Sunbelt Blog

Make an Impact with “A Day in the Life” Videos

Whether you're dealing with a wrongful death lawsuit or needing to prove how your client's life has been changed as a result of an accident, negligence, or product liability, "day in the life" videos can make a dramatic impact both inside and out of the courtroom. In fact, an effective video may even convince the other side to settle out of court.

Before you begin shooting video, consider the story that you are trying to tell and how video can help you to tell it. What purpose will the video serve? For example, are you wanting to illustrate the family's loss? Are you trying to humanize the victim? Do you want to contrast life before the event and after? Your approach to the video will largely depend on what story you are telling.

Video Sources

Family videos are an excellent place to begin. Ask the family to provide you with videotapes, DVDs, and photos and then team up with a video production company to create a montage that shows your client interacting with others (or performing tasks that are now impossible) before the personal injury occurred.

Corporate videos may also be available. For example, a video showing your client working in a professional environment, delivering speeches, or otherwise engaging in his or her professional can make an impact, especially if your client will no longer be able to perform in a similar capacity due to the injuries sustained.

If your client was involved in organized sports, check with the team for team video footage. Practice films, televised games, and even personal videos from other players or spectators may be available.

Before and After Videos

The older footage from family members, your client's company, sports teams, and other sources can be edited together to show a day in the life of your client before the incident occurred. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to show your client waking up, getting ready for work, going to work, coming back home, and then eating dinner with the family. Rather, you'll want to create a montage showing your client enjoying his family, playing sports, working with others, and so on.

Keep your client's current injuries in mind as you edit the before footage. For example, if your client can no longer eat without a feeding tube, include footage of your client enjoying a meal with his family. Later, footage of family members adjusting the feeding tube will have a more profound impact because of the earlier videos.

If your client is still alive, contrast the before footage with an "a day in the life" video of your client now. Again, you'll need to team up with a video production company. Have a crew spend a few days with your client, videotaping the new reality of your client's life. Capture the challenges of routine tasks such as bathing, getting dressed, and eating as well as the pains and struggles of your client's family members. If your client's spouse has had to quit work in order to care for him full time, that's a part of the story that should be told. If your client's children are afraid of a prosthetic limb, show their distance.

Your client has a story to tell and the jury needs to hear it. In fact, the other side may settle because they do not want the jury to see what life is really like for your client. By creating an "A day in the life" video, the video may very well make your case.