[Maria Smith] “Also, doesn’t always the timecode in the media start at 00:00:00:00?”
That’s incorrect. Timecode can be set to anything but usually in (semi)professional cameras it is set to run the actual time of day. So if you get a clip that has a timecode of 04:35:21:14 it has been recorded 4:35 in the morning plus 21 seconds and 14 frames.