Featured Post

Welcome to the Forensic Multimedia Analysis blog (formerly the Forensic Photoshop blog). With the latest developments in the analysis of m...

Friday, July 10, 2009

Sharing video files - please help

A reader sent off some video files (PSD) that he worked on (Photoshop CS4) to discovery. There was a big problem ... the video wasn't there when it arrived.

Photoshop CS4, like all applications that work with video, does not store a copy of the video in the working file (PSD) - it just stores the links to the video's location on the hard drive. So, in order to share your work, you'll want to render it out to a separate file (final) and send the PSD working copy and the originals.

If you've attended my classes, this should sound familiar. Send the 1:1 copies of the originals, the PSD working files, and the final copy of your work - along with your notes and CV for discovery. Package everything neatly, labeling the folders appropriately so that the attorneys and jurors don't have to guess at what you've done. Remember, the Supreme Court recently ruled (Melendez-Diaz v. Massachsetts) that forensic analysts must testify under the 6th Amendment's Confrontation Clause - granting defendants the right to confront witnesses against them.

2 comments:

royal111 said...

Good Afternoon - Could you please tell me if these files are secure when they are shared? Thank you

Jim Hoerricks, PhD said...

In the reader's case, the files were on CD and hand delivered to the discovery unit.