Secondary uncompressed recording running parallel to main camera — legal protection for accidents, injuries, or contractual disputes. Insurance requirement on stunts.
It's always running on set, but hardly anyone talks about it: the second camera that documents every scene — not for the film, but for the insurance company, the lawyers, in case of emergency. The witness camera records parallel to the main camera, usually uncompressed, usually from a different angle. Its job is to later show in court or to the insurance broker what really happened if something goes wrong. An actor falls off a ladder. A stuntman is injured. A camera assistant gets hurt during a camera movement. Suddenly, proof is needed — not interpretation, not editing, not montage. You need the raw take from another perspective.
In practice, this camera is usually positioned to the side of the main camera or in close proximity, often on a second tripod or even handheld, depending on the scene. It records with regular sync sound, but the focus is on the visual record. Important: It starts and stops before and after the actual take — let it run for at least five seconds beforehand. This later gives the lawyers the context they need. Some productions also use a smartphone recording for this if the budget is tight, but professional sets with higher risks — stunts, pyrotechnics, water shoots, labor-intensive scenes — use a second professional camera.
The effort is minimal, but the liability is maximal. Without a witness camera, a situation quickly arises where it's a case of "he said, she said." With it, there's a third perspective — neutral, continuous, unedited. Insurers and production managers rightly demand it when critical scenes are being shot. The data must be archived — not deleted, not discarded — for at least as long as the insurance policy is valid, often for years. Some sets store these takes separately from regular post-production because they are purely legal artifacts. They are never intended for the cinema. They are only meant to be there in case no one else was there to see what really happened.