Red Beret as an Intersection in Videos: The Impact of B Roll

Videos

B-roll is a video that overlays voice over. Editors make conscious choices in what video to put over voice over, therefore, the combination of voice and visual should be analyzed. The red beret makes an appearance in three places: on Chavez as a military man, in military demonstrations, and on Chavez’s supporters in protest. As Chavez is portrayed as a military man in the red beret, he is portrayed as a threat, enacting policy about oil that could be disastrous to the United States. However, this is not solely to the neocolonial nature of relating military and militant nature to the red beret. The b-roll of non-Chavez actors in the red beret has an overlay of voice over that talks about poverty, unemployment, or poor Venezuelans. This overlay adds exoticism to the presentation of the red beret, as the red beret is paired with something that is “othered.”