The security office console lists nine camera positions. Four of them have surviving footage. The other five are in the system because knowing which cameras existed is part of the point.
Controls
- Select a camera from the numbered list on the left. Only cameras with recovered footage will play.
- Play, pause, and step. Stepping moves one frame at a time, which is how you read a timecode precisely.
- Bookmarks. Each clip has marked moments on its scrubber — the second something happens. Jumping to a bookmark is not cheating; it is what the console is for.
- Description. Every clip has a full written scene description with times. It is on the same panel as the video, not hidden behind a toggle, and it contains everything the picture contains.
Clips are loaded one at a time, when you select them. Nothing downloads until you ask for it.
Reading the timecode
The timecode is burned into the picture in the bottom left and runs in real time. Two of the four clips depend on it:
- It keeps running when there is no picture. A black frame with a moving timecode is a recording, not a stopped tape.
- The gap between the end of one clip and the start of the next is itself evidence. The console shows the gap in the clip list.
If a clip ends at one time and the next begins nine minutes later, the nine minutes are not missing. They were recorded. They are just not here.
The maintenance register
The clipboard on the desk is the camera maintenance register: faults reported, faults signed off, and the name of whoever signed. It is not a document about cameras. It is a document about people having access to this building, and it is worth reading before you watch anything.
Nothing here is audio
None of these clips has a sound track. The system recorded picture only, which is stated on every clip. If you are playing without sound you are not missing anything at all on this console.
cameras surveillance timecode