The Camera Nerds.
Nikons and Canons and Arris oh my!
This is the first “tutorial” of my narrative. If you’re here because you literally want to learn how to make a porno, you’re going to need to have a camera.
Duh.
If I were you, I’d have one for pictures and a separate one for your videos. I use a Canon 5D Mark 3 to make my pictures, and I shoot my videos on a Canon VIXIA HF G70.
I don’t like making my pictures where I make my videos. Pictures and video are two separate entities. If you were to ever visit my set, you know my work flow would be to make all the pictures first — up to a “posed pop shot” — and then shoot all the video. Immediately after wrapping the video, I’ll grab my camera to take the final pictures of The Money Shot.
(One quick digression: I make all my pictures first as a sort-of rehearsal for my actors. We walk about what positions they like and which ones they don’t. We talk about ideas for dialogue. Shallow vaginas and back molars. Reverse cowgirl and leg strength. And, most importantly, The Money Shot.)
Again, This is all my way. Other directors have their way, and while I’m not going to say there’s a “right way’ and a “wrong way”, I like my way best.
If you’re thinking about buying a camera and you’re unsure, think Fords and Chevys. I’m a “Canon guy”. There’s Sony and Nikon people, too. Since Blacked became such a huge internet site, there’s people making adult content with Reds and Arris — the camera Greg Lansky used to shoot all those scenes. (I honestly don’t remember if he used a Red or an Arri, but it was one cause my old boss at Dogfart had me go look at one.) Each to their own, and no one’s really right…right? So here’s my advice to you: buy the best cameras you can afford — and then master it.
I don’t care what brand you decide to buy, just learn everything about everything: ISOs and stops and frame rates and shutter speeds and bit rates and white balancing and ND filters and gains. No full AUTO settings! That’s the sign of a true amateur. I’d make your raw video 4K, although my old boss at Dogfart always maintained shooting at the highest possible resolutions in order to “future proof” your content. Shoot RAW with your stills camera, too. I’ll talk about lighting later.
(Another quick digression: there’s a huge audience for true amateur models, and that audience doesn’t seem to care if those amateurs have their iPhone set on a tripod in AUTO in portrait orientation a mile away from their bed as they get it on. When OnlyFans became A Thing and I was helping Chloe Cherry make her content, she didn’t care which way I held her phone and didn’t want me to pull out my KinoFlo kits and “light it right” — “my fans like it amateur style!”)
I’ve never done much about sound. No booms. No sound person. I never liked even using external mics. I never wear headphones when I’m making content. Just look at one of my rigs with the rubber bands wrapped around the mic to make it work.
Another mark of a true amateur is forgetting to turn the external mic on once you start rolling. I’ve done it — more than once. It’s embarrassing and you’ll feel like a dope when it happens, so just remember this: when you flip open your viewfinder and hit RECORD, make it a habit to say something like “sound check 123” and snap your fingers while you look at your sound meters to make sure they’re bouncing.
Sounds silly, I know…but it’s way better than spending money to get everyone back on set days (or weeks) later to reshoot all your silent footage.
