Poll: Do you masturbate to pornography?

[GayGeek]

In another thread Lee proposed the theory that interviews with "porn professionals" would ruin the fantasy for customers of how porn is made thereby lowering sales. Derek and I countered that the interviews may intrigue people and increase sales.

So I thought I'd do a small unscientific study using the GWW users as test subjects. The poll is two separate questions rolled into one:

1. Do you thoroughly understand the inner workings of how porn is made?

2. Do you still masturbate to pornography?

The first questions whether the "fantasy" aspect of porn should theoretically still be intact. The second asks whether the "level of intactness" has had an effect or not.

I thought about making the assumption that anyone hanging out on GWW understands the reality of porn production but decided that can't be assumed. Some of you probably work in the marketing of webmastering aspects of the business and have little experience on the production end.

Obviously this ain't an FDA-approved research study, but I thought it would be interesting nonetheless.

Now let's just see if this message will create the poll when I hit "submit".

--Aaron

[GayGeek]

This is the thread that sparked this discussion (for those that find this thread in the distant future.)

http://forums.gaywidewebmasters.com/...ad.php?t=31648

[Lee]

After working in the biz for about 6 months porn did absolutely nothing for me any more, i no longer look at it as 'porn' but as 'work'.

10 years on, its very rare that ill get exciting by a shoot on a porn site, it happens every now and again but those times are very few and far between.

Regards,

Lee

[HunkyLuke]

I totally get off on a lot of our exclusive stuff, my 'boner-meter' is how I know it sells and retains

[Jeff@UKSLads]

I have a pretty good understanding of the whole process of how porn is made. However, I actually don't masturbate to it much anymore. I do still get erect at times though with certain scenes and models, so I'm not completely dead thank God. LOL.

Truth be known, I have a wonderful partner who I can share a lot with and our sex life is sensational. While sometimes we masturbate together, there is no need for us to do it all by ourselves. It's rare I know and I never thought I'd see myself in a situation like this. If I'm horny, I go to my partner and very seldom get turned down.

I too have a boner-meter thought that gives me an indication of whether the scene is hot or not. My tastes vary too so I'm pretty sure the ol' boner has a good understanding of what surfers' boners will like too.:thumbsup:

[attis]

It's the model that gets me off, not the the scenario around it. That's why I prefer solos, also because I rarely find two or more models I like together in one scene. Mostly one of the guys is a turn off for me, so it's not masturbation material, even if I still watch the cuter model with some kind of higher interest. But solos with hot guys of my taste really get me off.

I also still have real sex although I thoroughly understand the inner workings of how sex is done.

[nickbaer]

Aaron - do you still make self-porn?

[GayGeek]

Not any more, no. I have enough footage to release 2, possibly 3 more amateur videos, but I have decided not to release them.

I took a few years off videos between my amateur video #37 and #38. I released 38 and heard an immediate "thud" as far as sales go. Not having produced videos for a few years, my fan base had moved on (as they inevitably do). So I decided not to invest the time and energy to edit the rest of the movies. I hate editing anyway.

Now that it's been 1+ years since I released the last one I should look into the finances of how much I made on that video. Might be worth seeing whether it's financially viable to have editing outsourced. Hrm.

But no, I have moved on othewise and am content with this new phase in my life/career.

--Aaron

[coctronic]

I jerk to porn when I see something I like.

I know that the sets are directed and that there is photography staff present,
so the scenes may not be as spontaneous as they appear, but the idea for me
is that that the particular model may enjoy and get turned on by engaging in this erotic behaviour with the idea that others can watch. Kinda like public JO in the mensroom with one or more guys involved.

I mostly buy photosets to use for AVS websites so I don't have complete knowledge of the workings of a porn shoot except for what I hear on the boards and see on some of the interview or behind the scenes type of videos that are on the market.

[dajdomains]

I can't say I understand all of the inner workings of how porn is made, but I've heard in interviews, and read on here that it can be quite a lengthy process. I personally feel the making of porn, kind of kills the "magic" of the true sexual experience. I can't imagine having a bunch of bright lights, and a camera crew filming me while I'm trying to be intimate with a guy I just met a day ago, if that. Talk about a buzz kill.

I kind of find myself feeling bad for pornstars, after all the only reason why most do it are for the money. I imagine it's very rare to find a pornstar who's doing it because they actually enjoy exploring their sexual freedom and liberation through being filmed having sex with random people. It's all about the money. I also feel many directors have knowingly taken advantage of many of them, when they are weak to their knees, because they don't have enough money to pay their bills, or get their next drug fix. I imagine it's quite easy to make anyone drop their pants when they're in such a level of desperation. They twirl in the palm of the director's hand.

The inner workings of porn (and the darkside of it) definitely isn't something I want to think about when I'm getting off, but it's kind of hard not too, especially when it comes to porn from Czech(Prague) and other foriegn countries, and you know most of the pornstars make a living by being paid prostitutes, most starting from a really young age.

It all just leaves me quite shocked, and sad, but then again maybe I'm just over-analyzing it all. I actually just got done reading two great books, "The Franking Cover-Up" by John Decamp which talks about underground sex rings, satanic sex rituals, Paul Bonacci, and snuff films. And Cathy O'brien's book about her being a CIA Mind controlled sex slave for politicians and different world leaders. Also a few weeks ago I watched the documentaries "Not Angels But Angels" and "Body Without Soul" by Wiktor Grodecki which intervews different teenage male prostitutes from Prague. So my mind is quite biased, and is currently seeing the whole sex industry as one huge demonic presence, .

Anyway I personally prefer something more interactive online, such as cam/mic with a friend in real-time, or of course the real thing.

[nickbaer]

Aaron - you could have made 2 movies in the amount of time you thought about this!

Not any more, no. I have enough footage to release 2, possibly 3 more amateur videos, but I have decided not to release them.

Now that it's been 1+ years since I released the last one I should look into the finances of how much I made on that video. Might be worth seeing whether it's financially viable to have editing outsourced. Hrm.
--Aaron

[GayGeek]

Ha! I probably could have. But since I retired from making movies years ago, I thought I'd see how many times I could masturbate to movies during this conversation. You'd be thoroughly shocked if I revealed my current number, haha.

--Aaron

PS, Just kidding. Been dealing with the best event in my life since my husband and I married ten years ago. So it's had me a bit distracted for the past week.

[vaqueros]

Not so much anymore. I've become much more analytical and critical about porn. The technical skills in the industry are, IMHO, sadly lacking, for the most part: shifting focus, bizarre editing cuts, continuity gaps, atrocious lighting, and frankly, directors/cinematographers who appear to have no idea of what their audience would like to see. It's acceptable in the homemade or amateur niches but not in the work of studios who purportedly make high quality productions.

Does anyone really want to sit through a 110 minute orgy? I'd guess 98% of the viewers grow tired of beating off and skip ahead to the "good stuff", the final 5 minutes when all 10 guys cum at once. Have these directors ever actually been to an orgy? Did everyone wait until the final few minutes of the evening to get their rocks off?

How about the inevitable shift in action from sucking and foreplay to fucking in a regular 2 or 3 person scene? We're presented with 5 minutes of closeups on cocks and buttholes but the director/editor forgot to clue us in as to who is doing what to whom by giving us establishing (distance) shots. Hard to keep the fantasy going when you're trying to figure out who the bottom or top is.

Then there are the "is it in" moments, when a cinematographer zooms in to show us penetration but somebody forgot to actually put proper lighting there. So for all we know, it could be soft-core simluated porn because we certainly can't see anything explicit.

Hunk #1 takes of all of his clothes before going down on Hunk #2. Two minutes later, Hunk #1 is on his back with his feet up in the air, and his pants are back on but down at his ankles, with shoes on his feet. So apparently he got dressed again during sex?

Come on, they teach this stuff in Cinema 101 in the first week of classes. Nobody is perfect but there should be at least a minimal effort to adopt some of the best practices of Hollywood productions.

Of course, that's a double-edged sword. I've seen porn where the director was too enamored of Hollywood. 80% of a scene shot through smoky glass, reversed-in-mirror, through leaves of a potted plant in foreground, etc. Hey, it's artsy so it must be good, right? Doesn't really matter that viewers want to see clear hardcore action, not the brooding indy feel of an angst-ridden Parisian indy filmaker.

Then we come to the let's-make-porn-that-isn't-just-porn school of thought. So we get murder mysteries, thrillers, detective stories as the plot. Yeah, I really got off on that hot sex scene right after you showed me somebody getting shot and bleeding to death. I guess there's a niche there but sex-gore-death just doesn't work for me.

And if I see more actors/models who portray passion as I'm-bored-to-tears, I'll scream. Directors, you're supposed to direct them, tell then what to do, show them how to at least freakin' pretend they're enjoing themselves.

Now that I've vented on what I consider to be bad porn, let me toss some kudos as well. Bel Ami almost always has excellent technical material, as well as hot guys, and very high production quality. Eurocreme usually does a very good job as well. The best smaller studio is OTB, whose lighting is almost always exactly perfect for porn shooting and their boys look like they truly love their work. They also understand the porn viewer wants action and results, so you usually get a cumshot (even during lengthy orgies) every 5-10 minutes, not just at the end of the scene or the whole dang film.

As to plots and such, who really cares? I've never met anyone who got off on the clever storyline and likeable characters, blah blah. Porn viewers want porn, not Hollywood classics. Have a little fun with plots and characters but don't ever forget what your objective is...to keep the viewer hot and bothered until he shoots his load.

Found this link on another board recently, happens to be relevant and amusing: http://cdn.holytaco.com/www/sites/de...FLow-chart.jpg

Kevin

[Red Bag Paul]

I LOVE PORN!! and I LOVE TO MASTURBATE TO IT!!!

that is all for now!


:toff:

[derekt]

The answer for me is yes and no.
Yes, I get off daily and sometimes 3 times a day to porn (when I have time).

No, I do not get off on watching our own films. It's not the same. I was there, I know how it was made. I was in production.

However, one question is always asked by nearly every model during the casting process... "Does filming make you horny?"
Yes and no. The concentration is not focused on what the model(s) are doing. The concentration is focused through a small view finder on the side of the camera. That's what the consumer will see.

There's also a lot of "stop and go." in the shoots. A 20 minute edited scene takes anywhere from 45 minutes to as long as 2 hours (once, a top had problems performing).

Before the camera is on, the models fluff themselves to get hard. Once they're hard, lights camera and action.

There's a lot of direction. Stay, Don't move from that position, stay like that, NO! DONT PULL OUT! Do this! Do that!

So watching our own films to get off... doesn't happen. We are amateur, but yet we want them to be hot for the consumer. When we're done with a scene, sometimes it's just a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanna do is get off to it.