There's the gentle swaying of palm trees in an ocean breeze. There's blades of grass, sashaying back and forth. And then there's, well, 30 Nic Cages staring over your shoulder in horror.

Just like in most of the business world, Zoom and other video conference backgrounds have taken over legal tech in recent weeks, interjecting some levity into meetings that largely used to be face-to-face. Whether it's one of the standard backgrounds or a custom creation of your own design, backgrounds interject some personality and style into a static background.

2 days since wearing pants without a zipper on Zoom. The count got to 5 before he needed to go to Pep Boys. Credit: Paul Wilke/Upright Position Communications.

Earlier in April, Legaltech News polled some readers about their favorite backgrounds. The beach was the overwhelming favorite—perhaps not surprisingly at a time when people are yearning for the days of being outside. But a number of other custom favorites snuck in, from a zombie apocalypse, to Tiger King Joe Exotic, to probably my favorite, the aforementioned Wall of Cage. Paul Wilke, CEO at Upright Position Communications, wrote in with his constantly updating counter of "X Days with Wearing Pants with a Zipper."

Lindsay Pinkos, senior product marketing manager at AbacusNext, explained that her favorite is a local one: AbacusNext's offices are close to the beach in San Diego, but they're currently closed due to COVID-19. "Strangely enough, I always migrate to the beach scenes, because even though it's so close it seems so far away," she explained.

But she and the company's marketing team don't stick with one background: At their weekly happy hours, they've had fun playing around with different styles. In one, she said, "I don't remember who said it, but they were like, 'I feel like the Brady Bunch.' And we were like, 'Well we should be the Brady Bunch.'" And it worked out beautifully, as readers can see up top.

Kaylee Walstad, chief strategy officer at EDRM, said the e-discovery organization has adopted themes to their Zoom meetings. One recent meeting had a Prince theme, and one of the people on the call streamed a movie that Prince was in. Walstad recalled: "She was so proud, and we were in awe, because I had just figured out how to save a picture as a background."

But if there's one person Walstad said she puts above all others when it comes to backgrounds, it's the person she proclaimed the "Zoom Master": trial lawyer, forensic examiner and University of Texas law professor Craig Ball. "Craig Ball was the first person that I saw that had this unbelievable customized background within this beautiful coiffured home," Walstad said. "I was like, 'Holy cow, Craig! Your house is beautiful!' He's like, 'That's not my house, it's a Zoom background!'"

I talked with Ball earlier this week via Zoom myself—and right away, he brought up a background he had made in five minutes with four pictures of me rotating in a circle.

Similar to the Zach Warren diorama and that Prince video, most people don't know that they can make videos and gifs as Zoom backgrounds too, Ball noted. Those looking to play around with backgrounds can go into PowerPoint, create a few slides, and use transition features to move things around. PowerPoint allows export via MP4 files and gifs, both of which are compatible with Zoom.

"One out of 100 lawyers I'm talking to knows that they can take something they've made in PowerPoint, bring it out as an MP4, and use as an additional background," Ball said.

He's seen some interesting backgrounds himself. His favorites in his repertoire are a background of his law school classroom when talking to students, some classic art, or perhaps a nice home—just not too nice or gaudy. "I don't think you want to be too much of a striver in that regard," he joked.

But above all, he said that Zoom backgrounds should match the tone of the meeting. Wild and crazy backgrounds can get people talking, he noted, but "the fact of the matter is, it's not all that conducive to a professional setting."

"The caution that I have is, is it a serious meeting? Do you really want the kid car up there, pictures from 'Caddyshack' up there? What are you trying to convey?" Ball said.

He explained lawyers are probably better off with a static background that's a bit more clichéd. He hates the standard "wall of books" background, but a background of a law library or office could work nicely.

"I find some of them a little bit too cute," he added. "I wouldn't want to be in a Rolls Royce, or something so animated that they're not really paying attention."

And now's the time to put some thought into your backgrounds, Ball said, since these meetings are likely to continue on Zoom and other video messaging services for a while. "People used to say to me, 'Oh, I don't have time to use these programs.' But guess who has time? This is the time to learn Italian; this is the time to learn PowerPoint; this is the time to learn e-discovery technology."

Here are a few other tips from Ball to perfect your own background game:

  • Get a green screen: A blank wall works okay, but you're more at risk of disappearing heads and limbs if you don't have a Chroma key background. Ball's set-up is a green curtain hung behind him to take up the full screen, but even a $20 background that can be put on back of a chair, or a green "science fair" project board attached via bungee cord to the back of a chair would work. He also uses a light diffuser to prevent against screen darkening.
  • Level your camera: This was an issue when I was talking to Ball: my laptop was on my desk, with the camera below my normal eye level. Using my camera on a different monitor, or even raising my laptop six inches to a foot, would help, Ball said. "That way, you don't have to look up the nose and up the chin. That makes for a better impression."
  • Know sizes and aspect ratios: The ideal aspect ratio for a static background is widescreen: 16:9. The ideal resolution is 1280 x 720, but anything above 720 pixel, Zoom won't support. "There's nothing more of a hallmark of a tech person who really shouldn't be in legal tech when you see that they have a picture, and they've assigned it an aspect ratio that isn't right so they've turned you into a horse," Ball said. "Come on folks: We've been using JPGs and sizing and aspect ratios for 20-plus years."
  • Find the dead area of the photo: Many custom backgrounds have the most interesting part of a photo in the center, but that's not helpful since you'll be in the center as well. The best backgrounds are still visible with a person in frame. Or as Ball put it, "That's nice you have the Eiffel Tower, but you ruin it by putting your head right in the middle."
  • Watch out for copyrights: Many photos on the internet are copyrighted, which may not be harmful for personal conversations but can get thorny in a professional setting. Besides, Ball notes, watermarks from image services like Shutterstock look tacky. His favorite source is Pixabay, which has more than a million royalty-free images to choose from.