Theme's and Theories Graveyard

[TheTruth]

Did the case changes cause your theme or theory to die? Put them to rest here.




I think i speak for most defense theories when I say that the 'Casey did it' theory is going to be soon lost due to these changes.

[AncientMarinade]

Our theme at the beginning of the year was:

"Jackie Owens Gambled with the life of Jacob Bennett"

Judges thought it was a good one, but we put it 6 feet under some clay after we realized motive is...um, everywhere.

[Scope]

I would have liked "House of Cards" if not every single mock trial team in the history of mock trial did it.

It's nice with the gambling angle though.

[In Limine]

"Murder was written in Bennett's blood"


Crazy co council came up with it the first week, and we never considered it. Hilarious and a little extreme though...

[The Gelf]

"Murder was written in Bennett's blood"


Crazy co council came up with it the first week, and we never considered it. Hilarious and a little extreme though...

Unless you had a demonstrative, I'm not impressed.

[In Limine]

Unless you had a demonstrative, I'm not impressed.

And simply that, we didn't use it for such reason. This was the sort of crazy theme that was thrown out the first week of meetings, and this particular one was a little too dramatic and didn't even make much sense to the case (despite the spec of blood found on the Hepburn which was only matched to be Bennett's blood type). However, the theme has served as an inside joke within the team. Haha

[mockboxoflove]

Assumptions, lies, and alibis

I didn't realize how bad this theme I created was until I was watching ABC one evening when they were advertising the new season for Desperate Housewives and this was the tagline.  Sadly I forgot to mention this to a newbie who wrote an entire opening around this theme.  Oh well.

[Nur Rauch]

Assumptions, lies, and alibis

I didn't realize how bad this theme I created was until I was watching ABC one evening when they were advertising the new season for Desperate Housewives and this was the tagline.  Sadly I forgot to mention this to a newbie who wrote an entire opening around this theme.  Oh well.

Not sure why that's a bad theme. It succinctly describes the defense's exact position on the case.

[mockboxoflove]

Which was exactly why at first I didn't realize how bad it was.  I think if used effectively it could become a decent theme, but no.  It's bad.  It is incredibly corny.  Imagine it being said in a dramatic voice promoting a crappy tv show.  By means take it, but I have seen it used in trial and I couldn't prevent myself from laughing.

[Nur Rauch]

Which was exactly why at first I didn't realize how bad it was.  I think if used effectively it could become a decent theme, but no.  It's bad.  It is incredibly corny.  Imagine it being said in a dramatic voice promoting a crappy tv show.  By means take it, but I have seen it used in trial and I couldn't prevent myself from laughing.

Some of the best themes I have ever seen have also been the cheesiest. I have never been told by a judge that our theme was too corny. Probably a third of all my trials involve a judge's comment about how our theme wasn't visible enough, and that is literally the only theme-related criticism I have ever encountered.

[Herb]

Which was exactly why at first I didn't realize how bad it was.  I think if used effectively it could become a decent theme, but no.  It's bad.  It is incredibly corny.  Imagine it being said in a dramatic voice promoting a crappy tv show.  By means take it, but I have seen it used in trial and I couldn't prevent myself from laughing.

It could also be really good if it's not delivered in a dramatic, over the top voice. It sounds like a theme you'd hear in real life, honestly.

[Present sense impression]

-Gambling with [insert noun here]


-Overused movie theme of any sort


I feel like every team has some variation of this...these themes might as well be "house of cards" this year.  I don't know if the fact that these themes are common matters as much as me saying this might try to purport...The commonality might just mean that they're just good solid themes given the case material.  But there's something to be said for creativity, and I'll tell you, hearing one insanely creative "none of the above" theme this fall, man... it was one of those moments where you were outperformed but you were like, "handshake. well-deserved."

[Elle Woods]

So the questions is what gets you more points....

Using a cheesy theme that is so in your face that the judges are able to catch onto it

OR

Trying to develop a "unique" theme that judges may not like or catch onto.

Is there some middle ground?? What gets you more points?? Just curious for people's responses/experiences with this....especially this far into the game.

[KShaw]

Is theme something that actual attorney judges/judge judges look for, or just something that a former mock trial judge/coach judge wants to see?

[Present sense impression]

So the questions is what gets you more points....

Using a cheesy theme that is so in your face that the judges are able to catch onto it

OR

Trying to develop a "unique" theme that judges may not like or catch onto.

Is there some middle ground?? What gets you more points?? Just curious for people's responses/experiences with this....especially this far into the game.

Exactly, when it's not really possible to strike that balance between borderline cheesiness and creative obscurity, I opt for "in your face/cheesy" theme...Better to do that than have doubt about what the theme is.

Of course, no matter how blunt you think you're being, sometimes theme still doesn't come across.
 
Our plaintiff theme for Walton v. BNN was "2 minutes," referring to the length of the tv report alleged to cause defamation. you can imagine the rhetoric in the opening/closing: "despite any apology afterwards from the news network, it only took 2 minutes to ruin mr. walton's career, 2 minutes to ruin his life. these 2 minutes of carelessness- as walton was falsely accused of murder in front of millions of viewers-will take years for mr walton to emotionally recover from" etc etc, all said repeatedly throughout while (during the closing) pointing to the transcript of the news report which had supposedly falsely accused him of murder. "How many times can you falsely accuse someone of murder to millions of viewers in 2 minutes? Well let's look at the transcript (count how many times walton is accused of murder in the ~2 minute broadcast)." ...Some judges were still like, "So, what was your theme?"