Flex sensor not pausing video

jamdel

So I have the following code

void draw() {
  if ( myPort.available() > 0) {  // If data is available,
    val = myPort.readString();    // read it and store it in val
  v = int(val);
  }
  println(val);
  background(255);
   if (v < 700) {
     isPaused = false;
     myMovie.loop();
     scale(2);
     image(myMovie, 0, 0);
   }
   else {
     isPaused = true;
     myMovie.pause();
     blank.updatePixels();
     image(blank, 0, 0);
   }
  
  if (isPaused) {
  blank.updatePixels();
  image(blank, 0, 0);
}
  else {
  scale(2);
  image(myMovie, 0, 0);
  }
}

My goal would be for the movie to pause when the sensor is sending a value over 700. The println() statement is giving me the proper values, so I know that the Arduino is sending data properly and that Processing is receiving it properly. One thing I tried was putting the code that reads the sensor:

void draw() {
  if ( myPort.available() > 0) {  // If data is available,
    val = myPort.readString();    // read it and store it in val
  v = int(val);
  }
  println(val);
  background(255);
   if (v < 700) {
     isPaused = false;
     myMovie.loop();
   }
   else {
     isPaused = true;
     myMovie.pause();
   }

in a void serialEvent(Serial myPort) function but then the video began stuttering and the values being received were no longer correct. Any suggestions on what I can do? My other note would be that if I take the sensor code out of the draw loop, I can pause the video and have it all work correctly with mouse events, but when it is in the draw loop the mouse events e.g. mousePressed do not work.