The purpose of day in the life videos is to demonstrate to jurors the severity of a plaintiff’s injuries and how those injuries impact the plaintiff’s daily living activities. These activities include such things as rising, eating, bathing, and going to work or therapy. This demonstrates to jurors the plaintiff’s dependency, limitations and frustrations. Day in the life videos are intended to give jurors insight into the plaintiff’s life in a way that is nearly impossible to communicate with words alone. Choosing the right day in the life video legal service is crucial to getting a video that is both powerful and admissible.
Understanding What a Day in the Life Video is – and isn’t
While day in the life videos are similar to in-court demonstrations of injuries, you must provide appropriate foundation for the video’s admissibility. It must be shown that their probative value outweights any prejudice to the defendant and that there are no demonstrated improprieties in both the video content and production techniques. This means day in the life videos cannot contain artistic highlighting, music, obvious exaggerations, or self serving behavior, among other things.
That is why it is important to choose an experienced day in the life video legal service with a proven record of having their work admitted at trial. They will be able to help you ascertain whether something should be included in the video or admitted. The video should be an accurate portrayal of typical daily activities and have a foundation of accuracy and fairness. The video may depict scenes that are unpleasant, but they must have probative value and not simply be prejudicial. Day in the life videos must follow the Rules of Evidence, and thus must be filmed and edited in a precise way. An experienced day in the life video legal service will approach the taping as an unbiased third-party documentor, ensuring the resultant video is an accurate depiction of a typical day.
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
Concepts that can take several paragraphs to explain can often be more effectively communicated in a single picture. Studies have shown that jurors grasp and retain visual information more effectively than auditory information. A juror may have never used a wheelchair and doesn’t fully grasp the difficulties involved. Being able to see how that affects simple things like getting dressed or cooking a meal helps the juror grasp the full weight of the plaintiff’s injuries.
There are some things, however, that a day in the life video can’t show: such as how the injury occured or the plaintiff’s internal damage. With courtroom animations, you can demonstrate how the injury was sustained, and with medical illustrations you can bring clarity to medical images. For more information on Precise’s full suite of courtroom demonstrative services, call us today at 866-277-3247.
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