Showpiece 2 - review by Captain Jack| Author | Post |
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| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | Or is there another reason they spend 95% of all camera time zoomed in on a swinging pair of balls? It seems to be apparent that most "professional" porn directors understand less about shot framing and camera angles than a junior high communications class production of Orwell's "1984." I hope some of you out there understand how goddamn frustrating it is to hear your favorite actress caterwauling like a banshee with hemorrhoids six inches off camera while some moron sticks a camera into the nut sack of the male talent. Explain to me why you spent the money to cast a beautiful woman in the scene if you're not going to show us her face. Wouldn't finding a homely one be a little cheaper? Here's a few tricks for you to decipher: a. If you're closer than six inches to the male's asshole, we're not interested. We are not really interested in the men in a porn scene. They are a necessary evil, not the reason we bought the fucking DVD. If they WERE the reason we bought the DVD you would put them on the goddamn box cover. b. If all you can see is a swinging pair of nuts, take one step to either side and the scene will be improved 100%. c. If someone's hairy arm or ass is blocking the shot of the woman's face, find another fucking camera angle. d. Most cameras have a zoom function that allows you to widen the shot enough to get BOTH the driving cock AND the facial expression demonstrating what effect the cock is having on her into the shot. If your camera doesn't then BUY ANOTHER ONE. e. We don't give a SHIT what color the couch is or what's going on outside the window. You're not filming ART, you're shooting a porn scene. Kindly take the time to show us something we can't find in a furniture store, please. Thus endeth the rant. Question: will any of the dozens of directors reading this forum bother to alter their direction, or will I continue using bittorrent to download porn because buying it is no longer worth the risk of getting yet another 45-minute swinging scrotum scene for $39.99? -K- [Link] |
| kacihd Member 52 Posts 8/08 | |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | |
| charn fubar 2880 Posts 12/09 | |
| Cuddly Wombat Senior Member Just another bare bum in the shiower 1739 Posts 12/04 | |
| deputyduffy Member 396 Posts 8/08 | |
| RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06 | |
| deputyduffy Member 396 Posts 8/08 | |
| RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06 | The masturbation is not about homosexuality (Though it's entirely possible the director is gay or that someone might enjoy it on that level). It's about the male being in control and the female being submissive. Do you honestly not get that? Edited by - randomprecision on 1/25/2010 8:22:33 AM |
| bi_girl Member 157 Posts 11/09 | |
| Rosco Fuji Deactivated User On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09 | |
| smokedbacon Member 16 Posts 1/10 | To each our own, obviously... but I do agree that swinging ball shots do get tiresome. Such is the reason I subscribe to a HD site where I have full control and preview over the scenes that I'm going to download, and where the directors are actually quite talented individuals! |
| john_qyoo_public Deactivated User 265 Posts 7/05 | |
| kacihd Member 52 Posts 8/08 | |
| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 | |
| Seijuro Senior Member 1389 Posts 12/09 | |
| Largo Member 21 Posts 6/08 | |
| Fernandez Deactivated User 781 Posts 12/08 | |
| just_me Member 133 Posts 4/09 | |
| Blu Lite 3 Member Yeah uh-huh sure... and I guess conspiracy is just a theory. 252 Posts 12/09 | There's a couple of threads on the board discussing "the decline of porn". Well maybe one of the things to mention is how there are many people behind the camera who are too damn lazy in the creative department (and, no, they don't have to resort to turning to sick kinkiness to fill the creative void either). |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | I don't think the idea of ten men standing around wanking away before unloading on a chick is gay, but it's not really my cup of tea. That wasn't really what I meant. (Although I like the idea bi_girl had about the line of men waiting to go. Good thinking, someone get that woman a camera!) As another poster queried, yes, I'm speaking specifically of the zoomed in ball shot that lasts for more than a minute-- in some cases it lasts for more than 50% of the penetration. In some cases it lasts for the entire goddamn scene. I can recall a couple of scenes I watched when I was a kid sneaking tapes out of my dad's dresser in which the woman's face was shown during oral and cleanup ONLY, and the rest of the time it was penetration only. When "Anal Destruction" had Malana they literally did not show her face during a single second of the 14:38 of the sex. Not for one second. I'm actually a writer both by trade and vocation, and I have a series of articles about sexual psychology and various other topics. One I'm getting ready to release on the web consists of the ten most asinine ways directors fuck up porn. Number one is zooming in on the ball shot for extended lengths of time. As an example, in the essay I actually have a frame grab from that Malana scene next to identically-framed shots from four other movies. It is impossible to tell even which one is her, much less if she was enjoying it or not. She could have been doing her nails (and probably was.) There are reasons to show penetration and reasons to show what effect the penetration is having on the recipient. I don't like softcore porn largely because it's not showing ANYTHING. Some penetration is definitely okay. One time to definitely NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT be zooming in on some woodsman's coinpurse is during an initial anal penetration shot. Is there anything sexier on earth than the mingled pain, pleasure, surprise, and even fear in a woman's eyes as she feels a cock slide into her ass-- particularly if it's her very first time? For some reason directors show us this on such a rare frequency that it virtually eliminates much of the excitement of the scene as far as I'm concerned. I get my hopes up more than Vikings fans when the camera cuts from the dick at the most nefarious of body cavities to her face as she anticipates the first thrust... and then they crash when the damnfool editor jumpcuts back to show the cock sliding in. Someone asked what porn I watch and who directs it. My tastes are singular and myriad. I am legion, and I am focused. Basically, I'm a fan of rough anal and oral. My collection includes everything from the "Gag Factor" and "Young Throats" series up to the Brasileirinhas series out of Brazil. Oh, and anything, absolutely anything, with Gen Padova in it. This is one of the reasons I commented. Not only is this shitty direction not confined to one genre, but it's also apparently not confined to one COUNTRY. If all the directors in England were asshats, we could look to Vegas or Southern California. Unfortunately, this seems to be more widespread than Autumn Haze in "Pig Sluts 4". Personally, I do not find girl/girl even remotely arousing. I typically fast forward past those. I've never seen even one that I thought was worth the media it was recorded on, and finally stopped watching them entirely a year or three ago. I appreciate the suggestion, nevertheless, but it isn't my thing any more than masturbation scenes are. Thanks though. @smokedbacon: I almost blew a snot on my shirt when I read your reply. You made my day! My dad had major surgery this morning to remove liver cancer, and I appreciate the laugh you gave me. Thanks! I posted my original message in fury and frustration, and I sort of expected a few responses of "yer dumn LOL!" It turns out that my frustration is NOT unique to me. It would seem that the overwhelming response on this board is that the cameras are not dynamic enough, and by that I literally mean that they spend too much time focused on closeups of penetration without enough time spent showing the who and what of how that penetration is affecting the recipient. I read some time ago on this very board that Peter North (Hallowed be his name. We drown in cum. Thy girls be tight. On rumpled sheets and floor. Give us this day our erection, and we will give it to someone else. For thine is the fleshly baseball bat that beats our girls to submission. Amen!) read this very board and discovered that men don't like random jump cuts to the male performer's face in the middle of a scene, so he then instructed his directors and editors not to do that any more. My hope is that other porn directors will follow his example. So far the response has been 100% in favor of a more active camera role. Seems to me like the producers and directors might want to further examine that if this little focus group is any indicator of what the fans want. I don't think it's too much to ask that a cameraman take stock of his angle now and then and consider, "If I move slightly to the left, the viewers can see BOTH the penetration AND the woman's face" and then actually make that move. I don't think it's overwhelmingly difficult that directors set up their shots to show the woman's face during initial penetration (Particularly when it involves a FIRST ANAL. There is only once in a woman's life to record her facial expression the first time she takes a dick in her ass, but there is the REST of her life to record dicks sawing in and out of her butt!) I also think that cameramen and directors should consider using more angles and framing that allows BOTH acts to be shown on screen. If someone happens to really love closeups, they can shift their eyes 1/100000th to the left and watch that. Someone who likes to see the woman's face can shift their eyes 1/100000th to the RIGHT and see THAT. Give us both! Hell, what's wrong with picture in picture? A miniDV camera costs about $350 and most editing software can do PiP with two mouseclicks. Just don't be stupid like Woodman when he tried it and cover the woman's face with the in-picture of the penetration. That sort of defeats the purpose. Do my suggestions sound like they make some sense? I'm willing to accept input from those further in the industry. Is there a legitimate REASON for some of these bad angles and horrible framing jobs, something I don't know because I'm not on set during the filming to see what the hell is going on? Or is it just that you need a cameraman like John Edwards had? http://gawker.com/5456215/ Okay, back to work. I appreciate the opinions of everyone who weighed in. Thanks! -K- |
| fu_q All-Star Member Marv Montag (@PornOfYore) 2506 Posts 2/09 | |
| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 | |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | My point is not that "balls were shown." My point is that balls were ALL that was shown. In a forty minute porn scene, thirty minutes of swinging nuts is not the sort of porn I'm interested in watching, thanks. I can only observe the evidence with mine own eyes. Porn directors ARE getting a rough time on this thread... because frankly I think I can do a better job at what they do than they are currently doing. As a porn consumer I believe I have the right to an opinion. I'm not sure what Kim Jong Il's finger has to do with anything, and I did not advocate writing to a government representative over something so frivolous. If you disagree, fine. Do so and enjoy the dissonance. But if you have a better forum for contacting porn watchers and porn makers, or a suggestion on how I can present these concerns to the people who actually make the film's OTHER than to post here, I'm certainly willing to listen to it. Right now your suggestions seem to be deranged, but I think that has more to do with you feeling some kind of reason or pressure to defend the directors. That's find if you find the majority are making porn you like, but I am not convinced that this is the case. -K- |
| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 | Edited by - stinkfist on 1/26/2010 11:16:37 PM |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | Regardless, I intend to vote with my wallet. It's really not worth paying for porn on the off chance that MAYBE 20% of the scene will be shot in a manner that doesn't frustrate and annoy. On the other hand, it is WELL worth my time to find alternate means by which to download the hard work and effort of such directors for free. I'd like to support my favorite directors with my cash, but so far I don't really have one that consistently DOESN'T screw it up for me. I will look for the directors you mention. Hopefully they are in genres I like as well. -K- |
| RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06 | |
| Johnothan Pedak Senior Member Catastrophe 1594 Posts 6/07 | |
| Rosco Fuji Deactivated User On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09 | Edited by - rosco fuji on 1/27/2010 1:27:43 PM |
| monkey power Member Tim? 868 Posts 1/03 | |
| ninja1 Senior Member 2939 Posts 1/08 |
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| Tobias Deactivated User 475 Posts 1/09 | |
| bi_girl Member 157 Posts 11/09 |
I think the idea of PIP is really hot!!! The only time I ever saw that was in a hentai film, and it was great. Oh, and if anyone wants to give me a camera, I'd be more than happy to shoot some porn with good angles!!! Female POV anyone? ;) |
| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 |
Kolbath posts.. Thus endeth the rant. Question: will any of the dozens of directors reading this forum bother to alter their direction, or will I continue using bittorrent to download porn because buying it is no longer worth the risk of getting yet another 45-minute swinging scrotum scene for $39.99? Regardless, I intend to vote with my wallet. It's really not worth paying for porn on the off chance that MAYBE 20% of the scene will be shot in a manner that doesn't frustrate and annoy. On the other hand, it is WELL worth my time to find alternate means by which to download the hard work and effort of such directors for free. |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 | |
| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 | |
| Savoy All-Star Member Sucker for Sinners 1844 Posts 12/06 | |
| Savoy All-Star Member Sucker for Sinners 1844 Posts 12/06 | |
| ninja1 Senior Member 2939 Posts 1/08 |
It's not the download comment that's keeping them away. |
| fatalbert Member Diagonally parked in a parallel universe 576 Posts 5/03 |
You state your points well, Kolbath. I agree completely, and have so (endlessly) ranted on this board. But, after 20+ years of searching for porn with an emphasis on full-body (her face and the "action," at least) camera shots, and with angles that don't require standing on your head to make visual sense of, I'm about ready to give it up for a lost cause. Think of the utter crap out of Hollywood that commands the biggest box office receipts, then apply the same lowest-common-denominator principle to porn. "Nuff said. |
| Jeff Mullen Member Hall of Famer -Time to get out 219 Posts 1/08 | |
| Kolbath Member 31 Posts 8/07 |
I specifically make my posts as long as I do because I want to a) make sure I have the facts properly organized and my points properly supported, and b) put my comments, complaints, criticisms, bitches, moans and/or gripes into context. For you to grab two sentences out of three dozen paragraphs and try to paint me as the bad guy is a straw man argument. Stick to the point, please. In fact, when I find a porno I actually think is well done, I attempt to find a copy of it retail in order to support the directors. I also purchase the occasional subscription to web sites with qualities I like... but ONLY after previewing their scenes first through filesharing or other methods. An example of this is "Cheek Freaks 8" by Jazz Duro. However, the rest of that series committed the same moronic blunders of angle and composition, so I do not keep or purchase them. In my adult blog I also recommend "Cheek Freeks 8" to my readers, as well as the countless websites whose content I have perused online and enjoyed. I try, if I like, I buy. If I don't, I delete. Bitch as much as you like about how I get my hands on it, I've probably made Jazz Duro and FacialAbuse about $5,000 over the last two years. All of which is beside the point. The near universal response has been in agreement with me: porn directors are bad at what they do because they do not take the time to frame and light their scenes properly. Shot composition and lighting are the two most basic aspects of ANY filmmaking or photography. You put the light behind the CAMERA (not the SUBJECT, Rocco Siffredi) and you put the focal point on the "grid." I was taught to imagine a tic-tac-toe board on the viewfinder and to put the focal point on any one of the intersections of two lines. [mod edit: image removed due to violation of the image policy. Read it before posting any more images.] Draw a tic-tac-toe board over that picture right there and tell me what's at the upper left intersection. Looks like a pair of dingle danglies to me. Those dingle-danglies wobbled back and forth in that spot for 4:33 of the scene this frame is grabbed from. The ENTIRE scene is 18:54. Mind if I do a little math? Balls were front and center for 24% of the damn scene. And that's just in THIS angle. They also did another three minutes or so of that "under his balls" facefucking angle where all you can see is her chin and his huevos. That brings us to around 39% of a fuck scene where the primary focal point is the man's nads. We're not even looking at PENETRATION here, we are looking at BALLS! In fact, we can't see the penetration because his balls are in the WAY! Hence my question, "What're you, gay?" I won't even add in the further 3+ minutes that the camera was zoomed in on the female's hair for no apparent reason. You can do the math on that one. I'm obviously not the only one who feels this way, so trying to paint me as the bad guy because I prefer to preview before I purchase is nothing more than sleight of hand. At no point has any part of this discussion been about me unless you were trying to drag it off point. Most of the response on this board indicates to me that porn consumers HATE the way most of these shots are framed and angled, so a director with some common sense might listen to them and be able to sell a whole lot of porn to a whole lot of people. Hell, someone lend ME $25,000 and I'll start my own production company and take that money. (bi_girl, would you work for me?) I asked you nicely not to quote me out of context. You decided to call me out. This isn't a good idea. I have obviously put some time into researching my points or I would not have spoken. At the risk of sounding like I don't have a life, I timed a few scenes to determine what the average length of time they show balls as the focal point was. It's about 44%. That's nearly HALF of the average HETERO porn scene in which male anatomy is the primary focus for films aimed at a male-dominated, non-homosexual consumer base. Does that sound like it makes any sense to you? Kindly focus on the discussion, please. We are ONLY talking about the potential reasons that may explain why shot composition is so poor across all genres of pornography. There may BE legitimate reasons why directors use the angles they do. Perhaps there are some actresses with contracts that state that their faces are not to be shown during certain acts, or for only a certain period of time. However, the actresses are willing to sit there and take a cumshot across their eyebrows. I doubt their contracts say to keep those eyebrows off camera until then so daddy doesn't see his little girl getting fucked in the ass. @savoy: I watch multiple genres from multiple countries involving multiple "cultures" of porn and literally dozens of directors that all make the same mistakes. These are not mistakes of content, they are mistakes of shot composition, lighting, and dynamism. I have already stated this at least twice. So have others in this discussion who apparently agree this isn't an effective angle for adult video production. -K- Edited by - killbillvol69 on 1/28/2010 11:39:25 PM |
| Jeff Mullen Member Hall of Famer -Time to get out 219 Posts 1/08 | The porn we tend to shoot at X-Play although hardcore never gets talked about in the reviews as anything other than ' this was much better than feature type' sex. Yet I think some of our sex is really shot well and very hardcore. I have always enjoyed a pretty girl's face as a part of most of my sex shooting frames. I love the look on a woman's face when she is getting banged and I love to pull back and give the master shot so that you can see her pussy and her face in the same shot while she is having sex. I also like to get a view (but only once or twice) of the sex action taking place within the room from a true master-distance before getting closer again I guess just to give the viewer a full picture of what the heck is going on. Of course most of us that have shot over 100 of the 5 scene vignettes type of movies (They are all going away soon folks)have learned to cut the guy's head off in most of the shots except the intro. I remember when I first started I would shoot the entire couple while she was blowing him on the sofa for example and include the guy's head looking down and enjoying the action. Somebody back in the day took me aside and said Hey bro, cut his fucking head off please next time so I did. In our sitcums we need to establish that the guy is a full character of the movie just like a TV show but during the sex I still often times will cut his head off. The beautiful thing about porn is that its like rock 'n roll in that there is somebody for all different tastes and styles. I am sure there are a lot of people that love swinging German Shepard type balls on their screen but thousands of others that don't want to see that. I will tell you that until you have shot a number of movies and until the camera becomes a part of your body (I know that sounds silly but it is so true) you will not get what you are actually trying to capture. Your angles will be jacked, your movement will be jerky at times, the camera heights won't be right and you will not take the viewer where he wants to go when he wants to go there. AND you will catch somebody's ass and balls in the shot. I used to panic when I found myself with a frame that I didn't like or the talent would move to the 'wrong' position for how I was lit or how I was holding camera position. I would make very quick adjustments and try to get it perfect and keep what I wanted in frame which only made it worse by being jumpy or jerky. The greatest thing I learned about shooting sex is don't panic. Once I figured that simple rule out my technique got better and better and our sex movies became more enjoyable to watch. However I can tell you it is MUCH harder than you think if you have never done it. Do you ever wonder for example why most BTS is jittery, and almost moving slightly? During sex shooting notice how rock solid most cameramen are. I'm not talking about technique like flipping the camera to new positions or any of that. I am just talking about holding the damn thing perfectly steady. You really build up some amazing arm and leg muscles lol. I can also tell you that as a director I do not like crouching down by a man's nuts and ass anymore than you do. Sometimes I have to be near them but I certainly don't want my friends to know about it (lol) but I will never show you man-ass up close or swinging balls if I can avoid them. I personally love women and actually fall in love with just about every girl I shoot (not literally but you have to really appreciate them to enjoy this business). I rarely if ever use the zoom function and prefer to move my camera in and out of the action physically but if some guy's arm or shoulder blocks the shot we simply- and to use my favorite word in editing- elegantly move the camera elsewhere. Then we take the male talent outside and flog him for blocking my camera. I have made it my priority in my career in porn to get better and better with each production and so far I think we have done that. I don't expect all of you and for sure Kolbath; to enjoy our movies like Not the Cosbys XXX and Not the Bradys XXX because I know that is not what he is looking for in his porn. I can totally appreciate that but for those that love our movies, do know that we continue to make them as great as we possible can because we fucking care. X-Play had a great year and I hope I added something interesting to this thread. If you want, check out our movies at www.sitcums.com and click onto the video trailer section - Thanks for making this an interesting topic. Jeff Mullen AKA Will Ryder- 2010 AVN Director of the Year- Damn that sounds good! |
| Tobias Deactivated User 475 Posts 1/09 | |
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| stinkfist Senior Member Subterfuge...... 7401 Posts 4/07 | |
| LubeNLuv Senior Member 1854 Posts 3/06 | So when you think about it, although there aren't many directors who I really like, the ones who show a lot of the guy may just be trying to give a balanced view to their scenes. It doesn't mean they are gay. |
| Rosco Fuji Deactivated User On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09 |
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| LubeNLuv Senior Member 1854 Posts 3/06 | |
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