Multimedia has been used in all aspects of the business world; in the courtroom it's no different. Recently, two weeks outside of trial, I was asked if I could put a video on a CD. The attorney wanted to be able to pinpoint specific areas without the need to rewind or fast forward to arrive at a pre-designated location on the videotape. Well, let me tell you, this was not an easy feat. After talking to a few people within the industry, I was lead to a company located in Austin that does this very thing. This is a fairly new concept, but I could certainly see the potential in a courtroom setting. Presenting videotaped depositions, reenactment, photographs, exhibits, almost anything could be accommodated. A single CD will hold up to 2000 photographs or 2 hours of videotape, meaning your whole courtroom presentation could be slipped into your coat pocket.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The concept is so simple that it's almost unbelievable. Take a videotaped deposition, for example, and using the deposition transcript, designate line and page number of those sections you want to highlight. Next, with that same information, create a menu. The company you choose to do this work for you will take a copy of the videotape and your menu list, place the 'hits' you have picked to set up the menu and transfer all that onto a CD. The results are tremendous. When you first pull up the CD videotape on your CD player, (which has been properly connected to a VCR and/or television), you will be presented with a menu. Of course, you have the option of starting out with a title page showing the subject matter and/or other important information you deem fit. The menu can be designed in many different ways. For example, a list using numerical or alphabetical sequencing, photo shots with or without text, or even an organizational chart can work. Almost any idea you can come with is possible. If you decide to use an alphabetical sequence, you will need to coordinate it with the numerical choices on the remote control (if you decide to use a remote). The remote control is used basically the same as the one found on your VCR or television. The menu I used was set up with two initial menus each containing nine text boxes showing what areas of the video could be accessed. These boxes were numbered and with a click of the remote, we were able to skip to that section of the videotape and view that section of the videotape, all without having to hit an additional button. If you were to start the CD videotape from the beginning, it would play from one sequence section to the next, just like any music CD that's listened to on a regular CD player. Oh, by the way, this CD player looks just like the one you would use to play your Kenny G CDs, but with some modifications. It is an expensive piece of equipment to rent, but quite often you will find that the amount of rental may be applicable to purchase. This set up is perfect for those areas lacking in space because it is compact and uses simple connections.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
When it comes down to it, whether you use an overhead screen or a television set, the quality and the smoothness of the transitions from text boxes to video is extremely important. There are many projectors out there that are available and purchasing these can be very expensive. You will find that most large hotels have them available and will let you use them for any presentation that you may be making in their conference rooms. Of course, this won't help you in the courtroom. However, you can hook the CD Player up to a television set just as easily. The television set does have to be a fairly new model with connections available for video and audio. If you don't have a new television set, utilizing a VCR will work just fine, but it does add to your equipment if space is a problem. The other option that can be used is a screen projector. This works very much like the old-fashioned overhead projectors except that is plugs directly into the unit, and having the capabilities of programming for videotape (using a VCR), slide or CD presentation results in a quite impressive overhead screen image. So you see, this equipment can be utilized in a large conference room, all the way down to a smallest courtroom in Smallville, USA, where resources are sometimes nonexistent, which by the way was where my last trial was held, and it worked great.
PRESENTATIONS
During the same time period I was preparing for this trial I was also preparing for a two-day seminar regarding employment law that included ten attorneys making slide presentations. We wanted a slick look that would get our point across in a fashion that would be both pleasing to the eye, and still convey our subject matter. The software I used for this job was Microsoft PowerPoint. This presents another bit of multimedia that can be combined with the screen projector working side by side with the CD player to give your audience a visual workout they won't soon forget.
The presentation I prepared included over two hundred and fifty slides with text and graphics in brilliant color. This was all put on a laptop using Windows95 with an option for a remote mouse to be used by the speaker for their convenience in moving from slide to slide at their command. Microsoft PowerPoint allowed me to set up each slide individually or set up a constant footer, header, or any portion of the slide to remain the same throughout by utilizing a master slide option. Graphics can be a nice touch for emphasizing your point.
In this day and age of the internet and 3D videos screaming at you from computers with mega speed, your audience is expecting to be razzled and dazzled. These presentations can be as outrageous or as conservative as you want; it's all in the design and layout of your presentation. Having a eye for design would surely be a plus.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Using the CD player and the slide presentation simultaneously during my last trial is a good example of how all this works together. This was a very small courtroom with next to no resources. We had a CD videotape presentation on a CD player along with a PowerPoint slide presentation on a laptop, both connected to a screen projector. This all fit on a small cart. When one or the other unit was turned off, the remaining unit would be displayed on the screen. The ease of moving back and forth between the two mediums was no more time consuming than setting up a tripod for an exhibit board and it was much easier, less bulky and less distracting. It certainly peaked the jury's curiosity - we put the screen up before voir dire and they were all interested in what they were about to see.
The potential for the CD player and laptop presentations to be used in the courtroom is tremendous. Displaying an exhibit for all to view without having to stop to distribute copies to all involved would be such a convenience, not to mention the trees that would be saved since law firms are notorious for being paper intensive, and it's a lot easier to flip back and forth between documents. Just think, pulling up a menu, pinpointing that very important photo and displaying it for all to see in all its splendor. If you only have a few photos to view, then cost and justification of duplication isn't a problem; but when you have multiple pictures which may entail aerial or oversize photographs and oversize maps, these could be easily broken down to smaller shots giving you the capability of zooming in on the section that will bring home the bacon.
If you have concerns regarding costs, this method may not be the way to go. This concept is not widely used but can be very effective on those projects that are difficult to display. Large oversized items can be scanned and put on a disk and then manipulated to fit your needs.
So the next time you're involved in a large case and find the exhibits unmanageable for trial, you might want to explore the possibility of using a multimedia approach. You might find that your attorney is willing to listen especially if he or she has some computer savvy and may be willing to venture into this new area of presentation.
Shirley Corbin-Trujillo has worked as a legal assistant with the Austin firm of McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, L.L.P. for 9 years in the areas of litigation and employment law. She is a member of the Capital Area Paralegal Association and the Legal Assistant Division.