DOGMA 69

This is an edict long over due.

I’ve been watching porn since, god knows when, and I couldn’t help but learn a few important things.  So here, young porn entrepreneurs, an aesthetic to go for.  This is what I’ve learned:

1. Faces – Drama is in the face, the body parts we’ve seen many, many times.  They are needed, but not emotive.  In general, there should almost always be at least one woman’s face in the frame.  It all comes through the face, especially when a woman’s getting fucked, regardless of her acting talent.  Men’s faces should be ignored, even avoided.

Also, any woman’s face can be a conduit for energy from any sexual activity.  She can carry energy from a sex act not even involving her, if her face is near-by (assuming she’s also in a sex act).  Though, in reality, it’s the face acting as a conduit of her energy, even if it seems to be relieving the energy being created right before.

2. Genitalia – Genitalia is only interesting in regards to faces.  But it is the bread & butter.  They remind the viewer in a very basic way what they are watching and why.  I.e. can’t have a war movie with no guns.

Another way of thinking about it.  The face is what makes the character an individual “person.”  You need to have a specific “person” to have sex, if you/the viewer are to be creating a sex environment.  Because there is the world in front of you on the screen, but there is the parallel one in your mind.

Once you have the “person,” then you need them to have sex.  Genitalia evoke sex, in particular, the thought of the sexual act.  Genitalia, with motion/manipulation, are creating energy, friction, heat, but it stays contained in the film environment until you go back to the face.  The face is how we relate to that energy; it’s how it gets from the world on the screen, into the world with the characters in our mind.
 
As such, a sequence may start on a girls face.  We have a person.  Tilt down and reveal genitalia.  Potential energy.  Manipulation of said genitalia.  Kinetic energy builds.  Tilt up to a face of twisting enthusiasm, and energy transfers out of face and is made “real.”  But in general, it’s preferable to have a continual system of energy being created thru genitalia and released thru the face, with both elements in the frame, by crafty composition—by using mirrors, even.

Another way of thinking about it is each tit, dick, and twat is an energy loci, with their own gravity.  Visualizing it is like visualizing Einstein’s model of time and space, where certain spots condense according to gravitational pull.  These three vertices (well, I guess four technically) have gravitational pull.  Tension is created by going toward them.  Once in the shot, it’s a positive stimulus.  Hence lesbian stuff with faces and genitalia and various permutations is a good source of positive stimulus.

Yet, another way of thinking of it, women are “sweet” and men are “sour.”  Faces have the strongest flavor, genitalia is more like additive spices.  And you can have sweet alone, but not sour alone, or certainly not for too long.  But mix them right and it can work.

Two women kissing is very powerful, two strong sweets together.  But, of course, too much sugar can bore and dull the palette….  And two female faces with a garnish of genitalia is even better.  BUT, of course, effectiveness of stimulus increases with size.  So, while putting in more dicks and cunts and tits would certainly add spice, you lose the eroticism in the details of a close-up of a female embrace.  And in the face eyes and then mouths are most important.

3. Stimulus – in porn, the viewer will give himself to being manipulated, as long as there is continual, positive stimulus.  It is expected, porn is very functional.  You can go crazy with German Impressionistic sets and noir lighting, but the leitmotif must not interfere with eventual nut-busting.

And everything can be broken down as positive and negative stimulus.  Male faces, negative.  Male bodies, negative, but less so.   Female faces, positive.  Female bodies, positive, but also less so.  Genitals, either way, positive.  Female bodies decapitated are not appealing, while male bodies decapitated are ideal.

Negative stimulus can also come from personal, subjective turn-offs, anything from the aesthetic to the hygienic.  For me, saliva, is not erotic.  When not connected to a loci, especially, spit and dangling slobber, it is not erotic.  Further anything scatological, feces, urine, is not erotic.  However, sweat, lube can be erotic.  Male or female ejaculate can go either way, depend on whether it strikes my hygienic reflex.  Further, diversion from the ideal male/female physical form, is negative.  I.e. midgets, hermaphrodites (they count as male), the inordinately old or fat or ugly, etc.  But confidence, character, and engagement are most important in determining attractiveness.

Positive stimulus is texture.  Is emotion.  Is heat or cold (not dead).  Is backstory and drama too.  Ingenuity is also a plus.   E.g. a well composed frame with a phallus, a vagina, a hand and/or some inanimate (or mechanically animate) objects, and of course a female face.  Engagement, again, is good.  Best is for the actors to feel in the environment, engaging the other actors, the camera, even inwardly into their emotions, anything’s better than being distracted.  Nothing worse than have the camera unexpectedly pan up from a money-shot to a see woman cleaning her fingernails—then, invariably, she instantly jumps into orgasmic screaming.

4. Multi-tasking – it’s all about permutations, clever arrangements, that’s all there is to the 4^th stage, which is most about movement, the real “nitty gritty.”  That’s why gang-bangs have been favorites for compositions since those etchings in the marquis de sade books.  The best actresses, best know how to multi-task, using as much of themselves and their body as they can, engaging as many people/things as possible.  Multi-tasking is very much connected to female behavior.

5. Ratio – one girl, good.  many girls, good.  many girls, one guy, good.  Many guys, many girls, good.  Many guys, one girl, good.  Many guys, bad.  One guy, bad.  The rule: at least one girl.  You can get just as much positive stimulus out of having just one girl with a lot of guys, but you need at least one girl.  Though this should not be too surprising, it shows how essential the women are and how expendable/less important the men are.

6. Narrative arc – porn is a lot like pop music, in that it can be great in its simplicity.  (Though, as with pop music, there can be genius in the details.  We’ve just yet to have the Micheal Jackson of porn…  Hmm, that sounds wrong.)

1. First, the interaction.  Of course, some character building before interaction is good, especially if there is an obvious protagonist, who would probably need to be female.  Porn can and should start and end with the female face.  But it really begins with the first eye-contact.  However, sometimes the interaction is with the camera, or interacting within—but not removed, because until there’s engaged emotion, there is no beginning.  This moment defines the relationships.

2. Second, undressing/foreplay.  Of course, both of these stages may be no longer than a minute total.  It can be a quick sequence, but it should: a) be stimulating (keeping to the loci, returning to the face for release), b) keep chronology/flow (don’t have them talk for 5 minutes, then just have their clothes disappear; but don’t have long undressing, if you just meet the characters--in general, the two stages should balance/complement and approx. equal in length), and c) reflect themes and relationships.

Further, a sequence can gather in intensity by going: eye-engagement, light touching/kissing, undressing, heavy kissing/groping, in general, working down.  However, it’s not necessarily down, but from face toward loci.  Commonly this is face, shoulder/navel, then breasts, then inner thigh/pelvic, ending at vagina.  The men need not so elaborate a sequence, in fact, after this stage you need not even see his face anymore.  With multiple women, these stages can become more interesting a) because deals with faces, b) women interact subtly, better, and c), particularly to stir lesbian eroticism, this extra time helps create comfort between the actresses and yet creates tension for the arc.

3. Third, oral sex.  Important, as it transitions from faces to loci, after which faces are mostly just outlets for energy.  But this stage is important to attach faces to body parts.  Attaching faces and body parts doesn’t necessarily require direct juxtaposition; though it is good to get a person’s face and genitalia in the same shot, or within short time intervals.

The order is usually male onto female, quickly, then female onto male.  Or just female on male.  Or female onto female onto male.  Regardless, in this stage, oral sex performed by men is given less attention.  The female face is preferred, thus fellatio gets the most time, as it is most common, though female-female cunnilingus can also be just as powerful (as it is all contingent on having a female face, to fix on, to “engage,” for an outlet to the sexual energy being created adjacently).  This is why actresses constantly have to move their hair out of the way, as if you can’t see the face (in particular the eyes) oral on either sex loses its arousal with no outlet to circulate energy.  Of course, a new outlet can be created through the face of the one receiving—hence, a good way to show cunnilingus on woman by a man is to shoot from behind his head, so as to only get her face.

4. Four, the nitty gritty.  Here is where ingenuity most pays off.  This stage is usually the longest.  For an average twenty minute scene, there might be 1 minute for each of the first two stages, then 5 minutes for the third stage, 10 minutes for this stage, and 3 minutes for the end

In general, the first third is easy, slow, parallel, face-to-face.  The second third is more energetic, perpendicular, off-to-side.  The final third is even more frenetic, but rhythmic, strong, usually in doggie-style, or someway where the gazes are usually disconnected.  It’s first, with the first penetration, which first connects the two.  Then it’s exploring it through each other.  But finally, it ends selfishly, as it must to orgasm.   This point(s) of introversion, where the actress or actor is feeling only their body, is/are important.  This is the only other time a man’s face is needed.  At first, to connect to the body.  And second, to connect to the orgasm.  One should try to capture as many points of introversion of the women, and perhaps a quick peek of the man’s at the end of this stage.

5. Five, the culmination, aka the cumshot.  Now, when men sometimes ejaculate on the small of a woman’s back or something, its obviously best to have it end with fellatio.  And at that point of culmination, the woman’s face then must be an outlet for a large release of energy.  To succeed, she should receive the ejaculate like its nectar from the gods.  And not under some stupid pretense like “mmm, I think spooge is yummy,” but merely as treating it as something important, ergo, gagging on it like its acid, could work as well (though only with an a propos exploitative/aggressive leitmotif).

This is where I feel a lot of directors foolishly choose the moment right before he ejaculates to pan up and show his face.  You show his face when he first goes selfishly inward, further this is less negatively stimulating as he’s not engaging us (or her) but himself.  Men’s faces don’t work as outlets, they are merely for connecting.  Thus, for the last three minutes should end on a woman’s face.  In lesbian scenes, you can’t have the juxtaposition of orgasm with face as easily, but you also have the option of ending on the face of the woman receiving the final orgasm.

In three minutes, the first two can build up to the final orgasm.  But there must be a final orgasm, neglecting the first three stages is bad, but neglecting the last is most egregious.  The final orgasm is when you want your audience to orgasm.  Then the last minute is just cool down, but she should still be engaged in the activity as not everyone’s timing is perfect.

7. Sound – please don’t overdub.  Not just because most overdubs are annoyingly obvious, but because the real sounds are better than the fake ones, regardless of technical quality.  And if she can’t make the right sounds, she’s not going to be making the right faces, so what’s the point?  And no music either.  And not just because bad directors usually have bad music taste (heavy metal, cheesy synthesizer, etc.), and most porn directors are bad directors.  But because music is so subjective, it can easily be negative stimulus.  Personally, I think rap might be a propos.  But that could easily be negative stimulus to the 45-year-old middle-american overweight construction worker.

But I’m referring specifically to music that just serves as “wall to wall carpeting,” that is omnipresent.  However, details are always good, in all things.  In porn especially, like a pearl necklace (a real one) and pumps, gives an almost marxist angle to your average gang-bang.  Thus a little music, perhaps.  But just as the genius comes in the minutia, you can’t fuck with the formula.   I mean, I’m not a purist in anything else, but this is porn, not Brecht, if you make the audience stop and think, then you’ve fucked up.  What you want to see is fucking.  What you want to hear is fucking.  The sex act is mesmerizing in itself, treat it as such, think of what the actors are doing is a noble service.  They are giving a part of themselves.  However bad an actor they are, if they are fucking they’re fucking, and so it comes through the face, and the camera’s there to share it with the rest of the world.