How to shoot better porn today.
 

As a follow up to my epic thread "It's harder to shoot porn today than it was back in the old days." I thought it would be good to share some of the things I've picked up over the years.

All can be done for low costs and adapted to most niches.

No help here on cameras to buy, lighting info will be basic and editing basic as well.

It will include advice on creating a product that can market itself. Marketing goes so far beyond where to post and sheep herding surfers to a site it's hardly included in the marketing tuition. It's like telling a telephone salesman to pick up a phone and make more phone calls.

So that's where I will start.

oooooh jesus... nigga be trollin!!!

Don't have any cactus in the shot:2 cents:

Decided to start here to give the trolls their food.

Creating content for marketing.

So many sites think the way to create a sample is to take it from the scene they just shot. Seen a few with samples specifically shot for marketing, not many. So here how to do it the "Markham" way.

It needs to be adapted to the niche, so the shooter will need to think of how to adapt it. To his needs.

Some models have loads of on screen presence, they light up on seeing a camera, get a kick from it and it shows. They need to be real, in the sense that they can't do the same old LA valley porn girl act that tends to look all the same after a while. These are the girls to use for this project.

For this I will use the name Sandra. :winkwink:

Sit down and think who Sandra is, what she's like and how she will come across. Then shape an idea for the sample. It can be her walking through a park, voice over later or a radio mike. She needs to talk. Sandra has to point out why she's worth a sign up, without direct selling. It needs to be real.

Then BTS, in the shower, make up, etc. Then clips from the scene, or not for softer sites like Youtube. Then an exhausted girl sitting on a sofa sweating and grinning.

The idea is to create a lure, not show the whole package. It has to be about her more than the scene. Today there are tons of characterless models on 1,000s of Tubes. This is about selling Sandra. Then pointing to where she is.

Also if a girl can talk about sex, shoot her talking about sex. How she approaches it, what she likes best, why she likes it, how she does it, where she does it and everything else the shooter can think of. She can of course refer to a scene where she did the sex she liked.

Shooting a hardcore sample clip is easy. This one is for my troll friend Ryan. It's very nice to see a girl giving her husband a BJ on her sample clip. but it's been done to fucking death, buried, dug up again, rehashed and cremated. I was shooting this 20 years ago.

Get her to talk to the camera about why she loves a cock in her mouth, as she has the cock in front of her face. How she gives head with a small demo, does she like 69, does she like to share a cock with another girl, does she like it as she feels the cock swell and grow in her mouth, how she feels as she senses the guy is about to cum, can she deep throat, tips on how to give a good BJ. And what it's like for her as a man explodes in her mouth or on her face.

This can be done for just about every singe sex act. Don't over do it, we don't want the sample satisfying the need to buy. It's a sample taste not a full dinner. It needs to leave the viewer intrigued and wanting more. Then closing him on how to get more.

This kind of sample can be updated.

And this scratched the surface, it could be a whole page. But you need to talk to me or figure it out for yourself.

Wait wait wait...

Now im confused? Troll trolling trolls?

Brian advises roses to improve a scene, so why not a cactus? :1orglaugh

Sorry BM if it wasn't you, it was someone.

And always remember a good porn scene generating a good erection depends on the cost of the sofa. Where's that troll and his brilliant ideas. :1orglaugh

Make sure the girl can get wet and isn't dead behind the eyes, scared or uncomfortable with the creepy old pervert filming her.

For examples of what not to do please visit markhamteens.com or whatever his low/no traffic site is.

He is very old and probably forgot the slap in the face "award" we just gave him a few weeks ago.

This is the problem. He thinks it is an "award".

I actually felt a little bad for him when he was standing there in his cheap suit holding the award and beaming like he just won an Oscar.

To work in an industry for so long and only be known as a useless troll must be devastating and is probably hitting rock bottom.

Imagine designing a tour with content created specifically for the tour.

As you can see idiot trolls need feeding.

So it goodbye to epitome.

He actually started 2 separate threads on another board to announce his 'achievement' :1orglaugh

It wasn't a suit. The jacket and trousers were different materials. He couldn't even afford a suit.

:(

Hey Paul, where is an example of this intro video marketing genius idea? You've made one right? Cos it's not on any of your sites.

I'm confused.

Surely you have an example?

LOL

Maybe Paul meant to use this as a marketing video for a tour



This is for his new site "Dirty Old Man Makes Teen Clearly Uncomfortable By Touching Her Without Her Permission".

See how she pretends to smile at his blunt sexual advances? See how she loves the attention the gnarly handed old perv gives her.

I bet she can't wait for him to talk to her about his erection, as he advices.

Thanks for the masterclass Paul! You're a GENIUS troll.

Go big or go home...


http://maxcandy.com/maxwork.jpg

The most important thing in porn is the performance of the model. Shooting a crisp in focus well lit image has never been hard, today it's easy. Model performances are harder to get right.

List of reasons is long and can be dealt with elsewhere. Here I'm talking about getting the right model for the right scene.

The idea of a sponsor picking a model from an agents site or book is the worse way to do it. Often the sponsor doesn't know how to shoot, what to shoot and who to do it with. The girl arrives on set knowing the shooter is hired help and not in control. She can churn out her usual performance and no need to step it up. She has to really fuck up to get sent home penniless.

A porn scene isn't like a visit to the gynecologist. It's not like the girl is working for the shooter as a secretary. It's a girl doing an intimate and personal act and getting something from it. It needs the girl to relax in front of a shooter, share her feelings in front of him and often go to places in her body that are reserved for intimate friends.

She needs to trust, respect and allow the shooter to get the best he/she can. It's a relationship between a team. The shooter and the model. Even on a shoot with a crew it needs the model to take directions and give her best. not just do the same old scene and act she's done or seen before. The shooter often needs to be on a level with her that boyfriends are. Just for a short while.

Shooters need to pick models, on the day they employ her and control her. For him to do this on only a picture is tough. The best method and IMO the only method unless she's a long way away, is to meet her. Assess who she is, what she can do comfortably, explain what you do, tell her how you work. Build in her respect and trust for the shooter. Tough to do that if she knows the sponsor is choosing her and he's hired like she is.

Then the shooter needs to think of creating a scene for her. After a good casting he will have an idea of what she can do well and can create the scene that fits her best.

A sponsor telling a shooter from a picture something lie. "Shoot 3 or 5 solo girl scenes 20 minutes long and 150 stills. A stockings with anal dildo scene, a bed scene and a sofa scene." Or something like that is going to end up with bland content.

The shooter has met her, maybe videoed the interview, great BTS footage, assessed her, written out 3 scenes that he feels she can nail. Then submitted this to the customer. If the shooter isn't able to do this. Get a new shooter.

Also a content provider shooting a few stills of a girl and sticking them up on his site and letting people choose her to do video. Is about as foolish an idea as ever. Shoot a small video of her. Not hard core, just something to show how she looks on video. As we know it's videos that sell porn. So why am I still seeing pics of "the girls I'm shooting next week." ?

Yes. doing what 1,000 others do never did sell well. Doing something others can't was an easier way to sell.

Most online companies could never ever in a million years afforded to fund that production. Well done to you.

Pleased for you. :thumbsup

The fitting the girl to the work idea is something I've been doing 30 years. Always did castings, told girls about what I did, how I did it and everything else. From soft magazine to BG .THEN asked the girl to tell me what she would like to do, before I told her what I thought she was suitable for, here in CZ it meant filling in a form.

The samples idea came to me around 1990. As I was trying to pt together sample tapes for Astral Blue. Soon became clear that cutting clips from the scene was hard and ended with a substandard product. Easier to shoot the sample clip, than to take cuts from scenes.

Sample tapes sold in their 1,000s at $8 a time. And from them customers chose the girls they wanted. Should of edited them for the Astral Blue tour. Only did it like this. Maybe will have to dig a few things out of the cupboard.

My mistake.

http://www.funz.eu/wp-content/upload...oll-Legacy.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/w...g-is-a-art.jpg





ADG

no need to overthink things, turn the camera on stick it in her toto and see what happens next. part of being a producer is being able to work a scene out of girls who show up unenthusiastic/lazy/sleepy/strungout. its great to get energetic talent bouncing off the wall from roxies that acts right but most want to take your money and run doing as little as possible so you gotta work with that and make it entertaining for the enduser.by taking this shit too seriously youre making a bad shoot go even further south

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:thumbsup

http://www.fubarwebmasters.com/galle...667/z13280.jpg

Wowzers...
 

Man it really is a roller coaster ride following Paul Markham... one minute I feel sorry for him, the next minute I am thinking WTF ! That video of Lola made me feel real uncomfortable...

One of my golden rules... dont touch the models ! Now I do know there is a "old school" thought that says otherwise (yes there really is) for example the likes of David Bailey who reckons he slept with 10,000 of his models lol... so hey maybe it's just me !

But I even refuse to ajust a models clothes or hair... even at her request... let alone shoot a video of me doing it on purpose ! I just dont get it... man at the start of a shoot and people would do things that would set the tone of the rest of the day... not hardly a formula for good results... but hey maybe you can get away with that in places like Prague... ?

And here's my 2 cents about shooting porn... preperation, have good communication with the model, make sure she understands in advance what is expected, make sure she is confident at the levels you will be shooting (sometimes I deliberatly shoot a model who does harder levels than the ones needed)

When she gets there put her at ease (even if you are a old man like me lol !) I always make a point of looking after the girls... we lay on food and drink... and some of that hip hop music is always good lol...

Speak to the talent about what your looking to achieve again... yes you've briefed them, but doesnt hurt to refresh their mind... having clarity in your own mind and that of the model enhances your chances of getting the results your looking for and those results being maximised.

I worked in a different mode. If a model didn't give of her best, she had better be able to sell. Or she was on the way home. No point in paying her 200 quid, spending 100-200 quid on film and wasting a day shooting a girl editors wouldn't buy.

In the Astral Blue days it was me and 4-5 other people in the business of mail order solo girl content. Still I wasn't going to waste me money on girls who were crap. They went home.

Today they don't and the sites get their content. And members know this is crap and start to think paying for it isn't good.

No matter how hard you work, the end product isn't good enough. Not good enough shouldn't be in the site.

A. Members.
B. Sponsors.
C. Members
D. Shooters.
E. Members
F. Actors.
G. Members
H. Affiliates.

We fucked up. We think some will buy if we throw enough traffic at it. :Oh crap

Can you name the crap websites where you're allegedly finding all of this shitty porn or are you just assuming that things are the way you think they are?

Then feel uncomfortable. You're describing yourself, not the punter. Yes Lola wasn't the easiest to deal with, Eva shot most of the content we have.

So follow your advice or David Bailey's. :1orglaugh
Your nervousness feeds into the model, slows the shoot down or gets things wrong. Sorry I work at a higher level. If I want something right and the girl can't get it right I go do it for her. From Adjusting her clothes to adjusting her poses. If she isn't 100% comfortable, she can go home. The doors are never shut.

Again it's about shooting at a level that an editor buys a set. Not always right, right most of the time.

Good points, thanks for adding them. Yes you need to make a model feel comfortable. Comfortable enough so if you need to adjust her clothing or pose she doesn't think you're a pervert copping a feel. You might shoot a sample in that mode. Like with a girl wearing a site's T Shirt, a site based on the life of an older shooter shooting teen girls. You might shoot the next one with the girls trying to get into your pants. Shooting different samples is what it's about.

I had the advantage of when shooting a timid teen like Lola, I could get Eva to do it. When shooting a girl like Christine I never had the same problem. Or Sandra who is in the Manwin video.

This needs to be sorted out on the casting. If she's a timid mouse, nothing will change her. Get a girl to shoot her. If she's a tiger, I can shoot her no worries.

Can I put this and others on FB?

http://www.fubarwebmasters.com/galle...667/z13280.jpg

Can I put it in my sidebar and link it to Paul Markham Teens?

Yes the sites that convert at less than 1 in 500. Or do you think content that loses 499 people interested enough to look at the tour is good?

The problem is basic marketing. The tour content doesn't grab their attention enough. Yes 400 might just be curious, wasting time, kids, etc. But every 1 page only viewer reveals a problem. The tour didn't hit them enough to make them stay.

Of course I except my standards are high, I don't always achieve them. But do my best to get their.

Here are some intro clips to scenes I shot decades ago. The idea was to show each girl as herself. If one like Lola wasn't running her hands all over me, great. Because the next one might. The object is to show different girls and through their personality.

Victoria. First time and you would never think it.

Fleur. First time and you would think it.

Fleur. An hour later after she had nailed her first one. See the change?

Salim, cheeky Indian.

Ami, a very happy girl getting dressed to go home. She was actually staying with me while in London, so not going anywhere. You'll have to endure the first bit I'm afraid. :1orglaugh

Got tons of this stuff and as you can see when the market wasn't even 100 times less competitive I was shooting this. Today it's 1,000 times harder to sell. Because of many reasons. And people continue to churn out the same bland scenes.

Thats fucked up. Then you say she wasn't the easiest to work with. wtf! She has a dirty old perverts hands all over her. it was like watching gollum touching her up and pawing at her.

Yes. No problem.

damn bro why u trying to jack the poor old guy's thread? he NEEDS this man, even if your advice is superior...

This is a strange industry. On one hand we have Max Hardcore pissing into girls mouths and generally abusing and degrading them. With loads of people defending him for doing it or his right to do it.

On the other we have me clowning around with a girl, who is smiling at him and you guys are feeling sick.

Strange business.

Fuck me ....... Not again.

.

Hey...
 

Yeah I should of known better... thanks for the props on my "advice" I guess it's just my opinion, and how we do things... I know there are a lot of photographers who feel the girls are there for their amusement !

I know a lot of girls have probably put out to try and find fortune and fame, the whole casting couch mentality... and as I stated even since I see David Bailey (who is hardly a stud) boost about sleeping with 10,000 models it made me realise I had been missing out lol...

The funniest thing I ever had was on a hard core shoot, a girl we was shooting hard solo had come on (great timing) so improvised with a bit of cut off sponge and crammed it up her pussy... at the end of the shoot she couldnt get the sponge back out, so came up to me (sitting at a desk on the computer) cocked one leg up on the table spread her pussy and asked me to get the sponge out !!! I dont often blush... lol, needless to say I didn't do it, but got another model to help her lol...

Big Difference...
 

OK Let me start by saying I dont like the Max hardcore stuff... but he is a performer, I would imagine the girls he hires know who they are working with and what the performance would include (piss and all)

However when a model turns up to shoot with a photographer, she isn't expecting him to touch her up... and make sexual inuendos...

And before anyone says anything, I have shot GONZO/POV... amazingly it was on the suggestion of a model... now as a 42 year old, fat, bald, spectical wearing guy... I was a little shocked, as I didn't see myself (nor do I now) as a stud... but working with girls as a performer, and doing it as the photographer to be is a big difference... just my opinion :Oh crap

You really do think she's smiling, don't you? You honestly can't see how scared she looks and how the smile is painted on and she is actually scared of you? And I don't blame her. A poor vulnerable little girl with a 60 year old man pawing and touching her like an excited kid in a sweet shop.

You are, without a shadow of a doubt, the most unprofessional shooter I've *ever* seen work.

It's an embarrassment to the industry to see you behave in such an abhorrent way.

Maybe you got into this just so you could do that sort of thing to little girls. Seems plausible.

The weird thing is you really see nothing wrong with it, to the extent that you put it on youtube.

/me shakes his head.

Beyond help.

I just hope this idea of you teaching children English is a joke/troll.

Max Hardcore, being the douche that he is - is defended purely as a matter of legal rights and freedoms (perceived or real).

Paul Markham, touching a young girl for no apparent reason other than to touch her and where she is visibly uncomfortable and creeped out by it is - is just creepy. The funny part is that you don't get how fucking retarded it looks and you even post it to youtube to show others how creepy you are.

Do you get the difference Paul?


Just like when we met you after arriving to Brno at that huge supermarket by the freeway and you wanted to go inside and get some coffee and talk... you spent the bulk of the time making very loud, lewd and inappropriate comments about young girls who were walking by, not caring about their age, that their parents/boyfriends were with them and not really seeming to have any real sense of boundaries or appropriate behavior. Clearly no amount of explaining to you that you're an idiot is going to help you since thats what people are doing day in and day out when you post.

You lecturing on anything relating to business is a joke.

Just because you ran a kiosk in the mall selling pretzels doesn't mean you're ready to start telling Mercedes how to run their business. (not that it stops you)

:2 cents:

Just watched the video, what a creepy old fuck.

.

Dude, please. How retarded are you really? I mean, you must be seriously mental.

Nobody cares for your so called advice. Dont you have a life?

That posts says it all. She couldn't care less, so it's you that's getting embarrassed. After shooting her getting fucked. :1orglaugh

https://gfy.com/showthread.php?p=18477460#post18477460

I don't think he's trolling now. I think he *really* can't see how scared and uncomfortable she is. He can't see the smile is painted on by the 50 bucks he paid her.

Nasty stuff.

I don't really need to reply, others above me have already said it.

professionalism, context and being able to read other people.

I don't think he's trolling at all. I don't think thats why he posts here. I disagree with you on this. I've been around him at shows - even at dinners where he was there and he was remarkably quiet and more or less kept himself in check. I've spent time with him in his own town, at his own studio, home etc where he is more comfortable and it quickly becomes apparent that he is a complete and total lunatic.

He desperately needs the attention and desperately wants to be taken seriously and to be respected.

He genuinely is a broken person with a poor sense of self awareness and that has no sense of boundaries. He asked the girl I was with if she'd fuck him for $1000.00. We both just froze and looked at him. She was obviously not impressed. Then, at another point at his studio, he was blathering on and on about getting the most out of a girl, gauging whether they were right for a shoot or not before the shoot starts and randomly asks the girl I was with if she liked to eat pussy. She was obviously not comfortable with this and he proudly proclaims "see!!! she'd definitely do it!"... He's doing all this while it was very apparent that she was not comfortable around him or with the conversation.

I believe that he genuinely believes what he says.

I would guess that he's having an end of life crisis and finally coming to realize that 34 years of work amounted to nothing. He has always wanted to be respected for his accomplishments but is realizing he has no respect, no credibility and no one really cares. This is why he is starting all these "review your paysite" and "how to.." type threads. He wants to be seen as being credible but he quickly gets in his own way with his own stupidity and arrogance.

He has nothing to leave behind, he has nothing to offer and his life is empty. He desperately wants to be taken serious but can't seem to understand why no one does take him serious.

It's a sad way to finish the rest of ones life.

:2 cents:

How to shoot the best porn in the World.

Step 1) Ignore everything posted by Paul. (check)
Step 2) Contact someone successful in the Industry to learn this from (check)
Step 3) Actually make money in porn (check)

My 3 step plan is guaranteed if anyone wants to buy the package from me.

But to whom are you referring when you say 'people' are continuing to churn out the same bland scenes? Also, when was the last time you watched a porn that you and other would consider to be stereotypical LA?

There is a ton of crap out there, but you can find high quality if you know where to look.
http://juliland.com/affiliates/video...san-dimas_V004
http://juliland.com/affiliates/video...san-dimas_V003
http://juliland.com/affiliates/video...san-dimas_V002

..and the LA stereotype is nothing but a remnant of the Jenna Jameson era...
http://vivid.com/movie/the-condemned/
http://vivid.com/movie/beautiful-stranger/

Just a thought. Are people who are so easily embarrassed by that clip in the wrong business? Would a vegetarian make a good butcher. would an animal lover do well working in an abattoir?

Or so long as they earn money do they really care what they get a girl to do or promote?

Do they think older porn stars and shooters only fucks girls on camera?

Or is it just trolls complaining because it's me?

Did you see the T Shirt, was it happening on camera or off camera, was it for promotion or my own collection, was Lola being paid or was it free? Please think before you troll.

So back to the real point of the thread and let the squeamish fuck off and shoot or promote girls getting abused. :1orglaugh

This is why a shooter needs to do a casting. And find out who this girl is, in terms of her nature. Then fitting the scene to her. If she's going to get upset by a shooter adjusting her clothes or poses, don't book her. If the shooter is going to get embarrassed adjusting her clothes or pose. Go shoot landscapes, because porn's not for you. Your nervousness, embarrassment, etc. Will make here feel you have a hidden agenda.

This needs to dealt with in depth and from the star. To be honest before the trolls came in, I had not thought of it.

Just a thought... if you are producing videos to showcase your talent for making models "comfortable" and the model is clearly not comfortable with you - AND that fact combined with your inability to see it, makes the viewer uncomfortable... maybe YOU are in the wrong business?


:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

A vegetarian wouldn't try and fuck the cow before he killed it.

Have you been to any porn shoots? You do know people, as a rule, don't touch up the models and refer to their erections?

In fact, if you tried that shit on an American model I imagine she'd sue you for sexuual assault.

You really are deeply unpleasant.

Awesome.

That pic is sort of like The Last Supper for pornographers.