Settlement video, which I call "Scare the Insurance Company video", will have a story that sticks with the viewer.
Notice I didn't say it should have one. It will have one. The audience will make up something to connect everything you show them.
Your and my job is to make sure it's the story you choose.
This is art, so the only rules are the givens of human perception and thinking. But one good starting place is "A good, worthy, likable person had a great life. Then the awful thing happened that wasn't their fault. Now they suffer."
This might be exactly the story you tell the jury, but settlement video lets you tell it in the most poignant way, unshackled from the rules of evidence.
Showing posts with label rules of evidence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rules of evidence. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Settlement video, no rules of evidence, no limits
Settlement video is part of a settlement brochure. It can be a day in the life or a heart-wrenching testimonial to a now-blighted life.
If your video is going to court, it's restricted by the rules of evidence and the wishes of whatever judge you drew to try your case.
Video for settlement has neither of those constraints.
Granted, your audience is going to be flinty defense counsel and gimlet-eyed adjusters who've seen everything. But even professionals, who assure themselves that this inflammatory stuff will never get admitted, are not entirely rational. And that's part of the edge that settlement video can give you.
Maybe my most powerful settlement video was my first one. The plaintiffs had a newborn who should have been healthy but obstetrical mistakes gave her a short, painful life. My clients had video and photographs of the likable parents getting ready for their first child. The nursery was ready, there was a "Welcome Home" sign outside. I had home video of the baby in the NICU, with life support tubes, being rocked by her mom, while mom sang "Jesus Loves You" and "Que Sera, Sera".
The video I made with this made me cry. It made almost the whole small law firm I made it for cry. For all I know, the defense cried too, because they settled right away when they got it with my client's increased demand.
The video would never be admitted in court, but it showed the devastating emotional power of the case in way that was impervious to rational resistance.
Settlement video can lay out the facts and theory of a case, the logos, and/or succeed with pathos.
If your video is going to court, it's restricted by the rules of evidence and the wishes of whatever judge you drew to try your case.
Video for settlement has neither of those constraints.
Granted, your audience is going to be flinty defense counsel and gimlet-eyed adjusters who've seen everything. But even professionals, who assure themselves that this inflammatory stuff will never get admitted, are not entirely rational. And that's part of the edge that settlement video can give you.
Maybe my most powerful settlement video was my first one. The plaintiffs had a newborn who should have been healthy but obstetrical mistakes gave her a short, painful life. My clients had video and photographs of the likable parents getting ready for their first child. The nursery was ready, there was a "Welcome Home" sign outside. I had home video of the baby in the NICU, with life support tubes, being rocked by her mom, while mom sang "Jesus Loves You" and "Que Sera, Sera".
The video I made with this made me cry. It made almost the whole small law firm I made it for cry. For all I know, the defense cried too, because they settled right away when they got it with my client's increased demand.
The video would never be admitted in court, but it showed the devastating emotional power of the case in way that was impervious to rational resistance.
Settlement video can lay out the facts and theory of a case, the logos, and/or succeed with pathos.
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