The trouble with 'expression' -- how to edit that

Question

I just walked to the corner bodega ( even though its korean sooo bodega is misleading ).. to get some beer...
ITS BEER THIRTY -- yipee !
and on way back down the block where I live ( which is suburban ) some boy kid on a bike was riding and playing with a girl kid ( probably was his slightly older sister - these kids probably around 12 years old ) in front of a rental property with some spanish americans hanging out in their cemented yard on hammocks near bar b q...with their own kids...(they have planted another hopeful "veg garden" around the perimeter of their so called yard...tomato plants etc )...so anyway, the picture here is a "neighborhood" of sorts with a somewhat lower middle class family atmosphere in a fairly lower class area on the verge of becoming middle class ( with God's help ).
And anyway, I passed by the boy kid on the bike and smiled at him cause he seemed to be a decent kid having fun with his friend ( they were sorta laughing about something and having fun before I showed up as the big "adult" and looked at me ). His smile back was like sunshine and true and he immediately recognized he could keep having fun with his friend and I wasn't a "threat" , but instead some sorta "neighbor".  She did the same more or less ( I think she had some devious design re: the game they were playing ... like " OK, you think you're so great on that bike, try to CHASE me ! " or something like that....kid stuff... and fun thank God.  This neighborhood has it's share of bad things going on in the streets at times.  And that leads to my focus on " The trouble with expression".
A lot of people, like me for example, can't express themselves well in some ways. I didn't say , " Hi there kids !  What's new ? " when I met them on the way back from the bodega.  I didn't stop and ask what the heck they were laughing about.  Nor did I speak to the spanish people adjacent to the kids ...in their "yard" ...with the bar b q and hammock and obvious friday afternoon socializing they were into....
We in nyc area are typically a mixed bag of races... I'm white, kids were african amer ( black but more like brownish if you ask me ), spanish people like mexicans IMO... who cares.  This is suburbia so you can imagine how more mixed it is in the city.
Anyway, the reason I don't express myself so well in situations like that ( spontaneously on the street ) is cause I used to stutter real bad as a kid.. couldnt talk... so I clamed up. All my life I've been fighting that disability ( and other "challenges" re: learning, reading , writing, asthma , etc ) in terms of the "repercusions".  Kids like me make fun of me cause I stutter...I can't fight back verbally and lash out physically... become a "maniac".  Get kicked out of city schools etc...  Trouble maker.  Can't express myself, fight back with words....when kids are mean to me. After a while they dont matter much as if they are mean I just keep quiet and keep mouth shut and start "thinking" instead... how to keep on top of this person and not let things get crazy... meet the challenge.
Turns out I'm not stupid and at some point my being " quiet" becomes a positive thing.. peers start asking my advice.. I'm suddenly a " deep thinker" in their eyes.  I go from being disabled ( stupid ) to being " a deep thinker" about the age of puberty... when nobody knows what they are doing anymore.
I start thinking about expressing myself some other way than talking.. like maybe draw pictures... paint stuff, do things to have fun with people that doesnt put me in the " limelight".. where I have to talk etc.  More success follows this tendency to socialize and express myself... and I discover that chics like the strong silent type.
( I have been into gymnastics thru my fathers infactuation with it since age 2 -- which I think eventually ( inadvertantly ) " cured me " of many of my learning disabilities etc --  (talk to an OT about this and modern child development stuff to know what I mean here )
Meanwhile I am very fond of dogs as my family has dogs one after the other and I am one of their best friends. I find I can communicate with dogs better than I can communicate with people sometimes.  This seems to be a problem in some cases with some people, but for me it never got crazy... where I " loved dogs " more than I " love people ".  I have never loved any dog more than any person and shudder when I think of those who do.  Those people who do have more problems than I ever had to deal with.
And now, after all these years ( I am now 60 ), working on movies and tv stuff etc as a crew person with some college fine art schooling ( eventual photo major ) to get me started, I got into this " editing " stuff... A program I can actually " use " on my mousey computer introduces me to a more " final product " than I ever had access to before.
BUT I don't shoot motion pic stuff, cant afford that - and never could before basically, and now I think about the triple threats and future of movies and tv as a business... as well as the tools ( in this case the editing programs in conjunction with the cameras ( arri, panavision etc ) ) and the desire to express something ...
This has to be ( if you want an audience ) ... " tell a story ".  You could just put a camera on a rocket ( strap it to the rocket ) and shoot the takeoff etc and show that.. but you need a V.O. saying " well, I just shot off a rocket and this is what it looked like"...to bring the experience to the audience... or else IMO there is no story.
Which leads to what's going on now in the world of reality tv, episodic tv , some big movies, etc.  Telling a story is more than showing you stuff that you just wouldnt have seen if you hadn't been there yourself. Telling a story is more like saying something that bridges the gap between your own experience of life and its challenges ( of being part of your neighborhood and making sense of your own childhood and being an adult now maybe ).. and what others also have gone through to get to the same conclusions....
This is the object of " expression" IMO, whether you can talk about it, draw pictures about it, or make music about it...
And the editing program is a tool to help do that.. it is not the end all or purpose of life or the " personal crusade" in the long run.
It's one reason scary snakes often shock people out of their desire for comfort and predictable living... makes you think about that one serpent in the garden of eden you create for yourself .... and IMO who cares what editing program you use to write that and shoot it ??

Answer 1

Steve Grisetti, the MOD of the Premiere Elements forum and co-founder of a video/photo/editing Web site, Muvipix, did a nice article, "Don't just make a movie - tell a story." His audience was more consumer video editors, than the folk that we see around here, but his points were well-made, and were embraced by many in the Muvipix community.
I think that too many, forget that concept - and I am talking Hollywood and NYC here. It's almost as if, when the story breaks down, they instinctively know to throw in a car chase, or big explosion.
I know that I cite it too often around The Lounge, but that was what I enjoyed most about the LOR trilogy. It told a story. Now, though I had some exposure to the story, when much younger, I have to admit that I never read Tolkien, though almost everyone, that I knew, was busy with every book. Still, I only knew some of the high points, and not much more. However, almost immediately, I was drawn into the story, and only wished that I did not have to wait so long between episodes. The FX were cool, and I am a technoid sort, but it was the story that hooked me. I had read several articles on the FX production, so WAS looking for some of that, but what I wanted was the story. This is one that I will buy the BD "Director's Cut" of, and do a marathon. I have seen each segment, maybe three times, but never back to back to back. I still need to fill in a few blanks, and an entire day of viewing should do that - no phone, no visitors, nothing but LOR.
As far as human communications, I can talk, even more than I write here, but only concerning things that I care about. I am horrible at "small talk," and would rather addrss an auditorium of 10,000, on something that matters to me, than talk about the weather to a single person at a fund raiser. Not that long ago, I was seated next to a potential donor at a charity dinner. I was rather dreading it, and when she mentioned that she did not drink (what, no wine?), I was worried. At some point, early in the evening, the subject turned to politics. Now, I usually am very quiet on my feelings, as they are not exaclty politically correct, and worry about hurting feelings, or making a scene. I fielded a question on Senatorial candidates, and just decided to answer from my heart. Her eyes lit up, and I did not notice that the event had ended. Her husband was standing, as was my wife, and we were talking politics, talk-radio, FoxNews, Senator John Kyl, Will Rogers and much more. I found that we were kindred spirits. Finally, our spouses pulled us apart, and we departed. We continued that conversation at 2 - 3 more events during "the season." One day, my wife informed me that she had just given $10M to the foundation - the largest single gift ever. At least she wasn't a screaming liberal, as I would surely have really messed up the deal... However, had it all been small talk, I would have found a reason to excuse myself and hide in the bar for a few hours.
Also, the way that our society has developed, I will smile, nod, and say "hello" to strangers on the street, but always leave it at that. I am sure that many walk past and think "he wasn't all that friendly." They are probably right, but at least I was pleasant to them and did not rob them! Heck, I will usually tell telemarketers, "No, but thank you for your generous offer on that time-share... "
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