A Brand Film isn’t just a flashy promo video; it’s a mini-documentary that tells the deeper story of why your brand exists.

Your business is the thing you do.
Your brand is how others see you.

A-Roll: The Backbone of Your Story (i.e., Interviews)

Interviews provide the voices, soundbites, and real experiences that shape your story. Interview 3-7 key people in your business — founders, key team members, and your best clients/customers — with 3-7 thought-provoking questions that will get them talking with passion. If they go off on a tangent, let them; this is often where you find your strongest soundbites. Some good openers:

What do you love about what you do?
How has life been better for you since working with them?
How is your business making the world better?
Who are you and what do you do?
What’s something that most people wouldn’t know about your job?

Almost everyone has camera anxiety, myself included. It’s important to help them feel comfortable so they sound natural and confident on camera:

Give them the questions ahead of time so they can rehearse.
When interviewing them, sit next to the camera and speak to them directly.
Always pause for a few seconds after they’re finished speaking — often, they’ll pick up something they suddenly thought of and start going off on the best tangent you’ll record.
Turn off the red tally recording light if your camera has one — it only adds to the intimidation. (Some people actually prefer that, though).

Technical Tips

Use at least two cameras so you can cut seamlessly between angles, so you don’t have to rely on B-roll to cover up jump-cuts, or shoot in a high resolution (4K+) so you can zoom & crop in.
Film near a natural light source or use (at least a) 200-watt LED and place the light between the camera and your subject. As to angle, intensity, temperature, quality, position… that all depends on your story.
Pay attention to the background of the shot and remove any unwanted clutter and add any necessary decoration.
Have an assistant monitor the camera(s) and audio so you can engage with your on-camera talent directly without having technology in your way.
Listen to all your interviews at least one more time before filtering out your best soundbites.
Find some emotional connection between soundbites that you can cut to, and be listening for these ahead of time.

B-Roll — The Storytelling Glue

B-Roll transforms your sequence of interview soundbites into a visually immersive, emotionally captivating story. If A-Roll is what’s said, B-roll is what’s felt.

What to Capture?

If the founder talks about their mission, capture scenes from their personal life, and how it connects to their work; interacting with employees, walking around their city.
If a client shares how your business changed their life, find visual evidence — before/after photos/videos, statistics — show them using the thing you make or do.
If a team member describes your company’s culture, show candid moments of teamwork and connection; company events and activities, employees outside of work enjoying life.

How to Use B-Roll Effectively

If interviews and B-roll are filmed on separate days, shoot the interviews first, then adjust your shot list based on what was said.
Don’t default to slow motion. Edit everything at normal speed first, then selectively slow down the moments that would benefit from it.
Cover the A-roll jump cuts with shots that emotionally elevate and connect each soundbite.
Use a shotgun microphone to capture natural audio, which can be layered in the edit to give dimension to your film’s soundscape.

Music: Let the Story Decide

Be sure you can legally license your track — my favorite service is Musicbed (I’ve discovered songs here that were already in my personal Spotify library, plus they’re HQ’d in Fort Worth), and other popular ones are Epidemic Sound (huge, great selection) and Artlist (cheapest, but lowest quality/loopitis).

Finding the perfect song before you even start editing is a waste of time. Instead, create a playlist of potential tracks of roughly the length of your film and let them marinate in your mind throughout the entire project — during pre-production, filming, and editing.

By the time you near the end of the edit, you’ll instinctively know exactly which song belongs the most. The right song will naturally support the flow of feelings and ideas in the film.

I really discourage adding a song in at the beginning of the edit because it’s essentially handing over your artistic originality to someone else’s creative structure. How you edit, however, is ultimately up to what works with your mind most efficiently.

Consider adding sound effects and sound design where appropriate. Most of your sound design — since this is a documentary — will come from what’s captured on your shotgun mics.

Why Brand Films Work

A great Brand Film isn’t just well-shot; it’s well-structured:

A-Roll gives your story a backbone — real soundbites from real experiences.
B-Roll harnesses the power of filmmaking — polished visuals that emotionally connect your story.
Music and sound design give dimension — enhancing the feelings and ideas your Brand Film communicates, and ultimately, what your brand represents.

When done right, a Brand Film doesn’t just explain your business — it gives people a reason to remember you.

How to Create a Meaningful Brand Film