Overcast timeline

overcast-timeline

Use this skill to "walk through what happened" across several recordings of one event (bystander videos, multiple cameras, a sequence of clips): build one ordered, cited timeline and flag where accounts disagree. Use the broad overcast skill and overcast/reference/verbs.md for exact flags.

Workflow

1. Sense every clip — watch for the visual timeline, listen where audio carries the account:

overcast doctor --json
overcast case init --json
overcast watch ./cam1.mp4 --json
overcast watch ./phone-clip.mp4 --json
overcast listen ./phone-clip.mp4 --json

2. Cross-anchor shared moments with span notes — a visible clock, a shared sound, a lighting change lets you line clips up on one timeline:

overcast note "wall clock reads 21:14 as the door opens" --ref <cam1-record-id> --at 12-15 --tag anchor --json
overcast note "same doorbell chime as cam1@13 — clips overlap here" --ref <phone-record-id> --at 3-6 --tag anchor --json

3. Corroborate and contradict across clips. File a conflict finding ONLY when the answer actually reports a disagreement — don't invent one every run; if the accounts agree, record that and skip the finding:

overcast ask "order the events across all clips with timestamps; where do accounts agree or conflict? cite record.id + media.at" --json
# only if the answer reports a real conflict:
overcast finding create "conflict: cam1 shows the car arriving BEFORE the shout; phone-clip audio has the shout first" --ref <cam1-record-id> --at 12-15 --confidence low --json

4. Produce the chronological deliverable, and always leave a tldr note first:

overcast note "reconstructed <n> clips into one timeline; <k> firm anchors; <c> unresolved conflicts" --tag tldr --json
# Wait for the note result before exporting, so the TL;DR is included.
overcast brief --export ./timeline.html --json

Output

One ordered chronology of the event, each entry cited to a record.id + media.at, the anchor moments that let clips be aligned, and an explicit list of unresolved contradictions. Where clips can't be ordered relative to each other, say so rather than guessing.

Caveats

Device clocks and upload times drift — prefer content anchors (a shared sound, a visible clock, a synchronized event) over file timestamps when aligning clips. Absence of a moment in one clip is not evidence it didn't happen — it may be off-frame. Keep observed facts (in note) separate from inferred ordering; a contradiction is a finding to review, not a settled conclusion.