by Theresa D. Villanueva
Director, Litigation Consulting
A2L Consulting
The holiday season is upon us. It is hard to believe that another year has gone by. It has been a great year filled with lots of hard work, late nights and spectacular efforts on the part of our trial consulting, litigation graphics and trial technology teams.
With all of the challenges of 2012 nearly behind me, I wanted to take a moment to stop, breathe, and “reward” myself with what I consider to be one of the best things about this time of year – the Christmas Special.
When I was a kid, this time of year was not just about the holidays, but about all of the events that led up to it. In an almost Norman Rockwellian tone, we looked forward to holiday parties, caroling, and the ultimate of ultimate events during this time of year – the Christmas special. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Frosty the Snowman. It was an embarrassment of riches.
Today even still modern day classics like Elf, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, The Polar Express, and so forth are filling our screens with holiday cheer.
But, as time goes on and we grow up, other things become more “important” and the time set aside for your beloved holiday movie slips by each year replaced with work, holiday shopping and, well, more work.
This year, I decided to make a concerted effort to “stop,” enjoy the season, and maybe recapture some of that excitement by making time to watch some of these holiday specials.
As I have watched these holiday movies over the last couple weeks, it got me thinking about the change in technology behind creating these precious pieces of history, and how these developments in technology affect my everyday life.
When I was a kid, most of these Christmas Classics were done either in Claymation or cartoon animation. While I love both, the one that stands out as having advanced the most is Claymation.
For example, take the use of Claymation in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, 1964:
and compare it with the advances in Claymation in The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993:
Then, compare it with the 3D animation used in a more recent movie such as this scene from The Polar Express, 2004:
From a quality standpoint there is no comparison. Can you imagine a trial where you watch a “Rudolph” style Claymation rendition of your patent technology or accident recreation instead of a computer-animated 3-D model? Would this form of "trial technology" even appeal to the modern-day juror?
Even the way we watch video or interact with technology has changed – gone are the days of black and white movies like Miracle on 34th Street, or It’s a Wonderful Life. Even these classics have been colorized to appeal to younger generations and transitioned from VHS, to Beta, to DVD to BluRay.
As I watched Miracle on 34th Street this year, I couldn’t help but wonder: If Mr. Bailey had to prove Kris Kringle was Santa Claus today in court, would he use a litigation graphics presentation and trial technology? Personally, I vote yes.
For those who aren’t familiar, in the movie Miracle on 34th Street, (1947) Mr. Bailey, an up and coming New York attorney, is faced with the challenge of proving his friend, Kris, is in fact Santa Claus. I am probably one of very few people who would even think this way, I note that Mr. Bailey used a form of demonstrative evidence to prove this fact. First he reads directly from a federal statute defining the Post Office and establishing it as an official federal entity. He then introduces letters to Santa that have been delivered to Kris Kringle at the courthouse as proof that his friend Kris is Santa Claus.
If Mr. Bailey were faced with this challenge today, I can’t help believing that perhaps instead of reading the definition from a law book, he would have shown the document through TrialDirector and called out and highlighted the specific language he wanted to emphasize. Instead of “dumping” all the physical letters on the judge’s bench, it is more likely he would have litigation graphics depicting the number of letters written each year to Santa Claus, and the number of letters being delivered by the post office to the courthouse for Mr. Kringle. And, who knows, he may have run the whole trial technology presentation from his iPad!
What started as an attempt to “disconnect” and enjoy the holidays has turned into a reflection on how technological advances shape not only my everyday life, but also the medium with which we attempt to reach our audience through trial graphics and trial technology.
The movie and television industry set the standard in terms of what potential jurors and even judges expect to see in the courtroom. It is up to us to stay on top of these trends – even while enjoying a little holiday cheer.
Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year!
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