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I hope this video makes the driving public pause and think about their own safe driving habits.  Everyone is guilty of texting while driving at least one time.  The technology is just too compelling and too convenient to resist picking your phone while you’re behind the wheel. It’s easy to underestimate the danger of DWT but the danger is no different than playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun.  Would you take that risk with a gun?  Most reasonable people appreciate the danger of a loaded gun and choose not to play Russian roulette.  In this video watch how many times Robert Stancheski takes his eyes off the road. He even takes both hands off the steering wheel a few times. Each time Stancheski looks at his cellphone  it is no different than Stancheski spinning the cylinder of a gun in a Russian roulette game.

In my work I have seen firsthand the consequences of texting while driving. I have worked on many car crash cases and too many of them are caused by a distracted driver text messaging behind the wheel.  Studies show texting takes the driver’s eyes off the road longer than any other distraction activity. A driver is 23 times more likely to crash when texting. Add speeding to the equation and the odds go up even higher.  In Russian roulette the player is the only victim but in texting while driving there are many victims.  The consequences have no boundaries. The victims come from all social and economic backgrounds.  College students are killed.  Athletes are quadriplegic.  Closed head injuries destroy professional careers.

The state of Texas passed a no texting while driving law in the 2011 legislative session. Governor Rick Perry vetoed the legislation saying it was a “government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”  The bill is up for vote again this session.  Hopefully this time around the Governor has looked at the statistics and changed his point of view.

We all know video depositions have become an ubiquitous litigator’s tool. Low cost HD cameras have become an ubiquitous legal videographer’s tool. The video quality of today’s depositions has never been better.  But who is listening?

There was a time when very few depositions were taken by video. I digress and flashback to the 1980’s. When I got into the business the cost of entry was quite high and the quality of the cameras were very mediocre by today’s standards. Decent video cameras cost $10,000 to $50,00o and up. They used image tubes instead of solid state CCDs and CMOS chips. The tubes required a lot of light to get a good picture. Not every location allowed videographers to light the witness properly. The video lights were bulky, took up floor space and were hot. Needless to say many video depositions back in the day were dark and grainy.

Oddly no one ever complained about the dark and grainy videos. Why not?  The reason was the audio.  The sound of the video saved the video depositions. No matter how badly the videos were lit the sound was always crystal clear. Our standard practice was to always record crystal clear audio no matter where we were shooting. We followed the rule:  The better the sound, the better the video deposition looks. This golden rule is still true today but is overlooked by many legal video techs taking shortcuts.

In 2013 the cost of entry into the business is extremely low yet the quality of camcorders is extremely high. Quality is so high that even the cheapest cameras found at WalMart  have image quality specs that far exceed the $50,000 broadcast cameras of yesteryear. Back in the ’80’s no one imagined cameras could ever be so good and be so ridiculously inexpensive.  But depositions are plagued with poor audio despite using modern digital recording equipment.  Many depos from around the country pass through our editing and post production studio. We hear a lot of bad audio. Static, buzz and excessive background noise are the most common audio problems. These are problems that are easily avoided with a little know how and attention to detail. The basic principles of sound recording are the same today as they were back in the 80’s. State of the art digital recording gear is only as good as the technician operating it.  Legal videographers  must take responsibility  for microphone placement, avoiding ground loop hum, preventing buzz, minimizing background noise and monitoring gain on each microphone.  At your next video depo don’t over estimate the videographer’s fancy new gear. It may not sound as good as it looks.

South Texas: A prominent Texas law firm commissioned VIDEOFILES to research, write and produce an investigative documentary about one of the firm’s toxic tort cases. The film, “What’s in Your Backyard?”, examines the environmental impact a natural gas plant had on neighboring land owners and surrounding communities.

Most of us are familiar with diesel fuel. The noxious hydrocarbon is ubiquitous in our industrial culture. Diesel powers everything from our cars and trucks to power plants. It’s foul smelling and highly toxic. We certainly do not want it in our homes. So how would you feel if one day the tap water in your faucet smelled and tasted like diesel fuel? Unthinkable? Hardly not.

The producers at VIDEOFILES worked closely with top environmental expert witnesses and prominent attorneys to craft a compelling story about one landowner, damages and the impending threat to the surrounding community. The finished film “What’s in Your Backyard?” was a huge success. Lawmakers in Austin woke up and took action, ordering clean up of the property. Criminal and civil suits against the operators are pending.

Houston based VideoFiles Inc. is a film and video production company specialized in producing day in the life and settlement videos.

Produced in cooperation with HoustonPBS

Major funding for this program provided by
The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Strasburger & Price LLP.

Additional funders:
Andrews Kurth, Beck Redden & Secrest, Beirne Maynard Parsons, Bracewell & Giuliani, Rusty Hardin & Associates, Vinson & Elkins

Preview clip:

Additional information:

Houston CultureMap: After a $65 million makeover, the historic Harris County Courthouse becomes a movie star