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This research paper investigates a collective experiment involving new collaborative video annotation software developed by the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The software, called Lignes de Temps, generates a timeline from the video that organizes the frames and sequences like a score. Each participant can analyze, comment, and annotate the video across the timeline. The paper scrutinizes the experiment from four complementary angles: the software program’s features, the philosophical discourse underlying software development, the visual semiotics of the screen, and initial annotating practices. It shows how the accompanying discourse can be connected to the political project of the Enlightenment (18th century). It compares the political and cognitive promise of the project with the actual collective uses observed during the experiment, and investigates whether or not the tool facilitates collaborative criticism, and if yes, to what extent.