its own sound recorded, even though you'll add music later.

17. If you shoot only a locked-off wide of an action, the editor can always just crop in to fake a close-up, so a detail shot is unnecessary.

18. In documentary, the story you find in the edit is often not the story you planned — which is a reason to shoot past your coverage plan.

Short answer

19. In two sentences, explain why an interview with no B-roll can only be one unbroken take or a string of visible jump cuts.

20. Name the four jobs B-roll does in an edit.

21. Define a sequence in your own words, and say which of the three B-roll tools (cutaway, insert, sequence) tells a little story on its own — and why.

22. What one job does a written coverage plan do that a plan in your head cannot, and which of the book's five throughlines does it serve?

What's wrong with this? (perception)

23. A shooter delivers, for a documentary about a glassblower, forty minutes of B-roll: all of it locked-off wide shots of the studio from the doorway, no closer sizes, no sound. The interview repeatedly describes "the exact moment the glass goes from orange to clear." Name the two biggest problems and the fix for each.

24. An editor lays a beautiful slow-motion shot of falling autumn leaves over the sentence "I've run this metal fabrication shop for thirty years." Describe why this B-roll fails even though the shot is gorgeous, and what should have been shot instead.

25. A sequence is cut wide → medium → detail, but at the wide-to-medium cut the subject's hand is raised in the wide and resting on the bench in the medium. The cut feels like a lurch. Name the problem and the shooting fix.

Answer Key

Reveal answers **1. (b)** — A-roll is the main footage the piece is about (interview, piece-to-camera, core action); B-roll is everything laid over and around it. **2. (c)** — Covering cuts is the job that makes a trimmed/reordered interview cuttable at all; the other benefits are secondary. **3. (a)** — A cutaway points *away* to something else in the world of the piece. **4. (b)** — An insert is a tight detail *within* the main action. **5. (b)** — Wide (establish), medium (the doing), detail (the thing that matters most). **6. (b)** — Repeat the action once per size so it overlaps; that overlap is what lets the sizes cut together. **7. (c)** — Matching action: cut on the movement and the motion carries across the seam. **8. (c)** — An L-cut: the sound leads the picture across the cut (audio continues over the new image). **9. (c)** — 10:1 or higher; the "waste" is insurance and choice. **10. (b)** — Wild/nat sound is recorded wild to lay under B-roll; it's the cousin of room tone. **11. (c)** — Motivate every choice: a shot must show a beat or cover a cut; pretty is a bonus, never the brief. **12. (b)** — The coverage plan is built from the story beats (the Chapter 17 spine) via the show-don't-tell question. **13. False** — The B-roll is what makes the interview cuttable at all (covers the trims) and what proves its claims; without it the interview is a "hostage video" you can't shorten or reorder. **14. True** — Both are B-roll, and both give the editor a picture to lay over an interview splice, hiding the jump. **15. False** — Shoot the must-have story shots first; if light or time runs out you want to have lost only the nice-to-haves, not the shots the story can't exist without. **16. True** — Wild sound makes B-roll feel alive and gives audio post real material; music is added *on top of*, not instead of, a shop that sounds like a shop. **17. False** — Cropping a wide throws away resolution and can't change the lens look or reveal detail the wide never resolved; you need to actually shoot the detail. (And the wide alone gives no way to compress or cover cuts.) **18. True** — The real story is often the B-story found in the edit; you can only tell it if you shot enough coverage to build it, so you shoot past the plan. **19.** Because trimming or reordering the interview splices the audio, and with no other picture to cut to, every splice forces the head to jump (a jump cut); the only alternative is to never cut, i.e., one unbroken take. B-roll is the picture you lay over each splice to hide it. **20.** It covers your cuts (hides jumps when you trim/reorder); shows what's described (show-don't-tell); compresses and controls time; and adds visual interest / controls pace. **21.** A sequence is a coherent series of shots of a single action — wide, medium, detail — cut together into one compressed rendering of that action. The *sequence* tells a story on its own because it has a beginning (establish), middle (the doing), and end (the result/detail); a cutaway or insert is a single beat. **22.** It guarantees the pieces — it asks you, row by row, whether you got each shot, so you don't leave a location missing the wide, the key detail, or the resolution; it serves *fix it in pre, not in post*. **23.** Problems: (1) only one size — no mediums or details, so the editor can't punch in, compress, or cover cuts, and there is no shot of the described "orange to clear" moment; (2) no wild sound, so the B-roll is a silent slideshow. Fixes: shoot each action in at least three sizes including a detail/insert of the color-change moment; grab wild sound (and room tone) on everything. A coverage plan built from the "orange to clear" beat would have prevented both. **24.** It fails because it isn't *matched to the beat* — falling leaves have nothing to do with a metal shop, so the shot proves nothing and merely decorates. It's the "beautiful shot of nothing." What should have been shot: B-roll of the metal work itself — sparks, the hands, the machinery, a sequence of a fabrication — so the picture proves the thirty years of craft the voice claims. **25.** The problem is broken matching action: the hand's position doesn't continue across the cut, so the motion lurches. The shooting fix is to cover the same action in both sizes (repeat it fully) and cut *on the movement*, landing the medium at the same point in the motion as the wide leaves it — so the action carries across the seam.

Topics to review by question

Where to look if you missed one | Questions | Review | |---|---| | 1, 2, 13, 19, 20 | §20.1 — what B-roll and A-roll are; the four jobs; the hostage video | | 3, 4, 6, 14, 21 | §20.2 — cutaway vs insert vs sequence | | 5, 7, 17, 25 | §20.3 — the sequence recipe; matching action (and Chapter 9) | | 8, 11, 24, 30-series | §20.4 — matching B-roll to beats; the L-cut; motivation | | 12, 15, 22, 23 | §20.5 — the coverage plan; must vs nice | | 9, 10, 16, 18 | §20.6 — the coverage mindset; wild sound; shooting past the plan |