Ask The Pornographer - 2015

[Soilwork]

Hi Jasun,


is it true that when you shoot a series of scenes together (for a drama, ) the lighting must be constant and has the same look, mood and feel to it?


Example : if you shoot some parody porn drama series, some porn with story and acting in it...... you need to maintain the same kind of lighting throughout all the scenes, right??

Well, that's a rule, but not one that you must follow if you have a reason not to.

It's best to have your whole movie have the same look and feel if you want it to feel cohesive, but not if you have a "dark" section...

 

[travis82]

Well, that's a rule, but not one that you must follow if you have a reason not to.

It's best to have your whole movie have the same look and feel if you want it to feel cohesive, but not if you have a "dark" section...

Thank you so much, Jasun. I have learnt so much from you.


Can you provide me with some reasons/examples when it does not have to be cohesive??


As for the "dark" section, can you explain it in detail ??




Thank you.

 

[Soilwork]

Thank you so much, Jasun. I have learnt so much from you.


Can you provide me with some reasons/examples when it does not have to be cohesive??


As for the "dark" section, can you explain it in detail ??




Thank you.

Ok so... The best example I can think of is Dream Girls.

That movie starts out with a cohesive look but to help depict how one of them went on to fame and fortune and the other went on to poverty, they went back and forth between looks... the scenes with Beyonce in the second half are high-res, fine grain film stock, lit beautifully with perfect white balance and deep focus... and the scenes with Jennifer Hudson are shot with lower film stock, lit lower, a much shallower focus and it's got a grainy, yellow tone to it.



Or Natural Born Killers where he mixes bad VHS video with high film stock, digital video and real/CG graphics. It's quite a violent picture on the screen.

 

[travis82]

Ok so... The best example I can think of is Dream Girls.

That movie starts out with a cohesive look but to help depict how one of them went on to fame and fortune and the other went on to poverty, they went back and forth between looks... the scenes with Beyonce in the second half are high-res, fine grain film stock, lit beautifully with perfect white balance and deep focus... and the scenes with Jennifer Hudson are shot with lower film stock, lit lower, a much shallower focus and it's got a grainy, yellow tone to it.



Or Natural Born Killers where he mixes bad VHS video with high film stock, digital video and real/CG graphics. It's quite a violent picture on the screen.

Hi Jasun,


thanks for your reply. I really learnt a lot from you.



If you're shooting a drama, movie......and you want all the scenes to have the same look, mood and feel....does that mean all the scenes (whether it's day/night scenes, indoor/outdoor scenes ,different location scenes) have to maintain the same kind of lighting??



I have an important question.....regarding lighting.....does it generally falls into this two categories....high key lighting and low key lighting??


High key lighting....bright.....(comedy, romance)


Low Key Lighting.....dark....( horror, )



Are there other forms of lighting besides these two ( high key/ low key) that I have mentioned??



What about if you want a scene to look natural ( natural look and feel to it)..not too bright and not too dark. Natural lighting?? How do you go about setting the light ( light stands) for a scene to look and feel natural??

 

[Soilwork]

I have an important question.....regarding lighting.....does it generally falls into this two categories....high key lighting and low key lighting??


High key lighting....bright.....(comedy, romance)


Low Key Lighting.....dark....( horror, )



Are there other forms of lighting besides these two ( high key/ low key) that I have mentioned??



What about if you want a scene to look natural ( natural look and feel to it)..not too bright and not too dark. Natural lighting?? How do you go about setting the light ( light stands) for a scene to look and feel natural??

Oh man... you're really making me go back to film school for these.

Lighting always depends on the mood and tone you want and also help direct the viewer's attention to or away from things. Technically, yes, the only two kinds are High Key and Low Key (although there are probably about 50 other variations like how "spot lighting" is a kind of low key and defused daylight is a form of high-key).

I almost always use high-key lighting for porn since I want to just bathe everyone in light all around so I can see every body part as they move around. If you want to create more shadows and higher contrast, low-key is what you want to do.

 

[smokeshadow]

Since Jason mentioned the GoPro camera in his thread about changing his avatar, I thought I'd hijack his Ask the Photographer thread to show this about the camera's inventor:

 

[travis82]

Hi Jasun,


thanks for your replies and answers. I really appreciate it.



If I want a scene to look natural, how do I set up the lighting?


Natural as in....the scene doesn't come across as too bright or too dark.

 

[Soilwork]

Hi Jasun,


thanks for your replies and answers. I really appreciate it.



If I want a scene to look natural, how do I set up the lighting?


Natural as in....the scene doesn't come across as too bright or too dark.

Honestly? Trial and error. You have to do it by eye. Best to use heavily defused light from three angles and maybe throw a floor light up at your subject, too.

Learn to spot dark and hot spots... Figure out how to eliminate them. Every setting is different and there is no "one way" for that. But trust me on the triangulated defused light.

 

[justinZala]

You said you worked for Fratmen. Have you ever worked with the twins Micky and Ajay?

 

[Soilwork]

You said you worked for Fratmen. Have you ever worked with the twins Micky and Ajay?

No, I left Fratmen back in 2008 before they started. By that time I was directing Cocksure Men for Jake Cruise.

 

[ChickenGuy]

So following on from the other thread, how did you come to be born in Hartford, Connecticut? Was there a family connection there or your parents workplace or something?

Actually what did your parents do as a living? And tell me a bit about your grandparents too, I like hearing about family history. Where were they all from and do you remember your grandparents, were they all Canadian and what were they like?

 

[Soilwork]

So following on from the other thread, how did you come to be born in Hartford, Connecticut? Was there a family connection there or your parents workplace or something?

Actually what did your parents do as a living? And tell me a bit about your grandparents too, I like hearing about family history. Where were they all from and do you remember your grandparents, were they all Canadian and what were they like?

My father is American. My parents are both classical musicians and he was in the US Air Force Band in Washington DC. After he got out of the military, the GI Bill paid for his school, so he went to university in Hartford which is when I was born.

They're still classical musicians and were university professors until they retired in the 00s.

I vaguely remember one grandmother who died when I was about 4 (as I recall, she was a bit of a bitch) but my grandfather remarried so I knew HIS wife and the other two grandparents who all lived to at least 95, my one grandfather living to 101.

My American grandparents were working class, pretty Republican but back when that meant they were pretty socially liberal. Canadian grandfather was very much a Newfoundlander. He was an oil executive and was... quite a character. I'm most like him of all my family members. So I'll live a very long time, probably.

 

[PalacePaul]

Do porn actors watch other actors or movies from a critical point of view? I mean, not to criticize them, but with a "professional" interest. Like: "Hmm, this blowjob was very good" "These guys make an awful pairing" "The fuck part became too long" and the like.
The same question applies to directors.

 

[xboxfan34]

Hey...

Have you ever met Robert Elephante before he died?

 

[Soilwork]

Do porn actors watch other actors or movies from a critical point of view? I mean, not to criticize them, but with a "professional" interest. Like: "Hmm, this blowjob was very good" "These guys make an awful pairing" "The fuck part became too long" and the like.
The same question applies to directors.

yes. Well... the good ones do, anyway.

I watch everyone's work, although I have to admit lately I've felt I'm more on the "look at this horrible scene by this big name director, don't do that."

- - - Updated - - -

Hey...

Have you ever met Robert Elephante before he died?

no, I never did meet him. He was a handsome guy.

 

[xboxfan34]

Have you ever worked with or met a gay porn star, who despite having no problem being in gay porn, still SWORE that he was straight and you just wanted to go "yeah.....that's bullshit."

 

[Soilwork]

Have you ever worked with or met a gay porn star, who despite having no problem being in gay porn, still SWORE that he was straight and you just wanted to go "yeah.....that's bullshit."

A couple of them. Honestly you can tell the gay ones from the straight ones from the bi ones based solely on what they use to get hard. If they have to stop every 30 seconds to look at straight porn to get hard, they're straight. If they get hard by making out with their scene partner or sucking a dick, they're gay. The bi ones get hard by making out with scene partners but remind you every 2 minutes how much they like women.

 

[mikey3000]

We've learned so much during this sexual revolution that there seems no secrets are left. Are there? What is the new frontier of human sexuality?

 

[Soilwork]

We've learned so much during this sexual revolution that there seems no secrets are left. Are there? What is the new frontier of human sexuality?

I mean... if you look at surveys of young people, we're now finding that sexuality is pretty broad and varied... Lots of young men are now saying they're not bisexual but not straight or gay... I've heard the term "Graysexual" and "Pansexual" and I've heard that a lot of young men like to cuddle and hug and kiss but not have sex. I've heard a lot of young men say they're sexually attracted to women but emotionally attracted to other guys.

I think we're about to see a HUGE revolution in future generations... we're going to see monogamy become more of a joke and antiquated idea. As more and more "family values" crusaders are outed as hypocrites, we're seeing more and more people turn away from that idea... we're seeing a lot of people happy with a romantic connection and relationship with someone and sex is just a recreational activity.

I think that now that we don't have any secrets, as you say, people are feeling much more comfortable and willing to break out of that ancient mold of "you must have one partner for love and sex your whole life."

 

[travis82]

Hi Jasun,

the three main types of lamps used when shooting with a film/video camera are Tungsten-halogen lamps, high-frequency fluorescent (Kino Flo) and the HMI lights.


What kind of lamps do you use for your porn shoots or other kind of filming? Tungsten-halogen lamps? Kino? HMI lights?