This subject has sort of come up but I don't see a thread directly addressing it, so I thought I'd ask. For those of you who like the idea of feature porn, but are disappointed with the actual features currently being made, what do you think would make them better? What would you change about the way they're made (written, shot, edited, etc.)? For performers (if any read this) I'm wondering whether or not you like making features, and if you don't what you dislike about it? What do you think would make it more enjoyable?
I'm not sure I should answer this since the last few features I've seen have all been good-to-excellent. Kind of feels like my complaints are being answered. I'm very picky with features though...more so then any other genre. Features IMO should have a lot of sex in them, or at least a strong sexual slant. Should be sex positive mostly. Have a good or decent story, or at least a fun slant. Show the sex and show it well. I prefer a lot of cast interaction, or at least the main star in more than one scene. Not too artsy, or at least not so artsy that the sex gets lost. Sex scenes aren't over-directed and have some naturalness to them. Have good editing. Editing in feature films usually isn't that good, and is probably the main problem I have with them.
I wish feature directors would not forfeit sex for story lines... too many features disregard the importance of the actual sex, which I find kind of ironic? I mean basic instinct has a good story but damn I wished I could see Sharon's pussy taking the dick! Lol! The benefit that a feature has over a gonzo movie is that it has the chance to create a relationship with its characters. There should be a ever increasing emotion with the viewer and the characters. So then by the time there is a sex scene you could almost feel the sexuality, sexual build up and emotion.That in theory would make a feature sex scene so much hotter than a emotionless gonzo sex scene. Unfortunately this advantage is not often capitalized on and it often feels like the sex is separated from the movie? Or that it is almost a added extra? I find the sex in gonza more honest and believable simply because it is not trying to be anything else, yes you still have emotions like lust and passion but it is just fucking. So perhaps it is simply down to the acting ability of the actors and actresses? Maybe because the association with the last movie you watched which was all out gonzo cum guzzling movie makes it hard for you to relate to the character that the director is trying to develop in the feature movie? Or maybe it IS just the acting? The right performers for the right roles, a captivating and stimulating story line with mainstream depth and a genuine movie watching factor and intense, believable and real sex scenes melted into the pot would just be a dream right? I love features (especially more recent ones) but I don't believe the sex scenes as much as in gonzo. Keni
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jan 17 2009 : 2:42AM
Features need to be better shot, written, acted, directed and edited. THEN they can get to making the sex better, too many of the sex scenes in features are formulaic, the women and sex too conventional and 'porny' so that it pulls you out of the movie. Greater naturalism and willingness to get freaky would improve matters.
better acting first of all. and when i say better acting i mean male performers too. some act like wood figures. if the acting is good and more serious then sex scenes can be even hard and wild. so better acting, better dialogue, better script and then output is much hotter.
My past is a foreign country. Most things are different there, including word usage. 503 Posts 12/06
Posted - Jan 17 2009 : 10:26AM
I would be happy to see re-makes of old 70's & 80's features, with improvements in lighting, image quality and acting. Acting being the difficult part, since most of the porn era actors were very good and most current actors are at best performers. Hollywood does re-makes (or sequels) with some success. There seem to be a lot of old features that are OOP and would be good candidates for a modern re-make. It would seem to me that such an approach would be cost effective also. Not only are current features poor, many are merely gonzo or comps in disguise. Four guys playing poker and telling war stories in the form of previously filmed clips. It's probably a supply/demand problem (most are). In this case the demand doesn't justify a supply. Too many are willing to buy whatever comes close or looks like it might be adequate. I haven't seen any numbers but I suspect that the demand in the other categories is so large compared to feature sales that features have become loss leaders. Then there is the problem of directors and producers (and even performers) wanting to do something 'different' and demonstrate their artistic talent. They only talent I want them to demonstrate is one that produces an engaging feature story with sex as the main point of interest. In another thread, "Your Vote For Adult "Classic" Films" there are a number of excellent films that would make great re-makes.
Amen to that! RE: Remakes, I'm not opposed to doing remakes if the director makes the movie their own and doesn't just try to recreate the ambiance of the original. To that extent, I liked Paul Thomas' version of The Devil in Miss Jones because it feels nothing like Damiano's film. Thomas made the movie his own work, taking only minor details from Damiano's film. I see no need to remake films Amanda by Night, Sex World, Dracula Exotica, etc. They would loose so much of what made them great and would become hackneyed cash-ins on great films by excellent filmmakers. As for "improving" the lighting, acting etc., that's all but impossible. There's no Kelly Nichols, Georgina Spelvin, Veronica Hart, Jamie Gillis, John Leslie, etc. in this generation of actors. And the five people who can act wouldn't necessarily look right for the part. The production values on many films from the mid 70s - mid 80s were on par with low-budget Hollywood films and light years above even the highest budget features of today. Simply in terms of lighting and production design, 70s movies looked and felt like films, not porn films. Bare in mind that the reason so many 70s XXXers look like hell on DVD is because said copies were made from videos, not prints. For instance, the DVD of Armand Weston's Defiance looks dark and grey. When I finally saw it from film, it was a revelation. There was actually color in the film.
John,I'm agreement with just about everything you said,I cannot comment on the film Defiance having not seen it. You're absolutely right about the acting aspect of porn,Randy Spears and Herschel Savage are getting entirely to old and it seems as that Evan Stone gets entirely over used and I don't mean this to sound negative towards him,I mean it's not his fault that he can act,it just seems like any thing involving a plot he's in it.As far as remakes go I would like to see Paul Thomas do a remake of Little Girls Blue.I know porn and Hollywood when it comes to remakes it usually equals disaster.All that being said I noticed in the poll section that you mentioned there's going to be a remake of Last House On The Left,I can't get over that,having seen it in at the theater in the 80's and you do Know that FJ Lincoln was in the original.
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the unknown pervert Deactivated User
I'd like to stay but I've got a plane to catch. 3243 Posts 5/06
Posted - Jan 17 2009 : 8:04PM
Better acting, better directing, better writing, bigger budgets, and better attention to the little things like locations, set designs, costume/wardrobe, etc. Also try not to strain my ability to separate from reality. Don't try to put some guy with tattoos covering 75% of his body in the role of lawyer, mayor, or surgeon. Don't try to pass off a 30 year old woman and a 25 year old woman as mother and daughter. Know your limitations. I could buy a porn knockoff of The Maltese Falcon, it wouldn't be that hard to find a porn actor that would be a somewhat believable Sam Spade. I would have a hard time buying a porn knockoff of Dallas. There just aren't that many actors that could convince me they would have the slightest clue how to become wealthy Texas oilmen.
The Last House remake is going to be terrible. That I can guarantee without even seeing it. F.J Lincoln was great in it though the real credit must go to David Hess.
I totally agree with this, I think this is what seperates Porn from Adult Films. Gonzo films are SO emotionless, it really desensitizes sex IMO. There is almost a Genre for Modern Gonzo and Classic Gonzo. I would consider Seymoure Butts to be Classic Gonzo, I really got into his films. I have trouble getting into some of the Modern Gonzo flicks, I'm burning to say the ones I have seen recently but I don't really like to knock somebodies work because I know they are trying hard to be successful, and they are successful, so my opinion is probably shit to them. Features that don't appeal to me are ones that have a half ass story line with half ass sex. And when I say half ass sex, sometimes it just seems to be routine, over choreographed or overedited. I personally can't stand it when a feature film repeats the same sex scene from different angles, it disrupts the natural flow IMO.
I'd never though of this, but it's kind of a brilliant point. More power to performers with tattoos for doing what they want with their bodies... but the fact just is that it WILL limit the roles you can play. You can't play an innocent sweet girl if you've got a tramp stamp (or you know... you can, but it'll look ridiculous).
I may be misreading your point with this, but this is actually what I think would fix a majority of the problems with feature porn. Making the story actually about sex. So many features are just a poorly made regular movie + sex. Which is okay, and there's definitely a market for that, since horny people can get sexual ideas from virtually any set up in any movie. And there can be serious sexual heat in scenes in movies with mainstream stories, but it's hard to pull 6+ hot sex scenes out of a main stream story. If the stories were ones actually exploring human sexuality, the sex scenes would flow better, the characters would have better motivations, and the movies would make sense. I also feel like this could help with how routine sex scenes feel in features. If the script is in and of itself erotic, the performers might get turned on by the idea of what's going on in the story. I dunno... :) just my opinion.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jan 19 2009 : 4:23AM
I'm not sure why the sex-heavy features of Svetlana like 800 Fantasy Lane, Bad Girls and F aren't imitated more often, they had very thin storylines but they were light and amusing, well made with often excellent and imaginative sex scenes. Edited by - BlackSix on 1/19/2009 4:24:09 AM
F is a really terrific film; easily her best. Don't know if I'd call it sex-heavy per se as there's about 25 minutes of sex in its 77 minute running time and the first sex scene does not begin until roughly the 15 minute mark, which was rare for features even in the late 70s/early 80s. On a related note, it's quite a shame that there haven't been more attempts to make films like Anthony Spinelli's The Dancers, where just about every sex scene not only fits into the plot but logically enhances it without eating too much screen time. Out of the film's 101 minute running time, only 20 minutes are sex, thus leaving ample time for real character development.
BlackSix,what you said the same point could also be made for the husband and wife team of Edwin Brown and Sandra Winters,they made some excellent features together like Every Woman Has A Fantasy 1 & 2,For The Love Of Pleasure and Irresistible.Those were some very fun entertaining films to watch,the plot kept them very interesting.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think BlackSix was trying to describe premise films where a simple set-up, such as in F or For the Love of Pleasure, would lead into near non-stop sex scenes which, despite their frequency, don't get boring because they are entertaining and have high production values. Irresistible is an excellent movie and is extremely plot heavy so it would probably not be to the liking of those who think For the Love of Pleasure (which is a terrific movie, so don't get me wrong) is the be-all and end-all of XXX cinema. Edited by - john lyons on 1/22/2009 1:40:54 PM
^John,I would say in this instance you're mostly right here,the team of Sandra Winters and Edwin Brown,were a little more plot driven than the team of Svetlana and David I.Frazer.Still it didn't take much thought or imagination on the part of Sandra Winters and Edwin Brown to come with Every Woman Has A Fantasy or Irresistible.These are both great XXX films by the way.Sandra Winters and Edwin Brown,their last couple of projects were a couple shot on videos,Dream Girls and Every Woman Has A Fantasy 3,probably two of the better shot on videos ever made,they kept these short on plot and concentrated more sex,these both featured an all star cast and were a lot of fun to watch.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jan 21 2009 : 3:37PM
Subjectively I didn't notice that there was that much non-sex material, I think part of the reason is because it is actually entertaining so the non-sex scenes don't feel like longeurs.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jan 21 2009 : 3:41PM
Dead on, I'm interested in checking out some of Kimberly Kane's recent films for Vivid-Alt which look like they may be attempting this. My problem with the Vivid-Alt films is that even when the visuals and concept are fairly strong (like the David Naz films) there is no real attempt at a plot and the sex scenes feel too rote.
Hiya Guys, Ok just out of interest guys, I've been harboring a fantastic idea for a feature trilogy under my hat for over two years now. Call it paranoia but I have kept it a closely guarded secret because I have feared that someone would steal it... well certainly the title anyways. The main reason I have been hanging onto it, apart from obviously wanting to be in the movies of course. Is that I never had the kind of funds or sponsors to do it give it what it would deserve and approaching investors and big companies with the project is a little bit scary as of course the big kids could just run away with it and I'd be screwed! I'm getting there with the contacts and certainly since the AVN/AEE it is looking a lot more likely that I could at least suggest it to one of the big name directors. I am so sooo confident that this would be a great movie, it is something completely unseen before and especially a certain aspect regarding the dp's has NEVER ever been shot in the history of porn, yes I did my research. Ok so, I need stop myself from sounding just like every other ridiculous dreamer out there who thinks he is going to reinvent the wheel, which I dont btw, I just know its just a wheel that's never been seen before. So! Getting to the point then... Which feature orientated company, or more specifically which director do you guys think is on point at the moment and would be most capable of directing and producing a remake of a very successful mainstream series, that involves good storylines, comic twists, action, twists and of course has access to the best performers for the job in acting and in fucking? I would really love to send it to Robby D at digital, and after recently encountering the amazing Stoya, I want to even more so now! But I thought I would ask some advise here from you guys, I would love to think that 'when' this movie is finally made and released that you guys could all think back and say, hey, I remember when that crazy asian kid was asking about that on adt! I'm not expecting a rush of responses but hey, if anyone has any thoughts, input or advice that would be utterly awesome! Even a "shut the fuck up dude" is helpful to me right now. Keni BLOG TUBE SPACE
Before giving an answer I think we would need to know an estimated budget for each of the parts of your trilogy. As many directors work for or are contracted to a company knowing the scale of the production would help giving you suggestions.
Hi guys, I felt a bit rude going off topic and I honestly do think that we need a dedicated "What would make features better?" topic as its really interesting. So, I took my ramble over HERE for your answer flash. Cheers guys, Keni
My opinion is that to produce proper plot-based, feature films on porn, directors would need to stop thinking on producing a porn to begin with. Start by creating a proper plot as if it were mean for a mainstream movie that could include sex scenes (as many mainstream movies do, but not-explicit), cast actors accordingly, and then shoot the movie as porn, in the appropriate scenes only. As long as they see it as "porn with a plot", it will mostly come out with a poor plot, and usually with poor sex as well :P "All about Anna" is a decent attempt at this, and there are a few others, mostly from the 70's or 80's. Wicked has some stuff too, but all is still far from what could be achieved in this area. Of course this kind of movies would not appeal to many porn fans, but those can always stick to gonzo. And as porn becames more and more mainstream (or socially acceptable) these days, I think this kind of movies makes more sense as well. Maybe mostly for couples, but it's a growing market, I believe.
^ Great points. I think a key part of a good feature is to tell a story WITH the sex. Too many features have great sex and great storylines, but the two never feel integrated. It's like you feel this break and you know "Oh, we've shifted over to porno mode. Story will return after cumshot." The sex becomes meaningless- it might as well be sex between strangers, if anybody else watched it out of context. I want to see more emotions in the sex, whether they're love or lust or embarrassment or fear of shock or anger or dissatisfaction or anything else. And yes, I know that entails acting during the sex, but it's sad when the acting just stops once the hardcore begins. Features would also do well to stop the marathon fucking that makes scenes drag on long and lose the story, and sprinkle many more, but shorter, scenes throughout.
