Non-sexual question about porn movie production

Factual Questions
1

OK, this question has been nagging at me forever and I just have to know the answer.

Whenever I’ve seen any “behind-the-scenes” type stuff about porn movie production (Showtime’s Family Business, for example) it seems that during a porn shoot, the director is often gives direction without any break in the action. Yet, at least for porn with higher production quality, this direction is never heard on the audio track. How is this done? Is it strategic audio cut-and-paste, strategic edits, or something else? Yes, I know some sex scenes have their entire audio track dubbed (badly) after the fact and some actually leave the director’s voice in, but those obviously aren’t what I’m talking about.

I know some Doper out there has the answer.

2

I would guess it’s a combo of

(a) editing (cutting before and after the director speaks)

(b) directional miking (so that anything but the actors is unlikely to be picked up on tape

© loud overdubbing of cheesy music and “sound effects”

3

Usually, the average sex scene in a porn movie runs from five to ten minutes, sometimes longer depending on what’s going on and the number of people involved. The actual shooting of the scene, however, can result in half an hour of footage, or more (two cameras filming simultaneously = twice as much material). In “legit” moviemaking, this is called the “shooting ratio” — the amount of actual film (or video) produced vs. how much is intended to wind up on screen. Hollywood movies shoot at a minimum of 20:1, and usually a hell of a lot more; that’s part of why they’re so expensive, and why post-production takes so long after the shoot wraps, because the director and editor(s) have to cull through hundreds of thousands of feet of film to find the stuff they want to use. (Independent movies on a tight budget typically shoot at no more than 10:1, and sometimes down as low as 5:1 or less.) So it’s not that big a deal, if you know that three-quarters of what’s in front of the camera doesn’t have a chance of making it into the final film.

Also, think about it: If the performance is going well, and the director is getting what (s)he wants for the final scene, (s)he doesn’t have to say anything. But if it’s necessary to say something, to adjust the performance or tell the actors to change positions or whatever, it’s almost a given that what’s going on is not what the director wants and that there’s very little chance of this material ending up in the finished movie. So logically, if the director is talking, it means the performance at the moment is undesirable for whatever reason: “More moaning, grab your tits” indicates that there isn’t enough moaning and tit-grabbing for the director’s taste, and there’s nothing to be lost by briefly interrupting the audio track to request said adjustments.

Regular Hollywood directors talk to the cast from behind the camera as well. Take a look at a making-of documentary some time and watch Spielberg or whoever shouting at an actor from the video tent: “Slowly… slowly… now turn and react! Big monster! Big monster! More scared! Drop the magazine!” There’s a lot more money in this kind of production for cleaning up the audio, but the principles are exactly the same.

4

In some of the porn I’ve watched, the director can be heard giving directions. Of course, it’s not high quality stuff like Vivid. It’s low-rent crap, but it got the job done.

5

While I don’t have any ground to take issue with the rest of your post, you start out with an inaccuracy that belies an unfamiliarity with adult video.

I’ve screened thousands of adult VHS and DVD titles, and with very few exceptions, the scenes are 20 minutes long. Sometimes maybe 19, others maybe 21, but it’s like an unwritten rule: 20 minutes per scene. There are some directors who intentionally break this rule (Rocco) and solo scenes or compilation tapes or cable TV edits may often be shorter due to editing, but I’ve even seen comp tapes loop parts of scenes to bring them up to the 20 minute mark.

Why 20, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s what they think the average wank session lasts, or maybe it was someone’s idea of what a typical sexual encounter should last, and other directors/editors just mimicked the habit.

But anyone who consumes adult video has learned the “20 minute rule,” especially users of VHS decks.

Now, that said, it’s only the lowest of the low budget “Gonzo” tapes where you can hear the director giving orders. Some say that’s part of the definition of “gonzo” – that part of the depiction is the acknowlegement of the presence of the camera. I call BS on that… it’s just low budget, all sloppy camerawork and hack editing.

Even high-volume schlock houses like Anabolic or New Sensations will edit out obvious direction. Sometimes, you can see the “talent” looking off camera at signals from the director or crew, but that’s about it.

As for the specific shooting ratio, videotape is cheap, so economy of media makes 20:1 a reasonable guess. However, time is not cheap, so I would expect that they are closer to 5:1. And the few articles and interviews I’ve read about the process tend to agree with it.

Forgive me for not having a cite, but I’m at the office… :smiley:

6

Oh, I’ve rented plenty of adult videos. Got memberships at three different local brownwrapper stores, in fact. My time estimate was just a gut feeling; I’ve never measured. (Got better things to be doing than eyeballing a stopwatch. :D) But now I’m curious, so I’ll watch the clock on the next one.

My general point about shooting ratio and the amount of discardable material still holds, though, I think.

7

Extraneous “L”.

8

The videos that we do are realtime, which is an unusual approach. We try to have a full hour with no cuts. This is sometimes impractical, and cuts become necessary, so we try to make any transition over cuts as seamless as possible with a change of camera angle.

Anyway, to remove any direction or extraneous noise, I edit the audio track and cover it up with sound from a spot elsewhere in the scene - usually bland atmosphere noise. If the covering audio happens to have a particular sound effect required, like the rustle of clothing or the wet sound of a kiss, then I try to match that up as best I can.

Sometimes I think my clumsy fixes are screamingly obvious. However, I figure 98% of our audience isn’t so obsessive that little quirks of repeated sounds actually matter to them too much. They have other things commanding their attention.