what does it mean when something is "A-rolled"

[dv416]

is it when the garbage shots have been cut out already?

what about b-rolled?

 

[seven.b]

When you have an A roll and b roll camera, it's basically a fancy way of saying you have two cameras for a shoot.

 

[cyclone]

"A" roll are your primary shots. "B" roll are usually your inserts, cutaways, etc. - often shot by someone other than the director (i.e. maybe the cinematographer or 1st AD directs the "B" roll stuff).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItFvB0Upb8

 

[Postmaster]

...and then there ist the Rick-Roll.

Frank

 

[dv416]

obviously, but what is the reference when footage has been "a-rolled" or "b-rolled"

i think it is when a timeline has been prepped with the A-footage strung up. or the B-footage. so unless someone else knows the lingo for sure, i'm gonna go with that.

 

[Shane Ross]

That is an OLD way of doing things. When you had two tapes that you then used to assemble a show. So that you could add dissolves and the like. You'd arrange all your A-ROLL stuff on one tape, at certain locations, and all your B-ROLL stuff on another tape, then run them together, and manually, or computer controlled, add dissolves or other transitions. OLD OLD OLD technology, but the terminology sticks around.

It'd be like having a timeline with all the A-ROLL (interviews and the like) on V1 and all your B-Roll (cutaways) on V2.
VERY OLD way of doing things. Not done anymore.

 

[Cassius]

Or they could mean the footage has been captured for the A but not the B. Maybe you should ask whoever wrote or said the sentence, which has context none of us can know.