When it is dark enough, you can see the stars 456 Posts 2/03
Posted - Feb 21 2004 : 6:55PM
Hey,
I was discussing this subject matter earlier this week (with a certain sexy lady who post on this board) regarding the important variables involved in capturing a sex scene in Today's porn (IMHO). It seems that there are three distinct, different schools of thought on this subject matter - most of the time when I'm watching porn - I can see and categorize a director's mindset (school of thought) to either concentrate on capturing one or two of following three things (1) the Tease (2) the Sex or (3) the Intensity
Its rare when I see a scene that captures all three (In My Humble Opinion). Though I have seen such scenes...they are far too rare. I won't go too deep into the reasons why...but I'm interested to hear opinions of others.
I think "some" of it can be attributed to the "Automation" or the "Industrialization" of today's porn. Whenever "SEX" becomes "automated" and/or "by the numbers"....it becomes mundane and downright boring (IMHO). So creativity slowly dies..more porn is "churned out"..and then, that's when you find talent relying on certain supplements/drugs to help them cope with the absence of passion,+and/or desire (oohweee...I'm writing on a touchy subject..hheheh). Thus you lack the presence of all three variables...because its destroyed somewhere in the "automation" process... I hope this topic "stirs up" some interesting and intelligent conversation.
True, so very true. A good majority of smut is turned out at breakneck speed, just to make a buck, or two. And with more and more studios popping up, crowding an already crowded marketplace, it seems that quality of performers/performances goes down as well. And since everyone wants a girl's first hardcore scene to be released before her second, there's got to be a lot of pressure to put together a scene faster, and perhaps sloppier than what it should've been, had the rush for the introducing blah, blah, blah, not been so great.
I could be happy with one solid, intense, sexual, flick a month, with a lot of tease, than I could with 10 mediocre releases with few scenes that are intense and sexual.
I don't know if this an answer you were looking for, but I do believe that too many choices, from studios, to so many different series' can hurt all the variables of good and well done porn.
I think that perhaps Mason has the best way about doing her thing, instead of flooding the market with multiple releases, she releases them slowly (I believe she does so on purpose), providing fans with one hot title, rather than a dozen lesser titles.
(I could be wrong about everything as well, these are just my opinions.... competition may good, but too much can't be.)
With successful releases measured in the thousands of discs sold, the economics of hardcore are heavily stacked against a quality of quantity business model. Add to that the fact that hardcore producers are barred from the most lucrative channels of distribution, and it's unlikely your going to get your wish anytime soon.
By contrast, selling an hour of programing to a mainstream cable channel can easily gross a producer mid 5 figures; that's $50K-$75K for ONE HOUR broadcast ONE TIME.
The porn market is so intensely fractored that it's become virtually impossible for a producer to rationally rish the kind of money in a film that might give a video the kind of transendent appeal that could ever hope to produce the kind of volume that would justify the risk. I read that FASHIONISTAS cost $500K to make. I'd be curious how the ROI for it compares to what the Evil Empire see on $500K invested in a flock of gonzo videos.
This is the aspect of porn financing and regulation which interests me most . Does anyone know of an online resource where I can learn more about it ? The rules of cable porn , from what little I know , have placed some hugely distorting breaks on features . What are these rules precisely , who polices them , and how vigorously ? Is there any possibility of them altering in time ? It would also be interesting to learn just how many cable stations are available to show porn nowadays . The situation in Britain has seen a massive increase in the number of pay per view stations over the last couple of years . There were maybe only a handful about 4/5 years ago , where there are now easily 20 , maybe more . Unfortunately I can't vouch for the quality or censorship of the films shown , as I've never joined any of them . But they must all presumably be clamoring for new product to fill their airtime . An opportunity ?
It's easier to sell quantity cheaply than quality more expensively . Unfortunately it looks as if RLD and their business strategy of *pile 'em high , sell 'em cheep* is a very successful one . Maybe if the rules of cable broadcasting were to alter slightly , the increased access to a new money market would shift the odds more in favour of quality . It seems that porn is often sold in almost underground marketplaces , and the people ( like myself ) who buy there have learned to be satisfied with what we're able to get . And if you're not happy ? Well , then you leave and take your dollars/pounds/euros elsewhere . Of course , then you're no longer factored into the equation and aren't seen as a potential customer for some reason . The more mainstream and above board selling of porn on cable could open up a whole new audience who do demand a certain level of quality before they'll pay anything . Isn't it possible to access this audience ( if it truly exists ) somehow ?
There was a show on TV here a few weeks ago, about the porn industry, that featured an interview with Bill Asher, who is the president of Vivid He said that out of the 80,000,000 homes in the US that have cable or satellite TV, 10% occasionally order pay-per-view porn (they can get the exact numbers). So, let's assume that those 8 million homes watch 6 movies a year. On my cable system, a 90 minute feature (they're nearly all features, with Brianna Banks and the like) costs $7. That's $42 per home, times 8 million homes, which turns out to be 336 million dollars a year. Some of that money goes to the cable companies, some to the Vivids and the Wickeds of the world. And these companies also sell to hotels, and sell original DVD's, and sell compilation tapes. No wonder they have tons of money, a lot more than the gonzo companies.
This Bill Asher has an MBA from Dartmouth business school, one of the best schools in the US (and, he's handsome). There's no doubt he and his kind know how to exploit the masses in multiple ways. And, to think he does it without any DAP!
Back to Nevaquit's original question about what makes an intense scene. From my perspective as a viewer and reviewer, those rare intense performances have these three things in common:
1. The actress likes sex, she doesn't have to be paid to like it, or act as if she likes it. 2. She's comfortable in front of the camera. 3. She's paired with an actor that she feels a decent amount of attraction for, either physical and/or emotional, however fleeting.
A crummy actor or director can ruin this situation , of course, but the better ones, one hopes, have enough sense to recognize when they have the above three things in hand.
My take on why gonzo is so automated (boring) these days starts with some of the people that buy those videos in the first place. Everytime someone complaints: I don't want to see the guy, the less of the guy the better; I can't see the girl's body (completely), I don't want to see his ass, ..and the most silly complaint of all: The guy is on the way!....Porn Producers read all that whining and instead of putting the blame on the camera guy for doing a louzy job on capturing the sex scenes, they put the blame on the guy fucking the girl. ....I bet before filming a scene, the porn stud hear nonsense from directors like <<they want to see your dick not your body>> (like if he was a robot that is able to detach his dick from his ass) ...so, what we get in 90% of porn is what I call the 45 degrees sindrome...The porn stud is allowed to touch the girl with his dick only. He has to constantly keep his distance from the girl even thou he is so close to her, keeping a almost perfect 45 degrees angle at all times (He has to "Open Up") ..giving way to weird positions that of course after watching them so many times, porn fans believe that's normal. ..Even further, the guy is not allowed to kiss, caress her body, why? ..because, he will get on the way! ..."people want to see the girl, not the guy"...Thats what porn producers of gonzo believe, forgetting that they are making HETERO porn. In that means TWO people, 1 Male 1 Female. ....The proof of what I'm sayin is found in the behind the scenes footage, which many people find hotter than the main video. ..why? ..because, in the behind the scenes footage the 45 degrees sindrome is never found. Everybody is loose, just fucking, talking, smiling at their own natural pace, and more important, the camera guy is not asking the porn stud to "open Up". ..So,there ..why so many videos with not heat? because to many raincoaters ask for it without them knowing it. ..and oh yes, because porn producers do not use their imagination. ..It's easy to add heat with tease. Just let me see the girl taking her clothes off slowly. Gibve the slutty clothing a break some times; make the girl wear jeans and a simple tshirt or something classy like stocking and stilletos. ...and let the guy fuck her with his entire body not part of it. ..if the camera guy can't capture the heat and find the best angle, send him home to grow tomatos and get some one else that can do the job. .............errr....what was the question, again?? ....but, Seriously, I refuse to believe that the only way to make a good porn video is spending half of million dollars. ...Is not how much money you put on a porn video but how much of your brain.
Bingo Renee! As a performer, I completely agree with your perspective as a viewer and reviewer regarding those three things an intense scene has in common. And i'll turn your concluding sentence into a #4: The "director" keeps his/her mouth shut when they have the first three things in hand, and just lets the performers do what they do best ; ) careena
Nothing says I love you so much as a tongue in the ass. 2884 Posts 1/03
Posted - Feb 23 2004 : 6:57PM
Last night I was viewing a 9 min. clip from an old Marc Dorcel video. It started with Karen Lancaume riding some guy in RCA and leaning back on him. Not an unusual position. What came next was though. While screwing her, the guys hands started to roam her body. Not just her breasts, which is rare enough these days, but her stomach, sides, thighs. He was stroking her, just like people do in real life. It was pretty hot. To top it off, he moved out from directly behind her to kiss her breasts and then her mouth. I can't tell you how many times I've wondered how guys could keep themselves from initiating this kind of contact during a sexual union. On the hopeful side, with Ferrara. Holmes and Stefano leading the way, there seems to be a lot more kissing going on. More talking would work, too. Headless meat puppets are only good for circus acts. Another factor to take into account when discussing the lack of passion and intensity in porn is the reliance on teenagers. They are inexperienced, unpredictable and probably more unreliable. Sexually, they're in over their heads. There might be a charm to that, but a more confident, self assured woman makes a better scene because, frankly, she's a better lay.
Thanks, Careena, for agreeing with what I thought.
Some (not all) directors will say that the scenes they film are all about the girl, but then you watch their behind-the-scenes footage, you can see that it's really about a bunch of guys yukking it up like they're in a locker room. The girl is just some incidental being that they need to have around so they can film the scene, she's a body that they use so the guys have a place to put their dicks (sorry for being so blunt).
And even the well-known directors occasionally are like this, so I've found it's no guarantee that if you stick with your favorite ones, you can always be assured that they will deliver something half way decent.
I've got to say, Michael Stefano is more consistent this way than just about any other director I've watched. He at least makes the effort to talk to an actress nicely, and not make fun of her, or paw at her like she's a piece of meat when he touches her.
This is really puzzling to me. Given porn budgets, there are a lot of thing you can't do they way they do it on "real" films. But hey zoos krisco! Hasn't anyone ever heard of a closed set for a love scene!?! It doesn't cost anymore than having all your asshole friends wandering around making rabbit ears behind each other's heads, and it just might help the performers relax and enjoy themselves a little. Cuts down the cattering bill too.
Every time I shoot I try to combine the three points (1) the Tease (2) the Sex or (3) the Intensity. Of course it doesn't work out perfectly every time.
I found out that the key elements are time and casting. You need the right talent and take the necessary time. But even that is not a guarantee. Everybody on set is human and gives sometimes good and sometimes great performance.
I'd probably say that one of the reasons you don't get all three is simple: its art and we are describing the perfect scene.
If every scene filmed managed to hit all these areas on point,we wouldn't appreciate the few that actually do! In an industry that does pump out quantity, quality will always suffer, but it just ain't that easy to generate perfection!
I actually find the challenge of identifying my likes (or moods) and sifting through the tons of porn produce monthly -- attempting to find titles that appeal --kinda thrilling! Besides, if it weren't for the ole hit-and-miss, I wouldn't have found so many areas of interest, genres, and new faces that I've come to enjoy!
