§ 8.01-412.4.Procedure.

Recording a deposition on camera does not replace Virginia’s general deposition procedures — it layers additional formalities on top of them. Section 8.01-412.4 starts by anchoring audio-visual depositions to the Rules of Supreme Court that apply to depositions generally, then spells out what has to happen specifically because a camera is running.

Every audio-visual deposition must open with an on-camera statement, spoken or written, covering the operator’s name and business address, or, for video or teleconferences, the identity of the conferencing provider and the locations involved, the operator’s employer, the date, time, and place, the case caption, the witness’s name, which party’s behalf the deposition serves, who is present and where for a video or teleconference, and any stipulations by the parties. All counsel present must identify themselves on camera, and the oath itself is administered on camera rather than off the record.

If the deposition runs long enough to need more than one recording unit, the end of one unit and the start of the next must be announced on camera, and the deposition must close with an on-camera statement that it has concluded, optionally followed by any stipulations counsel wants preserved about custody of the recording, exhibits, or other matters. Objections still work the same way they would in a stenographic deposition. And if a court later orders the recording edited before use, the section protects the source material: the original recording cannot be altered and must be preserved as is. Absent a different stipulation by the parties, the original recording, any court-ordered edited copy, and the exhibits all get filed with the clerk under the Supreme Court’s rules.