Reel Love's Lesson

"So. What do you think?" Barbara closed the iPad.

We were curled up together in a hammock on the screen porch at the back of our home watching a movie on the tablet. Barbara is a petit, blonde fireball of a woman that I've been in love with and married to for quite a few years. She looks a lot younger than her chronological age, has a killer figure that turns heads, and eyes that sparkle with energy. We have the best relationship I can imagine, open, honest, intimate, and fun-loving in every way. Everything about relationship extends into our sex life too. We are just as adventurous, open and trusting there as we are in every other aspect of our lives.. Our passions have expanded and grown over time, and it has brought us closer together than I ever thought possible. We have explored and reveled in a myriad of ways, always pushing our boundaries, discovering new ways to please and connect with each other.

Barbara's latest area of carnal excitement was filmmaking. A while back she'd "accidently" filmed us with her cell phone while we had sex. The homemade porno that resulted really excited her and she eventually purchased a high end digital video camera, a bunch of studio set lights, and powerful video editing software. Barbara is not one to diddle with any interest. She immersed herself into making porn films. Using all of the equipment, she would regularly script and record movies for us to act out; each one more explicit and elaborate than the one before it. We'd gotten pretty adventurous along the way, and had some of our wildest sex, all of which she captured with her camera.

What she recorded was just for us. That was something we agreed to at the very start. We're both have professional careers, and we knew that if anybody ever got a hold of them our jobs would be over.

The way she edited the videos with her software into coherent short movies had steadily improved over time. The one we'd just finished watching on the iPad was one of the slickest she'd done.

"That's really good. One of your best," I said. "The lighting is excellent, no harsh shadows and no glare. You also got the sound right, I can hear us both without it being all panting and grunting."

Barbara poked me with her elbow and teased, "Yeah, like you don't grunt."

I ignored her jab. "I also like the way that you spliced in the music and did the scene-to-scene transitions. Where did you learn how to do that?"

Barbara tensed up a bit and looked at me wordlessly.

"What is it? Tell me," I said. I could tell something was up.

"I got some help," she said.

"What do you mean you 'got some help'?" I'm sure there was a tone in my voice.

"I got some advice on how to do that."

"And exactly where did you get this advice?"

Barbara sighed deeply and sat bolt upright. "I'll tell you everything, but before you freak out on me, I want to assure you that it was completely anonymous. Nobody knows my real name, where we live, or who you are. There's no way."

I trust my wife completely in every way possible. But what she was saying definitely had me worried. Had she shown these videos to someone else?

"I was searching the web, trying to find some ideas how to solve this one problem when I ran across a website." Barbara had re-opened the iPad and was typing an address into the web browser. "It's an amazing site, just for people who like creating video erotica. There were all kinds of forums about filming techniques, equipment , tricks, tips, suggestions ... everything. And it is all one hundred percent anonymous." She turned the iPad around to face me.

I didn't have a chance to really see what was on the page, before she flipped the cover closed and continued with her story.

"I never knew there were so many people out there like me. People who want to create good video erotica just for fun. People who want to make something more than gross grainy videos of themselves humping on the linoleum floor of their basement. People who want to create art. And let me tell you, there are a lot of people out there who want to make art."

I reached out for the iPad.

Barbara pulled it away. "I got the answers I needed for that problem and found so much more on the website. I wound up spending hours chatting with people on line about film making and editing. I got tons of good info and that's why my videos have gotten so much better. You said so yourself."

I nodded in agreement, still casting a wary eye at her.

"Sure there are some creeps on the site. Any site about porn is bound to have its fair share of creeps. But the people I connected with seem really cool, fun, and dedicated to creating real erotica. At least amateur stuff." Barbara was clearly happy and excited, but she paused again as if unsure how to go on.

"It's okay babe. I understand that you're really into this. Hell, I'm really into this," I smiled wolfishly at her. "I'm glad you found some other people to connect with and enjoy it with. Just so long as nobody knows you're real name or has seen us cavorting on the screen."

Once more I saw Barbara tense up.

"Well, nobody's seen our faces," she said.

"What does that mean?"

She sighed deeply again. "One of the things the site has is a place where people can post their videos for others to look at and critique."

It was my turn to tense up.

She rushed on quickly. "It's the absolute best way to learn and improve; hearing what other people think and getting feedback on a specific scene, lighting, sound, and so forth. It's impossible to try and describe a lighting problem, or dialogue issue, or how best to position you or me. It's so much easier and better just to post a clip so that it can be viewed."

"You didn't..." I began.

"I looked at a lot of the posted videos, and I mean a lot, before I ever thought about putting up one of ours." Barbara reached out and stroked my arm as if to soothe me. "But I was really having a problem with editing one of our shoots. It was the one where I'm giving you a blow job in the shower right before you pull me up by my hair and then fuck me from behind, remember?"

I remembered that very well and felt my cock begin to stir at the memory.

"I tried to tell this one on-line person about it and just couldn't get them to understand what the problem was. She (at least I think it was a she, you can't tell anything about anybody on-line) encouraged me to post the video so that she could look at it."

Before I could say anything, Barbara hurried on with her story.

"I edited the clip really carefully so that our faces weren't showing in any way and then posted it up to the forum. A few moments later the person I was chatting with said that she'd looked at the clip and that the problem was obvious. She suggested that I crop the scene into a close-up, insert a quick clip of your hand in my hair, cut out the next few seconds and go right to the part where you take me doggie style. It was a brilliant idea and worked perfectly. Do you remember how the movie turned out?"

The scene in the video was one of my favorites and I thought it was Barbara's best work at the time, filled with erotic passion. The close-up of my fingers intertwined in and pulling at her long blonde hair, followed by the smooth skin of her gorgeous butt smacking against my pelvis as I thrust into her, perfectly captured our lust for each other. I loved that scene and often reminisced about it. There was no way I could deny that she'd gotten good advice from her on-line friend.

"After that I began posting up other video clips where I needed help. I almost always got excellent input from forum members. Like I said, there are always a few creeps out there." She shuddered slightly. "Eventually I put up a few complete videos just to see what everyone thought. I made sure that our faces were either not showing or completely obscured. Believe me, I went through those movies frame by frame and checked. There is no way anyone could recognize us. And before you ask, yes, I also checked the backgrounds in the videos to make sure that there was nothing there that could identify our house or any room in it."

I smiled, she had anticipated my concern.

"I got great reviews. Everyone, almost everyone, loved my movies. When I got criticism it was very constructive and I used it to make my videos even better. Eventually, I got voted as one of the top five film makers on the website and now I'm considered one of the site 'experts.'" Barbara made quote marks in the air with her fingers. "I don't know about that, but I've tried to payback what I've learned by coaching some of the newbies on the site. It's been a lot of fun. And it's been completely anonymous, I promise."

Barbara sat back in the hammock and caught her breath. She looked at me, trying to gauge my reaction. On the one hand, she'd done exactly what we'd agreed that she shouldn't do - show videos of us to others. One the other hand, she'd gotten really good and had developed her hobby into something truly unique and special. I was proud that she'd gotten accolades for doing what she obviously enjoyed. And it was very clear that she'd gone to great lengths to protect our anonymity.

"Let me see," I said gently.

Barbara opened and handed me the iPad. "My screen name is ReelLove, " she said.

The opening page of the web site showed a glossy black and white image of two naked people intertwined in a passionate kiss. There was the usual explicit material warning in red plastered across the screen. The rest of the page was filled with understated links to various subsections of the site and a members login in the upper right corner. Clicking on the links without logging in brought me to nondescript pages overlaid with bland, soft-porn images behind text detailing what was available to the viewer after becoming a member. No matter what I clicked on, I got to nothing very explicit. I was reassured that a curious teenager, or more importantly, an automated webbot wouldn't get to much that could be incriminating. I clicked on the register as a new member link.

"I'm already a member," Barbara said. "You don't need to register."

"I know," I replied. "I just wanted to see what happens when I try and register."

"Oh," A look of understanding crossed her face. "After registering, it took about twenty-four hours before I got a confirmation email back. Then I clicked a link in the email to actually get into the site. And I know what you're thinking. I created a junk email address that's not connected to my main email account. I didn't want any chance that someone would hack this site and get into my real email."

I smiled. Barbara's security paranoia was almost as strong as mine. She'd taken the same precautions with this that I would have.

"Do you want to see what's on the site?" Barbara asked.

"Of course," I nodded.

She reached over and typed in her user id, ReelLove, then entered her password. The typical spinning hourglass symbol floated in the center of the screen. After a few moments, it disappeared, the screen went black only to be replaced with a close-up, high resolution image of a huge, erect cock. Superimposed over that was a translucent movie reel that did nothing to obscure the genitalia that filled the screen. Two small rows of links to the subsections of the website ran across the top of the screen. Before I could click on anything the image on the screen changed to a similarly enormous and close-in photo of a woman's widely spread legs, her clearly wet and swollen labia jutting out.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed.

"Nice shots, huh?" Barbara said looking over my shoulder.

The picture shifted, this time to one of a woman's lips clamped tightly around a turgid penis. It was easy to see the veins standing out on his cock, and drops of saliva hanging from her lips on the high res shot. After a few seconds another explicit picture replaced that one as the slide show progressed.

I noticed that the translucent movie reel was slowly rotating in front of the carnal images. As it did, it alternately appeared as a round circle and, when on edge, as a diagonal slant. It subtly created the universal symbol of "not", a circle with a slash through it. The subliminal reference was clear to me: this is not just website of explicit pictures, it's something more. I chuckled at the cleverness of the webmasters.

Barbara leaned over and clicked on a hyperlink. The screen filled with row after row of forum sections. The topics ranged from lighting, to sound, to blocking (whatever that was) to dialogue. There were sections on rock music, rap music, classical music and more. She flicked her finger over the screen and scrolled down revealing that there were even more sections, many with arcane titles about editing, digital compression and lots of other stuff that I didn't even recognize much less understand.

"There are sections for directors, editors, actors, artists, musicians, and others. Of course, a lot of the forum messages fit into multiple sections and wind up getting cross posted."

The sheer number of sections and posts made it clear just how big and busy the site was. I was shocked.

"This is the area where the videos are," Barbara rapidly poked at the iPad and navigated to one subsection. "Here's where my stuff is."

The forum subsection was entitled "Winner's Circle". ReelLove was the first name on the list and it was in bold with a bright yellow star next to it. I saw that underneath her screen name was a list of messages that had been posted. Each message had some kind of compliment in the title; "Great work", "Loved it", Best one yet", and so on. Without even opening the messages I could see that many were encouraging ReelLove to keep filming; "Don't stop now", "What's next", "Don't make me wait", "I'm dripping with anticipation". I pointed out that one to Barbara.

"Yeah. She's been a fan for a while."

"How long have you been posting videos on the site?" I asked.

"About six months or so. But it's only been in the last three or four that I've gotten that kind of recognition," she answered.

I whistled softly. She'd been very busy.

"You want to look at some of them?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

"You'll recognize this one, I'm sure." Barbara quickly scrolled through what looked like a very long list, stopped the screen, and clicked on one entitled "The Bet".

I remembered that video very well. It was one of the earlier ones she'd made. In the movie, and in real life, I'd lost some bet with her that I didn't even remember. My cost for losing was me masturbating in front of her. She videoed everything. I was incredibly nervous, about doing something so personal and intimate in front of her, and about her recording it. I covered up my anxiety by putting on a "show" and I really hammed it up for the camera. I was surprised to discover that it was all very arousing. We had so much fun filming it with her cell phone, that we did it a second time so that she could capture it with her video camera. It was a movie that she liked to watch over and over. She said that she loved seeing the expressions on both of our faces when I came.

The video started with a black screen and a woman saying, "I won fair and square." I remembered the words, but didn't recognize the voice and I looked at Barbara quizzically.

"I used a voice changer to alter how we sound. It's part of the video editing software that I use. I told you that I didn't want anybody to be able to recognize us."

The video went on and for the next fifteen minutes or so we watched a film that I thought I knew very well.

"This isn't the same recording that we have," I said."Your hair is a different color, and your eyes aren't blue. In fact, it doesn't even look like you at all."

"I know," Barbara replied. "I 'borrowed' somebody else's eyes and inserted them (I got permission) and changed my hair color. If you look carefully, you'll see that the background it totally different and there are no shots of your face at all. I told you. I wanted to be absolutely sure that nobody could ever recognize us. Completely anonymous, just like I said."

She was right. I didn't see anything identifiable in the film. It was as if it wasn't us in it at all. It was totally unfamiliar to me.

"Incredible," I said with amazement. "How did you do that?"

"The marvel of modern technology, and high speed video editing software. Now you know why I wanted the expensive stuff and not the cheap software." Barbara leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you for those birthday presents by the way. And do you feel better now knowing that my videos, our movies, keep us secret?"

I did feel better, confident that those private sexual moments would remain that way, and at the same time we could indulge our exhibitionist tendencies and my wife's hobby.

"What else did you post honey?"

Barbara smiled broadly, "Let me show you.""

For next hour or so we browsed through the site and watched several of her favorite films. Each one seemed better, more polished, that the one before it. I could tell how she'd developed her skill and why others liked her work. And I couldn't identify us in any of them.

"Wow, that's really great," I said.

"I'm glad you like them. I hope that you'll continue to indulge my little hobby," she reached over and stroked the bulge that had grown in my crotch as I'd watched all the porn that she'd made.

"Absolutely," I said and thrust my hips up into her hand.

"Good," she squeezed me. "I do have one little confession to tell you."

My brain screeched as it stopped the lascivious descent that my wife's groping, and all of her porn, had started.

"It's a bit of a story, so bear with me," Barbara patted my wilting cock as she sat back in the hammock.

"You remember Randi from work don't you?"

I nodded. It wasn't possible to forget Randi. She is a beautiful, buxom young woman with short, fiery red hair; very curvy in all the best ways, very easy on the eyes. The most outstanding thing about her, however was that whatever she thought about came out of her mouth completely uncensored. And it was obvious that she thought about sex a lot.

"Well, a bunch of us girls were in the break room at work and Randi started talking about how much she likes watching porn. You know me, I just had to egg on the conversation a bit, so after a minute or two everybody joined in and it got pretty raunchy."

I nodded, silently encouraging her to go on.

"It didn't take very long until everyone was sharing which was their favorite porn movie. I was totally shocked when Randi started talking about my movie website and ReelLove. She went on and on about how much she loved those movies."

My mouth dropped open.

"I'm sure I blushed a bit, but I didn't say anything, and I really, really don't think that anyone noticed. I spent a lot of time with my back to the group rummaging through my locker in the breakroom while Randi gushed about the movies."

Barbara shifted on the hammock. I kept quiet.

"Never once did she say anything that even hinted that she knew it was me, or you, in those videos, or that she suspected that I'm ReelLove. I kept all my comments as neutral as possible and even asked her for the web address when break was over," Barbara paused. "I'm sure that she doesn't know, or that anybody else there did. Even you said that you couldn't tell it was us in those movies. We're safe."

She stopped talking and looked at me, studying me, trying to figure out how I was going to respond.

I actually wasn't worried. Barbara had taken every precaution to conceal her online identity and had altered our appearance in the films well enough that I was confident that we would not be recognized.

"I'm sure we're okay," I said and felt her relax next to me. "You did everything right. If Randi even suspected it was us, she'd have blurted it out. That woman has no filter on anything she says."