Animated
Electronic Exhibits:
Admissibility
Issues
(continued)
What
makes a good Animation Exhibit?
- It should advance the "story" and
case theme counsel is presenting to the
jury.
- It is a team effort by the attorney, expert
witness and forensic animator; good
communication between all prevents costly
mistakes. Develop: a storyboard, estimated or
actual budget expense, approval and delivery
timeline.
- It should be to the point; if it is too
long, it can lose its impact.
- It should not include unnecessary details
or too many "Hollywood" effects which
may detract from the animation's content.
Irrelevant elements in a scene should be
removed. All critical elements must be shown
because omission of pertinent details can be
judged as distorting the facts, thereby,
rendering the animation inadmissible.
- It should show event sequences in real
time, and objects in actual scale / size. A
running clock should appear in the scenes.
- It should be based on facts, consistent
with the expert witness's analytical results,
presented in an unbiased manner, and not
introduce new evidence. Its main objective
should be to aid the jury in understanding or
evaluating the related substantive evidence.
- It should not appeal to the juror's
emotions; expressions on victim's faces, blood,
dead bodies should be excluded.
- It should avoid excessive shifts in camera
angle; this could cause an object to appear to
change speed or direction when it has not. Use
camera zooms and pans conservatively.
- It should use enough text labels to
identify images; this helps improve juror's
thought processes by eliminating confusion.
- It should be completed in advance of its
being used: your trial team needs to approve any
changes and the animator has to have time to
make the changes; experts and attorneys need
time to become comfortable using the animation
before trial.
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