History Main / MagicalSecurityCam

* The ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' two-parter "[[Recap/XMenS4E6SanctuaryPart1 Sanctuary, Part 1]]/[[Recap/XMenS4E7SanctuaryPart2 Part 2]]" has Magneto give a video presentation to the U.N. about the plight of mutants across the globe. The video largely consists of footage from past episodes, including scenes without Magneto that he couldn't possibly have recorded.

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' has two seamless cuts to camera footage, implying that the camera shot and "real" one are identical. One goes from the collapsing pyramid to a news program. In the other, we follow the shrink-ray-stuff covering the moon, then cut to TheBigBoard watched by the minions.

* ''Film/TheIsland'' has security cam footage of Michael Clarke Duncan trying to escape and being dragged back by guards that is not only obviously the same footage we saw earlier but includes an angle that puts the camera in the middle of a corridor about one foot above the floor.

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest'': This occurs rather frequently in the cutscenes of ''The 11th Hour''. Samantha Ford is able to see certain areas of the Stauf Mansion on her computer monitors and relay them to the handheld Gamebook that Carl Denning is carrying. There's even one instance where the camera moving through the house on one of her screens is shown as [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall gameplay of]] ''The 7th Guest''. This is {{hand wave}}d in the manual in saying that Samantha is capable of "psychic hacking", which is also how she's able to give you hints during puzzles.
* In ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'', your ghost-hunting partner Roxy had rigged up a network of CCTV cameras around her HauntedHouse, and they start recording whenever a haunting happens in a particular room, broadcasting in blue monochrome to a handheld device you're carrying. The cameras always zoom and lock onto the phenomenon in question, complete with dramatic music.
* Averted in ''Franchise/DeadSpace''. When telecommunicating with you, most characters also have a video feed even though most of them are usually on the run. In an early scene, you can see one of the characters through a glass while he's tele-speaking, and he's holding his hand at the exact point a camera would need to be to transmit the view you see of his face. This is because the images are actually generated in real time from a camera positioned where it should logically be -- this isn't uncommon in video games; even characters who aren't physically present are usually transmitting "live" from an unreachable room floating off the map somewhere.

* Flip-flopped the Shadow Broker Archives in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. You sometimes watch legitimate security cam footage, like when Thane stealthily assassinates two guards. But then played straight with a video for Jack's escape from Purgatory, as it starts from behind a prison guard, then following her running, and then panning above her as she uses her biotics to flip herself over the same guard and then blast him once she lands. The footage was archive, which could mean it was edited together from several sources. Seeing as how the ''Mass Effect'' universe could have cameras embedded in just about anything, and VI programs that were able to automatically pull off ManipulativeEditing in near real-time (example: [[spoiler:If you did not save the Salarian Councilor in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Udina spontaneously had a clip available that made it look like Shepard shot the Councilor, despite the footage depicting an event only a couple minutes in the past]]), it is not unlikely that such a cinematic archive could be constructed.

* ''Film/DrLamb'' has the titular VillainProtagonist -- a pedophile/[[ILoveTheDead necrophile]] filming himself doing... things to the corpse of a 17-year-old teenager he recently strangled and smuggled into his apartment. The police recover his homemade snuff film later on, and the footage shown is the exact same as the one seen by audiences.

[[folder:{{Anime}}]]
* The first part of ''Anime/{{Megazone 23}}'' reuses action scenes as cam footage several times.
* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', episode 3 - "Sakura's Heart-throbbing First Date". In Kero-chan Check, Kero-chan wonders how Tomoyo was able to get all that footage of Sakura hunting down and capturing the Watery card.
* In episode 9 of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' the newer characters are given a brief rundown of Nanoha's past, which includes [[ClipShow footage from the previous two series]]. While theoretically most of it could be {{handwave}}d as part of the general Midchildan {{Magitek}}, at least some of it came from the very first episode, before Nanoha ever even obtained her magical powers. All three seasons are rife with Magical Security Cams, but this example is probably the most blatant.
** However, some segments of 'brief rundown' include what appears to be more Magical Security Cam footage given some of the angles, zoom levels, quality, and so forth - except these were never part of the original series and were in fact created specifically for this sequence. In fact, it seems the security cam was ''so'' magical, it saw what looks like a good bit of a series denied the viewers!
* ''Manga/DGrayMan'': When Timcanpy replayed Allen sending him away after [[spoiler: Tyki Mikk destroyed his innocence and almost killed him]]. He did so from the viewer's angle, including himself in the picture.
* ''Anime/SonicX'' went even further and used a fitting scene that wasn't even shown in the episode when it happened. In fact, said scene occurs ''afterwards''.
* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'':
** Used in ''Anime/Macross7'': whenever there's footage of the currently-occurring battle in the ''Battle 7''[='=]s bridge screens, you better bet it's the same StockFootage we see all the time; dramatic angles, cuts and everything. Also [[HandWave handwaved]], as it's shown that the ship launches a swarm of camera drones called Conserax into the action to capture it up close.
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' - A new recording of Ranka's public performance in an earlier episode surfaces, and it's exactly the same as the footage from that earlier episode. Alto remarks (surprised) that they sure "filmed that well".
* An episode of ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]'' had a group reviewing the Evas' success- including footage shot from the ''inside'' of an angel's mouth and the ''inside of a '''volcano'''''. It was the clipshow episode with Gendo giving a report to SEELE.
* In ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja'', StalkerWithACrush L.A.'s job is to stealthily monitor and film Ellis with a camcorder. Twice we see Rosenberg viewing the results of his filming. The one time the camera is fixed in place, appropriately angled, and unedited, averting this trope. The OTHER time is [[{{Narm}} obviously reused clips]] from another episode, even though it would mean L.A. had multiple cameras set up, some ''right in front of Nadie and Ellis's faces'', and then cut them all together.
* Happens in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' - Section 9 is reviewing footage of Kuze's attack on the Prime Minister. Assumedly the camera recording it was slightly behind and to the left of the Prime Minister's head. This is made all the more infuriating by the fact that the Prime Minister was using interceptors (microcameras that record video through the eyes of the person in whom they're installed) for security reasons, and realistically the team would have been watching the footage collected through her eyes. Also, the attack took place inside a Buddhist temple, which do not usually have security cameras in them at all.
* In ''Anime/ElementHunters'', there is apparently technology to visually see the memories of the characters. This is used during their superiors' briefings and reviews of episodes, giving at least three perspectives of events usually.

* The televised version of the Naturals Election in ''Anime/KillLaKill''.
* Episode 25 of ''Manga/MirumoDePon'' begins with a montage of various times Kaede used her [[AmplifierArtifact magical microphone]] to help Mirumo defeat the [[GoldfishPoopGang Warumo Gang]]. It's then revealed that this footage was a video tape being watched by the Warumo Gang themselves, who then come up with a plan to stop Mirumo and Kaede. When the gang's leader asks if anybody has a question about the plan, [[BumblingSidekick Hanzo]] asks ''[[LampshadeHanging "Who recorded the video we've just watched?"]]'', which gets everyone confused, as none of them knows.

[[folder:FanFic]]
* Justified in ''FanFic/PowerRangersTakeFlight'' (an adaptation of ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman''); the Rangers have small flying camera drones dubbed "Hoverbirds" at their disposal, that automatically seek out trouble and display it in their [[TransformationTrinket [=AviMorphers=]]] and in their helmet visors. Unfortunately, the villains have access to the Hoverbird feeds, too, and exploit it several times [[spoiler:including turning the Rangers' apartment building into a monster, forcing the Rangers to destroy it with their Megazord]]. They eventually have the Hoverbird frequencies changed, however, rendering it a non-issue.
* Averted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/717477 Second Chances]]'' both in regards to Howard and Maria Stark's resurrection and Howard learning about [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse previous events in his son's life]]. When Tony and Friday finally find footage of the Starks' reappearance, it's a CCTV camera spotting them a couple blocks from where they appeared. And when Friday shows Howard the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', he's generally stuck watching footage from security cameras which only sometimes have sound and often have poor angles.

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' has two seamless cuts to camera footage, implying that the camera shot and "real" one are identical. One goes from the collapsing pyramid to a news program. In the other, we follow the shrink-ray-stuff covering the moon, then cut to TheBigBoard watched by the minions.

* Mr. Freeze apparently had hidden cameras set up all over the place so he could watch footage of him giving his wife a snowflake necklace in the above mentioned ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. In another instance, Batman shows Mr. Freeze a recording of Poison Ivy stating that she (not Batman as she'd previously told Freeze) unplugged his wife's cryotube. It's a replay of the clip from the movie, with no sign that Batman's vantage point at that moment was up near the ceiling. The same recap also mentioned how the security camera at Fries's lab apparently follows the good doctor and zooms in at all the right moments, such as when he plunges into that milky liquid that turns him from Fries into Freeze.

* In ''Film/BatmanForever'':
** Bruce has archive footage of Chase doing a slo-mo HairFlip.
** Maroni's murder trial must have been an even bigger media circus than O.J. Simpson's: The cameras perfectly capture the acid attack, Batman's intervention, and even a close-up of Dent getting splattered in 800 ISO. (A similar narrative device would be used for Mr. Freeze's origin story in the following movie.)
* In ''Film/{{Captivity}},'' the main characters watch a sepia-toned video tape of the killer being molested by, and then killing his mother. Later, a similar video shows that the killer's brother was present.
* Averted in ''Film/TheConversation'' - being a movie all about surveillance, all the security camera shots are accurate. In fact, it inverts it in that the normal camera sometimes behaves more like a security camera, though it's possible that [[MindScrew the main character is under surveillance and we're seeing the footage]]. Similarly the 2013 movie ''Closed Circuit'' also features this, with the title referring to London's system of cameras.
* Averted [[RuleOfFunny for laughs]] in ''Film/TheDistinguishedGentleman'', where an EngineeredPublicConfession was captured with a camera lying sideways. [[spoiler:The payoff: everyone has to lean their head a bit to see the confession when it's played out, until someone actually gets the idea to turn the TV sideways.]]
* In ''Film/{{Driven}}'', at one point in the final race, Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone) cuts a corner of the track to get ahead of the lead car by jumping it off of the rumble strip over the grass. At the team's pit, they watch a replay of the event - the exact same footage, CGI, free-floating tracking camera and all.
* ''Film/EnemyOfTheState''. Deliberately played with. A lingerie store has a security camera, allowing the NSA group to rotate the footage in real time using "speculation" based on shadows and whatnot. They specifically point out that it's not reliable, and the BigBad orders his men to get the bag and see if the MacGuffin is in it (it is).

* Film/JamesBond:
** ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain''. The attack on the terrorist hideout at the beginning of the movie is revealed to be a training exercise when we see a videotape of the events which shows what the viewers saw a few moments earlier.
** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Viewers on the ground see one of the space capsule capture scenes from ''outside'' the spaceships - from the same angle as the audience see it. And earlier on, Tanaka's cameras record Bond pursuing Aki, and his helicopter towing away a carload of bad guys, with similar vantage points.
* The crooks in Creator/JackieChan's ''Film/MrNiceGuy'' are chasing a reporter after she catches their drug deal on tape. A pity her cameraman didn't survive, since he was good enough to catch the action from multiple angles without moving, ''and'' managed to edit the footage on the fly.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' Kirk scans through Enterprise's security footage from the events of ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]'', which basically means he watches the end of the film on a grainy screen.
* ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' begins with a group of Klingons replaying the destruction of the Enterprise from the previous movie -- using footage from the previous movie, of course.
* ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. As Kirk, Spock, [=McCoy=] and Sybok walk away from the shuttle on the 'god' planet, the bridge crew watch their departure on the viewscreen, from a camera angle several feet away from the shuttle.
* Justifiable in ''Film/NightWatch'' as the clips in question are from the Night Watch's (actually) magical Analytical Department.
* In ''Film/TheRunningMan'', both the faked footage that implicates Ben Richards as 'the Butcher of Bakersfield' and the footage that clears him is essentially the opening scene, edited in the first version and undoctored in the second. The edited version is kind of justifiable in that it's crude fascist propaganda, the second version isn't.
* An odd example is provided in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. At one point during his encounter with The Architect, Neo is shown images of humans all over the world, and later images of his own life — many of which are scenes taken directly from the previous movie. However, it's justified in that the entire universe in which this takes place is a computer simulation, so — assuming the Architect keeps records, which seems likely given his characterization — he could re-render the scenes on his monitors from whatever angle he damn well pleased.
* ''Film/{{Futureworld}}'' has a scene towards the beginning, where park officials meet the press with a damage control type presentation. They explain, while showing 'archived' footage that just happens to be from the previous movie ''Film/{{Westworld}}'', how the park is now safe.
* Averted in ''Film/{{P2}}''. Since the heroine is locked in an underground parking lot at night, the footage on the security cameras are from a single angle and are badly lit.
* Averted in ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. Security cam footage, even footage of things we've already seen, look like they were actually shot on a security camera. They still use the same vertigo-inducing {{Dutch Angle}}s the rest of the movie employs, however.
* ''Film/DarkStar'': during the asteroid storm, the ship's computer displays an image of the bomb clearly taken from outside the ship, and from the perspective of the audience.
* ''Film/DrLamb'' have the titular VillainProtagonist - a pedophile-[[ILoveTheDead necrophile]] filming himself doing... things to the corpse of a 17-year-old teenager he recently strangled and smuggled into his apartment. The police recovers his homemade snuff film later on, and the footage shown is the exact same as the one seen by audiences.

* [[LemonyNarrator The Criminologist]] from ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' has black and white photographs of earlier scenes in the movie. Some could be explained as pictures the wedding photographer took but it's unlikely he followed our heroes all the way through the song, ''Dammit Janet''. In the [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShowLetsDoTheTimeWarpAgain remake]] he has photographs of Brad and Janet during the ''Time Warp'' in Frank's castle.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. The episode "Emerald Archer" is ostensibly a documentary on vigilantes, so gets around this trope by only using StockFootage taken from angles that would imply they were shot by CCTV or roving news cameras.

* In [[Series/Batman1966 The 60s Batman series]], in addition to Bruce and Kitka's date, there was an episode where ComicBook/TheRiddler was making a silent movie. The camera was in his bakery truck or just past certain doors, but the footage was just monochromatic reclips of what the viewers had seen, requiring the "camera" to be out of the truck/on the far side of the room from where it was.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' have both avoided this with "security camera" footage. "The Prom" and "Reunion" had footage from previous scenes, shot in black and white and from a higher angle.
* {{Av|ertedTrope}}oided in an episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' - [[DragQueen men in drag]] stage a daring casino robbery, which we see in the usual style: [[MundaneMadeAwesome flashy edits, strange zooms, slo-mo, everything]]. When the police view the security camera footage, however, it is obviously shot from a stationary video camera on the ceiling, not on multiple film cameras. In other words, it looks real. ''CSI'' abuses the hell out of EnhanceButton, but not this trope.

* Averted and {{defied|Trope}} on ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' as security cameras are an important theme of the show, any time we see the scene from the POV of a security camera, we see a plausible security camera shot. Played straight, however, in the rare PreviouslyOn segments. These are seen from the perspective of the Machine but most of the clips displayed are this trope.
%%* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'', "Lost Love".
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode, "The Menagerie", Spock displays records of his initial mission on the Enterprise, actually footage from the show's original pilot. Shortly into the presentation, Capt. Kirk comments that recording devices couldn't possibly have captured everything they're seeing, and it indeed turns out that the footage is actually being telepathically projected by aliens.
* In the middle of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint", Commander Riker is shown a recap of the story so far, and Enterprise's internal cameras appear to be the same ones the film crew used.

* German TV Show ''Das Geständnis'' (''The Confession'') was a typical Daytime TalkShow which showed footage of the "guests" (albeit created for the show and not shown before) taken by a Magical Security Cam, all the while pretending that this was real. Bad enough to be mocked by German comedian OliverKalkofe, who called this "God's Security Cam"

* Averted in the TV miniseries version of ''Series/TheAndromedaStrain''. A small-town sheriff, infected with the virus, goes crazy and shoots and kills nearly everyone in a local diner. When the army watches the footage later, it's the exact same events, but seen from the security camera's position. However, this doesn't answer the question as to why a small-town diner in the middle of nowhere has such a need for security...
* Happens all the time in reality shows, and even some pseudo-reality shows. "So I'm assuming, if you're in the interview booth, you survived your ordeal with the scorpions?"
** Played with relentlessly on ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'': sometimes no, they didn't survive. Sometimes their appearance changes in the cuts between. Sometimes they don't get interviewed After the incident, they get interviewed During...with the requisite changes to their "I had no idea" speeches.
** Nearly any RealityShow, especially of the RealityTVShowMansion variety, will feature [[ManipulativeEditing impossible shots]], such as one person dropping a bombshell followed by a closeup ReactionShot from a camera that couldn't possibly have been there during the "immediately previous" wide-shot.
* ''{{Series/Lost}}'''s season 3 episode "I Do" showed Jack watching Kate and Sawyer in a post-coital glow in a bear cage, reusing the same footage from minutes prior. Which means that apparently that one security camera has: A) instantly-developing film stock instead of grainy video, and B) a side-moving dolly to add drama whenever it feels like.
* Turned into a RunningGag in ''Series/{{Titus}}''. Used often as a flashback or a fantasy segment by making it a POV shot or a character or object. It usually comes with a label like, "Psycho Bitch Cam" and Titus getting punched repeatedly by his (ex)girlfriend from her perspective. When using purported actual security footage, it would usually be stationary or at least semi-realistic with no cuts or dramatic shots, like the "Marijuana Task Force Cam" (the S.W.A.T team breaks into Titus's bathroom after Dave grows weed in there).
* Daytime SoapOpera cameras must have this, as one arc in ''Passions'' had Theresa viewing a fake video shot in such a manner ''and still being convinced''. It's almost as though you can taste the stupid.
* ''Almost'' averted in the third story arc of ''Series/SapphireAndSteel'', where the capsules' surveillance cameras produce fixed-angle images with no zooms or other dramatic trickery -- except in one sequence, which cuts between Sapphire in Capsule 3 and Sapphire's image on a monitor screen; the monitor screen image is clearly the same footage with a video effect on it, and includes a dramatic zoom.
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Heroes" an armoured car robbery is witnessed by a member of the public with a handheld 8mm camera. When we see [=CI5=] watching the footage, it includes shots taken in an amateurish fashion (people in the way, jerky film, etc) but also scenes from the robbery it would have been impossible for the cameraman to have filmed (such as the shooting of a security guard who is inside the armoured car) but which we saw in the previous action sequence.
* The same thing happened in ''Series/TheSweeney'', where one hand-held 8mm character gave two different views of the same armoured car robbery.
* ''Series/KnightRider'': Every time the baddies of the episode get some footage of KITT, it's footage from the previous episodes. Since the series relied heavily on StockFootage, there is a chance that the Magical Security Cam footage would later appear ''as part of the episode itself''. KITT's own security cams are apparently also magical; the footage he records often shows events from multiple angles, all different from the one at which he was actually physically located.
* ''Series/{{Jake 20}}'' has an especially glaring example, as footage from a ''spy satellite'' shows video obviously shot from near ground level.
* ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' has it subverted in the Pilot episode(s). When Darien breaks into Arnaud's stronghold, Arnaud is watching him from a bank of security monitors, the viewers perspective sometimes changing to just one fixed camera as Darien passes through that hallway. Only special effects are applied to show the "thermal vision" setting of the cameras, so Darien can still be seen while invisible.
* Averted by the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Frogger". Elaine sneaks into Mr. Peterman's office and eats a cake hidden in the refrigerator. The following scene has Elaine eating the cake and dancing around in slow motion. At the end of the episode, Mr. Peterman shows her the scene as shot from a security camera. It shows Elaine dancing around in normal speed while eating the cake.
* ''Inverted'' on occasion by ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''. Sometimes, when a security camera is present in a scene, the camera angle will default to the security camera. A good example can be seen in "Spring Break-Out".
* A stills-camera variation in the ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' episode "Model Students" where Screech takes pictures of the girls in their swimsuits against their will. When we see the pictures, the girls happen to be perfectly posed with brilliant wide smiles. And they are also completely dry despite the pictures being taken at swim practice. So convenient of the girls to pose themselves like that for just enough time before getting into the pool and smile for any hidden cameras that might be photographing them.

* Justified in ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'''s first episode. The Alphans watch footage of the Moon leaving Earth's orbit, but it's explained as being long range video from a Mars satellite.

[[folder:MusicVideo]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Some courses in {{Racing Game}}s, such as ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' and ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}}'' have jumbotrons that deliver a live feed of you racing from your perspective. Even after the race was over, the screens would show the fly-over view of the track as you were viewing it. While the technology to deliver such in-car feeds, called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaceCam Race Cam]], [[OlderThanTheyThink predates the SNES]],[[note]]It was tested in Australia in 1979 and first used in America in 1983; meaning it could qualify as OlderThanTheNES,[[/note]] it's not likely that the game designers of the early '90s were racing buffs, so 4th and 5th gen cases could fall under AccidentallyCorrectWriting, as opposed to {{Justified|Trope}}.[[note]]3rd Gen and earlier would be straight-plays.[[/note]] Regardless, this still does not excuse using ''solely'' the {{Player Character}}'s camera view for the entire race; apparently ProtagonistCenteredMorality has infected the broadcast crew.
* Averted in ''Franchise/DeadSpace''. When telecommunicating with you, most characters also have a video feed even though most of them are usually on the run. In an early scene, you can see one of the characters through a glass while he's tele-speaking, and he's holding his hand at the exact point a camera would need to be to transmit the view you see of his face. This is because the images are actually generated in realtime from a camera positioned where it should logically be - this isn't uncommon in video games; even characters who aren't physically present are usually transmitting "live" from an unreachable room floating off the map somewhere.

* ''VideoGame/UnrealChampionship2TheLiandriConflict'' averts the trope by having footage of the competitors shot by cunningly-hidden cameras in the floor or floating bots. At least it does [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFsngYtTh4s in the FMVs]].

* Averted in kind of a behind-the-scenes way in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' in that characters appearing on television and computer screens are always actually being rendered live in a room hidden somewhere off to the side on the map that contains them and the background of the room they were in. You visit some of these locations later and see that there actually was computer equipment where they were looking and talking to you.
** However, the security monitors you are able to interact with, like the Combine panels in Nova Prospekt or the black-and-white resistance panels, do not show visible cameras when you visit the locations they show.
%%* At least half the shots in [[VideoGame/OperatorsSide Lifeline]].
* Happens in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' when Colonel Nabaat shows Sazh the security camera footage [[spoiler:of how his son became a l'Cie]] at the Euride Gorge power plant. It's given scan lines, but is as full of dynamic camerawork as the game's other cutscenes. Also happens in a televised news report about the pursuit of the Pulse l'Cie, which reuses footage from an earlier cutscene.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/{{Ripper}}'' (the FMV title), where the surveillance bugs allow a video feed from the room in which they've been placed. Any angle in the room is valid, with dramatic editing as well, even though the bug was placed on the wrapper of a cigar in a cigar box and facing up, so the only thing that ''should'' be visible is the ceiling.
--> '''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]]''': It's cool the bug I put in his cigar box provides multiple camera angles.
* This occurs rather frequently in the cutscenes of [[VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest the 11th Hour]]. Samantha Ford is able to see certain areas of the Stauf Mansion on her computer monitors, and relay them to the handheld Gamebook that Carl Denning is carrying. There's even one instance where the camera moving through the house on one of her screens is shown as ''[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall gameplay of The 7th Guest.]]'' This is {{handwave}}d in the manual in saying that Samantha is capable of "psychic hacking", which is also how she's able to give you hints during puzzles.
* In ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'', your ghost-hunting partner Roxy had rigged up a network of CCTV cameras around her HauntedHouse, and they start recording whenever a haunting happens in a particular room, broadcasting in blue monochrome to a handheld device you're carrying. The cameras always zoom and lock onto the phenomenon in question, complete with dramatic music.
* Flip-flopped the Shadow Broker Archives in ''Videogame/MassEffect2''. You sometimes watch legitimate security cam footage, like when Thane stealthily assassinates two guards. But then played straight with a video for Jack's escape from Purgatory, as it starts from behind a prison guard, then following her running, and then panning above her as she uses her biotics to flip herself over the same guard and then blast him once she lands. The footage was archive, which could mean it was edited together from several sources. Seeing as how the ''Mass Effect'' universe could have cameras embedded in just about anything, and VI programs that were able to automatically pull off ManipulativeEditing in near real-time (example: [[spoiler:If you did not save the Salarian Councilor in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Udina spontaneously had a clip available that made it look like Shepard shot the Councilor, despite the footage depicting an event only a couple minutes in the past]]), it is not unlikely that such a cinematic archive could be constructed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}}'' has a plot device that plays with this in a bad way- every level is littered with planted security cameras so that Starkweather can film Cash's murder spree and keep an eye on him, so we can assume cameras are EVERYWHERE covering every bit of open ground. Even so, any performed execution is always shot from a perfect up close angle with excellent lighting, which would still be impossible to film with even that many cameras. Subverted however in a few scenes where it seems they are genuine camera shots used during cutscenes.
* This trope is endemic to the output of Creator/DigitalPictures.
** ''VideoGame/NightTrap'': The normally stationary security cameras suddenly zoom in or out and sometimes even move to cover new angles whenever something is happening in a room. At times the video could be coming from a camera physically located at the same place as where the normally static image originates, but many times the change in video feed would require physically moving the camera. ''VideoGame/DoubleSwitch'', being largely the same type of game in a different location, has the same problems.
** The same occurs in ''VideoGame/GroundZeroTexas'' by the same company. While the cameras are attached to freely rotating stun cannons, there's no way they should be able to achieve the panning shots and sudden cuts to other parts of the scenery.
** Humorously, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFDPToA4rto Scene of the Crime]]'', their prototype game which preceded ''Night Trap'', is an aversion. The installed cameras never move from their fixed locations, and keeping a close eye out for how things change in any given scene is key to correctly pointing out the culprit at the end.

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]
* Averted in [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Dragon_City Dragon City]] when Emily pulls out surveillance tape of Rachel getting shot. Not only was there a good reason to have a security camera there (a mayoral press conference), but the comic uses new art (due to the fact that the art was upgraded multiple times between the original event and the watching of the video) and portrays it from the correct angle of a camera.
* Parodied in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', where Moustachio's memory drum of [[GreatOffscreenWar the Old War]] turns out to resemble [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/2015-05-12/ a newsreel summarising the entire war]]. This gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]:
-->'''Chris''': Well, that was a weirdly well-edited and narrated memory.
-->'''Unity''': Yeah, you should see the ones he had colorized.
-->'''Moustachio's narration''': Special thanks to R.K.O. for sound...
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', during an April Fools gag Dan [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2003-04-02 views]] the previous day's strip on a screen and Minion informs him that the "cameras" pointed at the wrong dimension that day.
** At the end of a Q&A session a monitor [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2010-02-26 can be seen]] that has images pulled from that session and references are made to high definition cameras with up to 2000x zoom ostensibly for "security purposes" that Dr. Germahn has all around his labs and facility.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* It's OlderThanTelevision: ''The Cameraman's Revenge'', made in 1911 by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladislas_Starevich Ladislaw Starevitch]], is by some standards the oldest StopMotion film with an actual plot. In it, a [[FunnyAnimal bike-riding grasshopper]] who is the titular vengeful cameraman [[CaughtOnTape captures some insect infidelity on film]] (making him a LiteralSurveillanceBug, albeit only for himself). When it's later shown at a theater, the incriminating footage is identical to what we already saw, ''even including the cameraman himself''. Oops. Hey, they were new to this stuff…
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Heart Of Ice", Batman finds a video recording that depicts the [[SuperHeroOrigin origin]] of Mr. Freeze. Although supposedly recorded with a single unmanned camera, the angle changes multiple times. (On the DVD commentary, the producers admit it makes no sense but that it [[RuleOfDrama sure made the scene more dramatic]].) What makes it especially strange is that, when the security footage cuts to a different camera angle, the transition is accompanied by a split-second of static, which is of course what you see on a security monitor when switching between feeds from different cameras. So the effect is to make it ''slightly'' more plausible (as if Fries's laboratory had four or five security cameras, and the tape Batman is watching was edited together from all their footage), but really, it just draws your attention to how little sense it makes.
* Occasionally occurred in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', ex. "The Call" though this could be hand-waved as future technology. Particularly in "The Call" when the cameras on the Batmobile can provide 360 degree views from its recordings.
* A rather odd example in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', where a news broadcast is cut short when the camera is shot. The odd thing about it was the fact that the camera that was blasted could be seen on screen being destroyed just before the signal died.
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourTheAnimatedSeries'': In the episode "Nightmare in Green," the news footage of the fight between ComicBook/TheThing and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]] is just reused animation from earlier in the episode. That news station must have some ''amazing'' cameramen and editors to create such a cinematic looking clip.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Quite possibly literally, given the nature of the show: During her song, Princess Celestia shows Twilight [[ContinuityCavalcade scenes from her time in Ponyville]], which she claims she has been using to watch her progress.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did this, showing "recorded" footage of a just-seen-ten-minutes-ago FlashBack -- which was purported to take place during the first season -- in the episode "Double Jeopardy". The angle changes at a blatantly rapid pace, requiring numerous, levitating, invisible cameras and an aspiring MrExposition to splice them all together to give context to TheReveal.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''
** "Queen Bebe" ups this slightly, by having the camera filming at a ''really'' high frame rate. The Bebes, who were moving at superspeed, were visible when the footage was played back at a normal rate.
** In another episode, "Sick Day", Wade plays back the previous scene to show the transfer path of her brother's cold germs to Kim's mouth (at the Possibles' breakfast table, implying that [[CovertPervert Wade has cameras in Kim's home]]). She replies, "I don't even want to know how you got that."
** In "Clean Slate", after Kim gets LaserGuidedAmnesia her Dad tries to refresh her memory by showing her {{Blipvert}} ClipShow. Fans at various forums were quick to point out how there weren't cameras monitoring a number of the events shown, and gave us all one more reason to be suspicious of [[BoyfriendBlockingDad Papa Possible]].
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', when Mojo Jojo is showing footage of people being transformed into dogs in different countries to the girls (taken from a previous episode of the series):
-->'''Blossom:''' How'd you get this footage? What, you have cameras all over the world?
-->'''Mojo:''' Yes! Now shut up!

** Averted in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted". Director Brad Bird took great care to stage the action of the Kwik-E-Mart robbery so that everything could be captured from the angle that a security camera would plausibly be.
** In the season 5 episode "Deep Space Homer", though, there's a perfect example of this trope. The hatch on a space shuttle is blown, in order to remove debris from inside, and Homer is accidentally sucked out as well. Cut to NASA ground control, who have an image of Homer dangling from the outside of the shuttle--taken from ''outside the shuttle''. How did they get a camera up there?
** The MST3KMantra should be invoked whenever scenes in {{Clip Show}}s are presented as footage someone has available. One Website/{{IMDB}} review for "Gump Roast" notes, "...All this can be seen on a big screen so apparently Homer is being filmed by someone all the time. And not just one person, from the quality of the footage I'd say a whole camera team and a sound guy."
%%* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Guess Who's Coming to Statesdinner?"
* The two-part ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Sanctuary" has Comicbook/{{Magneto}} give a video presentation to the U.N. about the plight of Mutants across the globe. The video largely consists of footage from past episodes, including scenes without Magneto that he couldn't possibly have recorded.
* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' had magical news cameras in full effect. This is particularly noticeable in several instances when news footage was rewound.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Slade is pretty good with cameras. Can occasionally be {{handwave}}d as "Oh, he recorded it with a Sladebot." ''Occasionally''...
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' establishes a [[JustifiedTrope justification]] for this in the first episode when the BigBad first appears onscreen.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' episode “The Accidental Pup Star”, when a girl videotapes Rebound singing, she manages to capture footage from inside a fountain Rebound fell into despite being a good 10 or 20 feet from it while standing still. Said footage also includes an OrbitalShot when Rebound hits the final note.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries'' episode "S.C.A.L.E." the titular Animal Wrongs takes over a secret island reservation for {{Kaiju}} by the protagonists as past of a documentary being conducted by the IntrepidReporter. Most of the action is filmed by security cameras on the island (complete with differing screen labels for changes in angles). They make an effort to have most of the shots look like actual camera footage, though some of the angles are a little too difficult for a security camera to manage.
* The episode "SHADOWMAN 9: In the Cradle of Destiny" of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' consists mostly of Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch being shown flashbacks of their careers by the [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Council of 13]] via SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands. The Magical Security Cam nature of the footage is lampshaded:
-->'''The Monarch:''' Did that video have a [[{{Wipe}} wipe?]]\\

** In "Clean Slate", after Kim gets LaserGuidedAmnesia her Dad tries to refresh her memory by showing her {{Blipvert}} ClipShow. Fans at various forums were quick to point out how there weren't cameras monitoring a number of the events shown, and gave us all one more reason to be suspicious of [[OverprotectiveDad Papa Possible]].

'''Councilman 1:''' Councilman 3 got [[NonLinearEdit Adobe Premiere]].\\

Sometimes this is {{Hand Wave}}d by overlaying visual effects on the recording -- [[DeliberatelyMonochrome conversion to black-and-white]], simulated scanning lines, a date/time stamp or watermark, [[TechnoBabble meaningless computerese]], advanced technology where cameras can be anywhere, and so on; this still doesn't change the fact that the movie isn't attempting to recreate the scene as it would actually appear to the in-universe device.

* As a meteor shower destroys the space shuttle in the beginning of ''{{Film/Armageddon}}'', NASA has a live feed of the mayhem at mission control, complete with flashy editing cuts.

* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour'': In the episode "Nightmare in Green," the news footage of the fight between ComicBook/TheThing and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]] is just reused animation from earlier in the episode. That news station must have some ''amazing'' cameramen and editors to create such a cinematic looking clip.

* The two-part ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' episode "Sanctuary" has Comicbook/{{Magneto}} give a video presentation to the U.N. about the plight of Mutants across the globe. The video largely consists of footage from past episodes, including scenes without Magneto that he couldn't possibly have recorded.

* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour'': In the episode "Nightmare in Green," the news footage of the fight between ComicBook/TheThing and Comicbook/IncredibleHulk is just reused animation from earlier in the episode. That news station must have some ''amazing'' cameramen and editors to create such a cinematic looking clip.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', when Mojo Jojo is showing footage of people being transformed into dogs in different countries to the girls (taken from a previous episode of the series):

* ''WesternAnimation/IronMan'':