I think I like the stocks because they
are so effective, that is the soles are left in a position were they
can't escape the tickling. I personally am not really interested in a
"creative bondage" set up as I am an effective set up. If the ticklee
is ticklish and held in place, then I think it's good material.
That makes sense. I must admit that sometimes I wish I could use the stocks exclusively, with some minor variations. It would make things so much simpler. But if I'm to do several clips with the same model, there's only so much I can do with the stocks before it becomes repetitive and the customers decide to look elsewhere. From a business point of view, using a variety of positions is a way of encouraging people to potentially buy more than one clip with the same model. Not that it always works, mind you.
I've never seen anything from you with the ticklee moving about so much that the ticklers had a hard time dishing out the tickles.
Well, I do like when the tickler's job is easy, since it usually means the tickling can be more intense or at least more precise.
I also liked the foot tickling scene in "He" with Kathy's feet secured up on the padded rod and toe-tied. Another very effective position.
Ah yes. I don't know why I haven't used that one since then. It's a little harder to set up in my apartment, but it's doable. I'll keep that one in mind for a future shoot.
Then again I think any position that keeps the ankles together and secured down is a great tickling position. I feel it's most effective for foot tickling.
Good point. A few other positions do have this feature. One of my personal favorites is what I call the "motorcycle position", which involves the use of my weight bench. It fairly simple but very effective. The ticklee lies down on her belly on the bench, sometimes grabbing a bar in front or above her, with her knees bent so that her feet rest on top of the quadriceps pads, soles facing up. The ankles are cuffed together and restrained to the metal portion. The big toes can also be tied together and pulled down. It makes the soles and toes very vulnerable, and I've found that it's excellent for tongue tickling.
I have to say, I'm sometimes puzzled by my customers' apparent preferences (based on sales of various clips). I mean, sometimes I use a position that I'm sure will please people, but then the clips sells poorly. Other positions that I personally find so-so or highly repetitive often sell better. For instance, in Last Laugh Uruz, I had both models cuffed to both ends of a long padded rod in a kind of "69" position, in that each girl was stuck to the rod but could easily tickle the other girl's feet. I thought it was visually interesting, action-packed, and I figured people would enjoy the restrained tickle fight aspect. But it sold quite poorly.
Another recent clip that disappointed me was the 4th one of the Last Laugh Ansuz series. Both models wore leopard tops and cat ears, which I thought was a cute touch. One was in the stocks on her back, the other one also in the stocks but lying on top of her friend. Since their hands were free, they had, well, an upper body catfight. I added some extra challenge by getting their feet while they continued to fight as best as they could. It seemed like a wild, fun situation to me, and the girls put on a very good show. But again, much to my surprise, the clip performed poorly. I guess the fact that both clips I mentioned involve mutual tickling is just a coincidence. Unless I'm wrong and people aren't fond of that sort of thing? Maybe the fact that I took care of the foot tickling in the second clip turned people off? Would it had been better if I hadn't intervened at all, leaving it a pure upper body tickling clip? Of course, I'm pretty sure it would have been better if a third model has worked on the feet. Still, I didn't expect that clip to fail. Frankly, I could say the same thing about entire series.
On a somewhat different topic (sorry for digressing, but it is my thread after all, hehehe!), another thing that makes me scratch my head is people's preferences in models. We've all read long threads discussing whether looks or ticklishness is the most important factor. Looks do matter, of course, but in those threads most people claim that looks don't matter that much and that they prefer models who are more ticklish. Well, that might be true for those posters, but my personal experience suggests that most people disagree. I've noticed on a number of occasions that if a shoot stars two models, one who's cuter and one who's clearly more ticklish, the clips that feature the cuter models typically sell better, despite the other model being the superior ticklee. I have to say that I find this very disappointing. Thing is, my criteria for physical appearance aren't very strict when I recruit models. As long as they look ok enough and are reasonably ticklish, I'm fine with it. So I find the idea of people not being that interested in the more plain looking ones, even when they're very ticklish, rather upsetting. I mean, am I wasting time and money working with models who aren't clearly above average in looks? Should I turn down models with good tickling potential because of their looks?
Anyway, sorry for going on and on like that. I assume my little monologue there was pretty boring to most people. It's just that writing about such issues helps to put them into perspective. I also figure that any feedback might be useful, or at least informative.
