Friction X
I travelled down to Huntington Beach yesterday to shoot stills and video for a new company, Friction X
These guys aren’t just new, they’re brand new. And being they’re young and smart, they opted to go with a not-so-young but experienced shooter to capture their content. That would be me, the not-so-young and experienced one.
I’m not saying this because I’m not-so-young. If you know me, you know I’m not… so young, that is. But it seems like a lot of not-so-old companies of the young and new variety like to hire young and inexperienced guys to shoot their stuff. Smart move. You’re just starting out and you’re banking on shooters that barely know how to turn a camera on or, assuming they do know how to turn cameras on, they barely know what they’re doing with those cameras in their hands.
I guess that’s because young guys know so much more about what’s hot and what’s cool and what works then older guys who’ve been doing this for, well, forever do. I mean, everyone wants to push that envelope and take porn to “new levels,” right? What better way to do that than with fresh and creative content shooters who are going to make porn like porn’s never been made before!
I’ts amazing how these new guys can capture stuff guys like me never even thought could be captured. (That was sarcasm.) And they do so with camera angles and approaches to content shooting that I sure never thought of, much less thought I could capture.
Does this sound like I’m saying age discrimination exists in porn? Hell no! Fuck that! I’m not saying that at all.
Here’s what I’m saying: I’m saying that some of the dumbest fucks I’ve ever seen have come into this business lately, spending someone else’s money and ending up with shit-on-tape. These dumb fucks aren’t even smart enough to hire a photographer, for instance, who’ll give them a great boxcover. Ooops! I think I just dated myself. They’re not “boxcovers” anymore. It’s clam-shell inserts or jewel-case artwork. Sorry. Guess I’m just an olde fuck who doesn’t know any better.
Anyway, I guess these Friction X lads are young and smart. Smart enough to want some quality along with the heat in their content.
Now let me educate a few of you out there: Directors and shooters don’t create the heat. Performers create the heat. Put the right two people together and heat will surely result. Sure, directors and shooters contribute to the capturing of that heat. They do it in many ways. They cheer lead the performers. They think up new ways for people to fuck in front of a camera and… wait, scratch that. There are no new ways to fuck in front of a camera. In fact, not only has everything been done, it’s been done thousands of times.
I suppose some younger and, obviously, more creative directors and shooters (younger and more creative than me, that is, and others like me) might think up stuff like a donkey punch or other forms of misogyny but that ain’t fucking. That ain’t even sex. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but it ain’t. It’s porn’s equivalent of Jackass. It’s simply misogynistic crap that, in light of some legal cases lately, might get someone prosecuted. Maybe someone like you, you young and barely done anything pornographer with all those new and never-been-seen-before ideas.
And let me set the record straight on something else: I ain’t bitter. Jaded? Maybe. But not bitter. I’m simply amused. Some of you new people really crack me up. Here’s a brief example of what I’m talking about.
I know of a shooter who, a while back, tried to take my gig away from me at a certain company. When asked why he should be shooting for them instead of me, JimmyD, this new and young guy’s answer was one word: “Angles.” That’s right. He knew camera angles I never thought of. Now, I can assure everyone that there ain’t a square inch of air space around two or more people fucking that I haven’t placed a camera. And my camera has been angled in every way possible within that air space. But this clown says he knows angles I never dreamed of. Dude! Put the pipe down for a day or two! When you’ve seen everything I’ve shot–and that would be thousands of scenes and tens of thousands of photographs–then you can tell some potential employer you know some shit to shoot JimmyD hasn’t thought of or already shot.
And before anyone starts thinking I’ve got a big head, let me assure you I don’t believe I came up with anything particularly new either. The guys who came up with the new shit are mostly all gone and they came up with it when all this was relatively new.
Another example: That lovable Skeeter. Skeeter used to regularly come by my office and tell me–sometimes show me by lying on the floor and demonstrating–all the new ways he had invented for performers to engage in sodomy and other sex stuff. I didn’t have the heart to tell Skeeter he hadn’t invented anything new but I’ll tell you what I think Skeeter did invent: He invented new ways to convince people that he invented new ways for people to have sex. That might even be better than inventing what he claims to have invented. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is.
Anyway, I wish the Friction X guys luck. It’s a tough business. Especially these days with so many new people shooting so much new stuff no one has ever seen before. But ya know what? Here’s how I look at it: If someone can stay the course, which takes patience, perserverance, good decision-making, no stealing, and enough operating capital to hang in there, quality will always, eventually, get people’s attention and grab a share of the market. That’s the way it is in all businesses and porn, in many ways is as much like other businesses as it can be different from them.
Because I’m so generous, I’ve posted some images of the very lovely Alexis that I snapped for Friction X. You know, just to make reading through my blather a bit more palatable… if that’s possible.
Posted by jimmyD under It's all the same crap. |