Meet the Project: Japanese Porn Cultural Exchange Interview
Most Japanese adult films are made in Japan are made for their own domestic audience. Digital J Media is looking change that by creating and bringing high quality videos featuring popular Japanese adult video stars to an American audience.
How would you describe your project in 2 sentences?
It is about connecting Japanese porn with fans outside of Japan. I want to give westerners the ability to interact with Japanese AV stars and have their feedback be heard while producing the highest quality porn that I can.
How did you even get started shooting porn? And more importantly how did you end up doing it in Japan?
Being in Japan came first. No actually, watching a lot of Japanese porn came first and when I got to Japan I thought how awesome would it be to participate. Already a fan of the content, style, and of course Japanese women I applied to do extra work, “soup man” jobs. You know, bukkake, occasional blowjobs, or any other standard group content where all they need is a dick in tighty-whities, the soup man uniform. Not being Japanese, the response was a resounding no from just about everywhere, even if my Japanese was spot on. They assume no foreigner could possibly understand their customs and manners and they probably have stds anyway. Since then I’ve always had a frustration with how closed off things are from outsiders here (hence this project!). Being persistent and mostly luck I eventually got some jobs with some smaller, fetish productions. After a couple of years one production hired me as a set assistant. I had a direct influence on the end product, but it was still very limiting and I was still frustrated with how I was treated as a foreigner. So I created my own production. Years later, and many mistakes later, I’ve got a solid team that I trust and can really help me push the limits.
Why aren’t there more US porn companies who film in Japan?
Because it’s expensive. Travel, accommodation, sets, staff make it prohibitively expensive to even consider. On top of that Japanese actresses cost at least twice as much as their US counterparts, and stars cost 3 to 10 times more. I believe the first time Maria Ozawa did a foreign production her guarantee was about $40k, don’t quote me on that. Then there are the Japanese censorship laws to contend with. There was one foreign production, Pink Lotus I think, that came in 2007 and went all out. It was a huge expenditure, and it fell flat. They got mediocre female talent and the communication barrier made it difficult to create a product worth the cost. Model agencies generally don’t deal with foreigners and don’t really speak English. The ones that will are usually involved with a particularly unsavory group of people I won’t name. Fortunately with my connections I was able to avoid that and get proper access to female talent. But things are changing and opening up to productions outside of Japan. Because I am the only US based director in Japan I will be playing a direct role in plans within the industry here to become more international.
What are some of the differences between porn production in the US versus porn production in Japan that are surprising?
To be honest, I haven’t filmed adult in the US so this is based on my assumptions of how it works in the states. I think the biggest difference is that the contents of most DVDs are shot in one day. One long day.
Almost all Japanese actresses are cover girls - most actresses that sell get a chance to be the sole actress in a film at least once. And most get swept up into contracts with one maybe two producers from the start, work for 1 to 3 years and quit after it ends. In other words, getting good female talent is difficult unless you are an established production in Japan.
On the set, the actresses are pretty much worshipped. One or two staff are constantly tending the needs of the actress from the instant the director says “cut.”
The porn industry is where you end up if you fail in Hollywood. The porn industry is a doorway to the film industry in Japan.
How is porn and porn actresses viewed in Japan? Are they celebrities? Are they looked down upon, etc…?
Some actresses are celebrities who appear on late night TV. Most don’t make it that big, but being in porn does not preclude them from moving onto bigger things. As I mentioned, if anything it’s a doorway. But the stigma of working in the adult industry is as it is anywhere else in the world. I’ve had mixed reactions from people and in some cases you cannot be a member of certain communities if it is known you do porn because it will bring shame to the group. I learned that the hard way. Japan is an intensely conservative country, but has had a long history of openness towards sexuality. So porn is not viewed negatively in appropriate situations.
If your project succeeds what do you hope will happen?
I hope to do it again and again! Of course. But on a grander scale I hope to bring western fans of JAV closer to the stars and production community in Japan. And on the opposite side I hope to create a conduit for Japanese producers to reach their audience outside of Japan. This all in time of course
Source: offbeatr.com
Meet the Project: Double D Erotica Interview
Double D Erotica is a company that’s looking to bring authentic “real” lesbian sexual experiences to a market that has been traditionally underserved and misrepresented. We sat down with them to learn more about their project and background.
How would you describe your project in 2 sentences?
Double D Erotica LLC, is a multifaceted company that produces adult entertainment and products that cater to a special niche of the lesbian community that is untapped and underserved. Through film production, media via the internet, adult novelty products/merchandise, events and adult literature.
Your project targets the urban black lesbian, are there not studios or companies that cater to this group?
Our project shows real lesbians having real sex, the way we have it and want to see it. Not the way that our sex is generally commercially portrayed. There are companies out there who are trying to cater to the niche, however our approach is to cater not just to the niche but also the industry as a whole, giving a fair glimpse into the real world of lesbians.
How did you end up starting the company?
I am a writer, I wrote my first erotic story 12/17/2009 after arriving home from a serious car accident. I put the story up on a blog and my writing caught on virally. From there an idea evolved to cater to and showcase a viable niche within the adult industry that is underserved.
What has been the biggest challenge starting this company?
Finding the proper amount of funding has been the paramount challenge for the company. We also have some issues with acceptance as far as what we are trying to do from within and without the LGBT community. But we strive to overcome the challenges and present a product that anyone can enjoy.
Because your niche is smaller how do you go about finding models and actors?
We have a vast social media network that allows us tap into models and actors who are willing to perform both on and off screen without hesitation for the company.
If your project succeeds what do you hope will happen?
The exposure that Offbeatr has given us is incredible already, but when our project is funded our intention is to hit the ground running with filming a video and the completion of our website. We will use this first video as the spring board to launch a long term campaign of providing the best in real lesbians having real sex! As the ladies say: Double D Me Baby!
Source: offbeatr.com
Meet the Project: Super Fuck Friends Interview
Super Fuck Friends is a collaboration project brining together mainstream models and mainstream photographers to build a porn site that focused not only on high quality content, but also didn’t take itself too seriously. A place where sexiness and humor can coexist. We sat down with them to learn more about their project and background.
How would you describe your project in 2 sentences?
The primary goal of Super Fuck Friends is to deliver very high quality content, but to never really take ourselves too seriously. We’re all a bunch of perverts in the first place so we’re basically doing what comes naturally to us.
So you submitted photos and content to well known studios like Bangbros, Reality Kings, etc… how does that process work? I thought they shot all their own content? And do they tell you why they don’t accept your content?
Some sites like Twistys have submission forms directly on the site for photographers, some studios are on networking sites like One Model Place, and you’d actually be surprised the contacts you can find on Linked In. In several cases I had direct contact emails given to me by a few established adult actresses that have done modeling work for me. In most cases I get an automated response that they received my submission and they’ll get back to me, which they never do. I have had some good experiences though, Louis B. at Karups has taken interest in our work so you’ll likely see Tilly and a few other familiar faces appearing on their sites in the near future.
You said you guys came together for this project, how did you and the other models all meet?
Tilly and I have been friends for a while, and you might have noticed she was originally referred to as Jezebel Foxx. That’s the name she’s been using on Stream Mates. She had been cam modeling for over a year, but wanted to do more professional looking work, we crossed paths and set up a shoot… and well what I thought was just going to be a standard photoshoot landed up to be an evening of sex toys and squirts. We originally planned on just building a solo girl site, but when I mentioned that I was building an adult site to a few other models I knew in the area… I was really surprised a lot of them asked to be on the site! Turns out if you’re not a creepy guy that tries to bang every model you work with, you’re pretty decent with a camera, and you have a sexy Irish nymphomaniac as a friend… girls will start lining up to shoot porn with you. So what was originally planned as JezebelFoxx.com turned into the Super Fuck Friends.
How did you come up with the idea for Super Fuck Friends in the first place?
Super Fuck Friends was created in reverse… we didn’t have a concept and then started to create. We already had the performers and content and it just sort of turned into the Super Fuck Friends. Things like the itunes based pricing structure is just a reflection of how we feel about current adult websites and how we can set ourselves apart from them. We’re based on the East Coast so we’re pretty far removed from the San Fernando porn scene… however a lot of porn actresses do tour as models, so that’s how we got Pepper Kester to shoot with us last July. Pepper was actually the one who suggested she change her name from Jezebel Foxx to something more Irish sounding. I think that’s when we started to gain more confidence in our content as well… there was always the lingering doubt that maybe we were rejected by these other companies just because our stuff wasn’t very good… but then after working with Pepper and getting her opinion that our content was very high quality and Tilly is an A+ performer… it was enough of a boost to go ahead with the project on Offbeatr.
For people who don’t shoot porn, what’s something they would find surprising about the process?
The thing that’s surprised me the most about shooting porn is how many models I’ve met that are open to shooting porn. I do still primarily work in mainstream photography… that’s why you won’t see my real name or portfolio on the project (although a few resourceful people have figured it out). I think if you can provide a safe and fun atmosphere, it’s not very hard to get attractive women to want to explore their sexuality on camera. I think what’s great too about Tilly is what you see on camera is real… when she squirts, it’s not because we did a douche and she’s just pushing it out. A lot of the porn you see online is fake, but that’s also the kind of porn you see failing very badly right now.
If your project succeeds what do you hope will happen?
If the project succeeds has really become a big “if” right now. We’ve had close to 37,000 views on our project and less than 100 votes. $12,000 was a very conservative goal to launch a site that focuses on exclusive HD video content. The hope was that the project would catch fire and we’d get at least double our goal to invest in a second camera and give us a budget for more creative concepts.
Source: offbeatr.com