When playing a video deposition in court before a jury, attorneys are faced with the question of how to make redactions from the video testimony. There are several options for editing recorded deposition videos. Objections, colloquy, etc. can be dealt with in several ways.
Here are three deposition editing techniques Geomatrix uses to prepare your videos for use at trial:
Electronic Editing Done in Advance.
You provide our office with a complete transcript along with a list of page/line numbers for redaction and our video production technician removes the objections prior to the date of the playback. This allows for the least amount of interruptions in the proceedings and no “down time” during the playback. Estimate that it will take approximately 1.5 to 2 times the length of the deposition for the edit work to be completed. Please note that once the video editing is done in this manner, it is nearly impossible to make additional edits live during trial. Therefore, it is best for all redactions to be agreed upon by the parties in this situation.
Synchronize the Video Deposition to the Transcript Electronically.
We can create a DVD which marries the video with the transcript, making keywords and page/line numbers searchable. This allows us to make the edits more quickly, but also changes the way it is played back in court. The advantage of this method is that it allows for last-minute changes to be made in court, with minimal interruption to the proceedings.
Low Tech in Court Video Editing.
With this method, our technician can perform the edits from a marked transcript – during the court session, by muting the sound to the courtroom and fast-forwarding the video beyond the objectionable material. However, this creates considerable downtime and may be quite distracting if there are many objections to redact. In addition, the jury becomes very aware of the video editing process.
Deposition editing can be tedious and extremely time-consuming. Attorneys can confidently hand their deposition materials to the professionals at Geomatrix Productions to improve the workflow process. We specialize in producing high-quality deposition videos for all types of cases and trial presentations. Contact us to learn more about our deposition editing services.