Video Annotation

Video Annotation lets you take notes against a specific moment in a video. It is built for lectures, demos, research calls, tutorials, design reviews, and any other video where "somewhere around the middle" is not good enough.

Start With A Video

Add a video to a note the same way you add other media: drag it into the editor, use Insert Media, or reuse an existing attachment with [[.

Octarine supports common video formats such as mp4, webm, and mov. See Attachments for the broader media workflow.

Add An Annotation

Play the video until you reach the moment you want to capture, then click the annotation button in the video controls.

Write the note you want attached to that moment and press Insert. Octarine creates a bullet below the video with a clickable timestamp followed by your annotation.

For example:

- [10:24](oct-video://ts?file=lecture.mp4&t=624) Important explanation of the pricing model
- [18:02](oct-video://ts?file=lecture.mp4&t=1082) Compare this with the older onboarding flow

In the editor, the timestamp is shown as a compact clickable marker. Click it and Octarine seeks the matching video back to that moment.

Timestamp Markers

Sometimes you only need the timestamp, not a full note. Use Insert timestamp marker from the video controls to add the current time as a bullet item.

This is useful when you are watching quickly and want to mark places to revisit before writing proper notes.

Copy A Timestamp

Use Copy timestamp when you want to paste a timestamp link somewhere else in the same note or another note.

The copied link keeps the video filename and time together, so it can still jump back to the right moment as long as the referenced video is available in the workspace.

Shortcuts

When the video controls are focused, use:

• N to add an annotation.
• M to insert a timestamp marker.
• C to copy the current timestamp.

Good Uses

Video Annotation works especially well for:

• Lecture notes where each idea needs to link back to the source.
• User interviews where quotes, reactions, and questions happen at exact moments.
• Product demos where you want to note bugs or UX details as they appear.
• Design critique where feedback belongs to a specific frame or section.
• Tutorial notes where you want to replay a step without scrubbing around.

Keep annotations short while watching. You can always expand them later, and the timestamp will still take you back to the moment that prompted the note.