{"id":105,"date":"2026-05-21T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/?p=105"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:30:00","slug":"story-drives-every-edit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/story-drives-every-edit\/","title":{"rendered":"From Campaign Ads to Highlight Reels: Why Story Drives Every Edit"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve produced political campaign ads, event highlight reels, dance performances, live sports, and social content short enough to thumb past in a second. On the surface they have nothing in common. Underneath, they’re all the same problem: what story are we telling, and what’s the one feeling we want at the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every project is a story problem first<\/h2>\n

Before a single clip gets cut, I want to know the outcome. A campaign ad has to build trust and move a voter. A highlight reel has to make someone relive the best night of their year. The gear and the edit serve that goal \u2014 never the other way around.<\/p>\n

The campaign ad<\/h2>\n

Work like Delmer for D10<\/em> and Cabello for District 6<\/em> taught me that political video lives or dies on clarity and conviction in the first five seconds. No wasted frames. Every cut earns its place or it’s gone.<\/p>\n

The highlight reel<\/h2>\n

An event reel is the opposite discipline \u2014 it’s emotional, not persuasive. Music, pacing, and the order of moments do the work. I’m building a wave: a quiet open, a rising middle, a payoff that lands on the moment everyone will remember.<\/p>\n

Scripted vs. documentary<\/h2>\n

Some projects need a script and a storyboard. Others need me to disappear and let the day unfold \u2014 a workshop, a performance, a live broadcast on Facebook or Instagram. Knowing which mode a project wants is half the job.<\/p>\n

Going live<\/h2>\n

Live broadcasting is its own animal: no second takes, no editing safety net. It’s the purest test of reading a room in real time \u2014 and when it works, it’s electric.<\/p>\n

Got something that needs to move people \u2014 literally and emotionally? Watch recent work<\/a> or let’s talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaign ads, highlight reels, live broadcasts \u2014 on the surface, nothing in common. Underneath, the same question drives every cut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ai_generated_summary":"","wpai_meta_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stm.pm\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}