jmsdarke1
TMF Expert
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- Oct 11, 2002
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I'm going to share some of my insight and techniques that I use to produce my tickle videos in the hope that other producers can benefit, and collectively we can raise the quality of what we produce.
I had planned to develop an in-depth lighting article but opted for this more comprehensive one instead. I think we have some great lighting experts in the forum who can help out here and fill in the blanks left out here.
We can take the position that the market is too small to encourage new players or we can grow the market. I think one step in growing the market is raising the quality.
This is NOT THE definitive bible on tickle video production. It's just some of the info on how I do it. I really hope other producers will chime in and add some insight into their methods and practices. Hey, I'd like to learn from them too.
First we’ll look at several aspects of getting the tickle models. I’ll help demystify for some while adding some tiny details for others to help raise their game. Then we’ll look at critical issues in prepping for the tickle video shoot. This section could really be a vital part of a producer’s check list because it’s so easy to forget some of these things as you prep for the shoot.
At this point in my “career” and a fetish media producer, I’m approached by an equal number of models to shoot tickle videos as the number I approach. In this one area of the business, I find it easy to setup at least 4 shoots per month without changing my method. Of course since I shoot this cool stuff in between my real life, I can’t shoot that frequently now, but I digress.
Balancing my approach to the model with (1) the business attitude I’d use when hiring a web designer, (2) a focus on satisfying my needs for the tickle video shoot (type of model) and (3) making her feel beautiful so that she’s reassured and confident gets me some pretty good odds and getting enough models for my shoots.
*Note to the unrealistic minds of the world – This approach will not land you every model you approach as there is no silver bullet.
Clear confidence – I’ve now worked with over 200 models between commercial and fetish media. In the early years I battled both the confidence issue as well as being visibly turned on. I remember attending the first casting call at a modeling agency where I had to choose 6 models out of 20. Dam, I couldn’t remember my own name. 20 hot girls were vying for my attention, and the legs and feet on those girls. Wow! I had to quickly take it back to business in order to get output I could really use.
Two of the most disconcerting things a model can smell on you are a lack of confidence and a lack of a clear plan. Demonstrating clarity of purpose and confidence assures the model that they’ll look good on camera and that they will be proud of the outcome (you’re not an amateur), this is a REAL job (not a fool’s date – or worse), this could help their portfolio and that they will be adequately prepared for the shoot.
This is back to the high school prom – hot girls just aren’t drawn to guys who lack confidence. Practice with a good friend if this is an area where you need improvement because hot girls can smell a lack of confidence like a two month old bag of kimchi under the bed.
I mean you can look at it like this; the worst that could happen is that she laughs at you and calls you up to let you know she’s coming over to slap you silly and call you Susan. But beyond that, it’s not that bad.
Your confidence is a must. This is non-negotiable. Don't mistake cockyness or arrogance for confidence. Confidence based on preperation equals knowing you WILL succeed.
Know what you want – Tied to the issue of confidence is knowing what you want. Just like in real life, women are more secure with someone who knows what he wants. Prepare yourself way in advance of contact with any model for a shoot so that you clearly know what you really want the model to do. While you may luck out and find a few who are willing to play 20 questions with you dragging out each detail of the prospective shoot from you over 15 messages, many are likely to just see your unclear unspecific message and just click to the next message in their inbox.
Remember, if a model is worth shooting, she’s probably fielding other shoot opportunities and has to decide which ones to act on. So focus on giving enough details so that she can first of all decide if she’d even like to be in a tickle video shoot and secondly to decide if she has enough info to warrant a reply, possibly taking the conversation to the next level.
Encourage ideas – While being specific, it’s not helpful to be inflexible. Remember that these aren’t just models, they’re ladies. Let them help you formulate ideas in selecting outfits, scenarios and other areas where they’d like to contribute as long as it doesn’t detract from the final product. Just in case you missed the memo, some of your customers who buy your video clips are likely women. So a woman’s touch in the process isn’t a bad thing.
Revisit & refine your casting call message – Whether it’s Myspace or a modeling site, your casting call message is critical to getting models to answer the call. After writing and posting your casting call based on the above areas of focus (including time and date if not an open call, clearly presenting the shoot as “tied & tickled”, laying out scenarios, listing outfit requirements and mentioning where the end product will be shown) be sure and revisit the post after you encounter models who have questions not addressed in your original message. If one model has a question, others likely do as well. So revisit and revise your casting call to have it work for you and auto generate models contacting you first instead. Imagine that!
Reply promptly (business) – Models aren’t traditionally known for their patience. So check your inboxes frequently after posting a casting call or if you use Myspace to contact models. Models are all to glad to ignore your late response if they fell that you first ignored them. You just can’t out ignore a model.
Show samples of your work – Showing samples of your work either in your casting call or linked to your casting call can tell some models they want no part of this while telling others that want in NOW. For those of you who are worried that some models will decide that they want no part of this, stop worrying. Not all models are your market, only the ones who say yes are.
The quality of your samples should really show things from the model’s perspective so that she can picture herself in the sample and see that she looks good or better yet, that she looks hot. This is where high production value becomes so important. If you’re committed to shooting with a $150 camcorder with your living room lamp, your samples will provide some much needed levity for many a stressed out model as it will remind them of ill-conceived experiments their little brother Tim used to do.
Offer added value – I’ve found it helpful to add a component to my approach with models taken right out of the infamous book “The Art Of War” which reads “Speak to your opposition in terms of their own interest”. Translated this means offer something to the model that she already wants and needs. Ok, I’ll translate this one level further. I also offer to shoot head shots and portfolio pieces for the model at the tickle shoot. So the model leaves with her cash and gets some portfolio shots as soon as I’ve processed them.
I find it important not to rush to give them the shots immediately but rather to ensure that I’m giving them shots that best present their beauty as a model and my skill as a photographer. It’s important to balance this delay with getting them to the model quickly. Do a good job and they’ll thank you publicly later for all the other models to see. Trust me one this.
Know your price – This issue is part confidence and part business sense. Producers new to the scene are often perplexed about what to pay the models. It’s common practice to pay between $100 - $200 per model per shoot. Whatever your price, grow a pair and be clear about it. Don’t be wishy-washy. Here is my pay structure:
$50 - Paid audition
$50 - Referal fee paid to anyone for a model that I hire for a full shoot
$150 - Regular 2 hour shoot
$200 - Topless or nude shoot
$250 - Extended 3 1/2 hour shoot
$300 - Extended topless or nude 3 1/2 hour shoot
Models sometimes do the math – dollars divided by number of hours at the shoot. The prepping topics in the next section will help you offer more value to this financial equation.
At the same time, like any good business man, there will be certain models who you’ll have to be a little more accommodating to get just for the rich production value. Maybe they’re well known or have such a powerful portfolio that even referring to some of their portfolio shots in your video promotion will help your business. In such cases, know your pricing limit and make such deals privately so that other models don’t try and hit papa up for a bigger allowance.
A few of the areas we’ll discuss here are a continuation of the presentation to the model that you’re a confident professional. These also help ensure that your shoot time is kept down to the lowest time possible. These models have lives beyond your shoot and will grow impatient at some point. So prepping for the shoot is something to be taken seriously, and er umm, girls talk.
Consumables – Ok now let’s start with the easy stuff. If your camcorder will be used un-tethered from the wall power supply, be sure and charge enough batteries in advance. If you’re also shooting still photos, have lots of extra batteries on hand and even already opened. Have extra blank DV tapes of recordable DVDs (depending on camcorder type) on hand just in case you go over and need to catch the good stuff. Have extra memory cards for the digital still camera so that you don’t have to stop the shoot just to dump the full card into the computer.
Poses & Scenarios – At least a day before the shoot, settle on the poses and scenarios that you will shoot accounting for the EXACT number of each type of restraint that will be used. Literally lay each restraint on the floor or bed going through each scenario to ensure that you don’t have an unhappy surprise when you come up short. As for poses, look at the work of great producers and observe how the models are restrained. Mimic and master until you can innovate. It’s far better to shoot a great hogtie tickle than to invent some odd thing that no one can connect to.
Props, Furniture & environments – Preselect your props, furniture and room elements before the models have arrived. This includes tickling instruments as well as supports for the models and the things that will be within the camera’s view. Clean the dam room up so that you’re un-kept room remains a notional secret.
One oft overlooked aspect of this area of prep is that a room which seems perfect for a tickle video shoot because of the props and environment may not be large enough to accommodate proper lighting or depth for the camera. So you may need to get really creative with the camera possibly even positioning it outside of the room. This may also require that you temporarily remove some furniture from the room in order to place the lights. Because of all this effort, it’s really important that this all be done way in advance of the models’ arrival.
Lights setup – One of the things in common with all the video producers who have good production value is that they all use professional lights and they use them well. I’ve recently switched to a great fluorescent light kit (DayFlo FX 4200 - http://www.pclightingsystems.com/fl/3200%20kit.html[/URL] )
I wouldn’t say that “I created fire”, but dam if it isn’t awesome to shoot with these lights. Besides providing diffused light from the three soft-boxes emitting the equivalent of 4200 watts while actually consuming 720 watts, the things don’t emit any consequential heat. So the models don’t squint nor sweat or burn from the lights. Now they only sweat from the heartless tickling.
Of course you don’t need this light kit to produce great video, but you do need to take your lighting very very seriously. Like everyone reading this article, I’ve seen too many tickle videos that were distractingly poorly lit. Remember that a room that’s perfectly lit according to your eye is probably in need of some real lighting for your camera.
Lighting setup takes a little time. Not only should you have this worked out before the models arrival, you should also have a plan for how you will move and set the lights of you are changing sets (rooms) during the time the models are there. If you must move lights, it’s helpful to plan for the models to do outfit changes during that time so that everyone is time efficient.
Here are some critical lighting practices to be aware of:
The AC – Setting the AC to be cooler than normal is a very good idea. This is even more important if your lights emit lots of heat. The models body temperature will run high as the action heats up. So the combination of AC, fans, drinks and reasonably timed breaks will be helpful. Now on the issue of drinks I recommend that you don’t provide alcohol since this could make the models sloppy on camera and can even make some of them approach dehydration.
Noise & Screams – Brand new thought – “Tickle shoots can be noisy”. Yeah umm thanks James Darke, not really.
You’ve got to assess your neighborhood to determine how much loud laughter will be tolerated. In case you need to compensate for the naturally loud nature of the tickle video, there are two areas you can address. (1) Use of gags are the cheapest and easiest way to reduce the models noise output. The most effective such gag is really tape across the mouth. But you must then seriously monitor her to ensure she’s both physically and emotionally ok. (2) Sound deadening is the process of absorbing and attenuating emitted noise to really limit the noise level that escapes a space. For tickle videos, one of the more practical ways to do this is through sound proofing blankets. Google “sound deadening” for more info.
Personal Hygiene – last but not least is the issue of personal hygiene. Yes being all caught up in the hysteria of prepping for the shoot you can innocently forget. The models noses will always remember. Just imagine hot models always remembering being tied up and having you all over them, and that they were distracted by your lack of attention to personal hygiene. That should do the trick.
Well that’s it for this issue folks. Don’t forget to visit me at http://www.myspace.com/tickling[/URL] to most importantly subscribe to my free blog filled with lots of foot and tickle fetish photos, videos, interviews and real-life stories.
JD
I had planned to develop an in-depth lighting article but opted for this more comprehensive one instead. I think we have some great lighting experts in the forum who can help out here and fill in the blanks left out here.
We can take the position that the market is too small to encourage new players or we can grow the market. I think one step in growing the market is raising the quality.
This is NOT THE definitive bible on tickle video production. It's just some of the info on how I do it. I really hope other producers will chime in and add some insight into their methods and practices. Hey, I'd like to learn from them too.
First we’ll look at several aspects of getting the tickle models. I’ll help demystify for some while adding some tiny details for others to help raise their game. Then we’ll look at critical issues in prepping for the tickle video shoot. This section could really be a vital part of a producer’s check list because it’s so easy to forget some of these things as you prep for the shoot.
Getting models
It’s a business (not a date) - When preparing to or actually approaching a model for a tickle video shoot, I find it very helpful to remember that this is a business deal in that I am hiring her to do a job for pay, and she is in the business of seeking jobs that promote her visual appeal for pay. So by removing much of the male-female dynamic from the equation, it’s rather easy to strike a deal with available accessible models to shoot tickle videos. The point I’m really trying to make here is that if you approach models with a gig (a job) rather than sheepishly trying to trick them or beg them to shoot with you, I believe that you’ll have an effortless time at it and they’ll come to more easily trust you as a producer. At this point in my “career” and a fetish media producer, I’m approached by an equal number of models to shoot tickle videos as the number I approach. In this one area of the business, I find it easy to setup at least 4 shoots per month without changing my method. Of course since I shoot this cool stuff in between my real life, I can’t shoot that frequently now, but I digress.
Balancing my approach to the model with (1) the business attitude I’d use when hiring a web designer, (2) a focus on satisfying my needs for the tickle video shoot (type of model) and (3) making her feel beautiful so that she’s reassured and confident gets me some pretty good odds and getting enough models for my shoots.
*Note to the unrealistic minds of the world – This approach will not land you every model you approach as there is no silver bullet.
Clear confidence – I’ve now worked with over 200 models between commercial and fetish media. In the early years I battled both the confidence issue as well as being visibly turned on. I remember attending the first casting call at a modeling agency where I had to choose 6 models out of 20. Dam, I couldn’t remember my own name. 20 hot girls were vying for my attention, and the legs and feet on those girls. Wow! I had to quickly take it back to business in order to get output I could really use.
Two of the most disconcerting things a model can smell on you are a lack of confidence and a lack of a clear plan. Demonstrating clarity of purpose and confidence assures the model that they’ll look good on camera and that they will be proud of the outcome (you’re not an amateur), this is a REAL job (not a fool’s date – or worse), this could help their portfolio and that they will be adequately prepared for the shoot.
This is back to the high school prom – hot girls just aren’t drawn to guys who lack confidence. Practice with a good friend if this is an area where you need improvement because hot girls can smell a lack of confidence like a two month old bag of kimchi under the bed.
I mean you can look at it like this; the worst that could happen is that she laughs at you and calls you up to let you know she’s coming over to slap you silly and call you Susan. But beyond that, it’s not that bad.
Your confidence is a must. This is non-negotiable. Don't mistake cockyness or arrogance for confidence. Confidence based on preperation equals knowing you WILL succeed.
Know what you want – Tied to the issue of confidence is knowing what you want. Just like in real life, women are more secure with someone who knows what he wants. Prepare yourself way in advance of contact with any model for a shoot so that you clearly know what you really want the model to do. While you may luck out and find a few who are willing to play 20 questions with you dragging out each detail of the prospective shoot from you over 15 messages, many are likely to just see your unclear unspecific message and just click to the next message in their inbox.
Remember, if a model is worth shooting, she’s probably fielding other shoot opportunities and has to decide which ones to act on. So focus on giving enough details so that she can first of all decide if she’d even like to be in a tickle video shoot and secondly to decide if she has enough info to warrant a reply, possibly taking the conversation to the next level.
Encourage ideas – While being specific, it’s not helpful to be inflexible. Remember that these aren’t just models, they’re ladies. Let them help you formulate ideas in selecting outfits, scenarios and other areas where they’d like to contribute as long as it doesn’t detract from the final product. Just in case you missed the memo, some of your customers who buy your video clips are likely women. So a woman’s touch in the process isn’t a bad thing.
Revisit & refine your casting call message – Whether it’s Myspace or a modeling site, your casting call message is critical to getting models to answer the call. After writing and posting your casting call based on the above areas of focus (including time and date if not an open call, clearly presenting the shoot as “tied & tickled”, laying out scenarios, listing outfit requirements and mentioning where the end product will be shown) be sure and revisit the post after you encounter models who have questions not addressed in your original message. If one model has a question, others likely do as well. So revisit and revise your casting call to have it work for you and auto generate models contacting you first instead. Imagine that!
Reply promptly (business) – Models aren’t traditionally known for their patience. So check your inboxes frequently after posting a casting call or if you use Myspace to contact models. Models are all to glad to ignore your late response if they fell that you first ignored them. You just can’t out ignore a model.
Show samples of your work – Showing samples of your work either in your casting call or linked to your casting call can tell some models they want no part of this while telling others that want in NOW. For those of you who are worried that some models will decide that they want no part of this, stop worrying. Not all models are your market, only the ones who say yes are.
The quality of your samples should really show things from the model’s perspective so that she can picture herself in the sample and see that she looks good or better yet, that she looks hot. This is where high production value becomes so important. If you’re committed to shooting with a $150 camcorder with your living room lamp, your samples will provide some much needed levity for many a stressed out model as it will remind them of ill-conceived experiments their little brother Tim used to do.
Offer added value – I’ve found it helpful to add a component to my approach with models taken right out of the infamous book “The Art Of War” which reads “Speak to your opposition in terms of their own interest”. Translated this means offer something to the model that she already wants and needs. Ok, I’ll translate this one level further. I also offer to shoot head shots and portfolio pieces for the model at the tickle shoot. So the model leaves with her cash and gets some portfolio shots as soon as I’ve processed them.
I find it important not to rush to give them the shots immediately but rather to ensure that I’m giving them shots that best present their beauty as a model and my skill as a photographer. It’s important to balance this delay with getting them to the model quickly. Do a good job and they’ll thank you publicly later for all the other models to see. Trust me one this.
Know your price – This issue is part confidence and part business sense. Producers new to the scene are often perplexed about what to pay the models. It’s common practice to pay between $100 - $200 per model per shoot. Whatever your price, grow a pair and be clear about it. Don’t be wishy-washy. Here is my pay structure:
$50 - Paid audition
$50 - Referal fee paid to anyone for a model that I hire for a full shoot
$150 - Regular 2 hour shoot
$200 - Topless or nude shoot
$250 - Extended 3 1/2 hour shoot
$300 - Extended topless or nude 3 1/2 hour shoot
Models sometimes do the math – dollars divided by number of hours at the shoot. The prepping topics in the next section will help you offer more value to this financial equation.
At the same time, like any good business man, there will be certain models who you’ll have to be a little more accommodating to get just for the rich production value. Maybe they’re well known or have such a powerful portfolio that even referring to some of their portfolio shots in your video promotion will help your business. In such cases, know your pricing limit and make such deals privately so that other models don’t try and hit papa up for a bigger allowance.
Prepping for the tickle video shoot
A few of the areas we’ll discuss here are a continuation of the presentation to the model that you’re a confident professional. These also help ensure that your shoot time is kept down to the lowest time possible. These models have lives beyond your shoot and will grow impatient at some point. So prepping for the shoot is something to be taken seriously, and er umm, girls talk.
Consumables – Ok now let’s start with the easy stuff. If your camcorder will be used un-tethered from the wall power supply, be sure and charge enough batteries in advance. If you’re also shooting still photos, have lots of extra batteries on hand and even already opened. Have extra blank DV tapes of recordable DVDs (depending on camcorder type) on hand just in case you go over and need to catch the good stuff. Have extra memory cards for the digital still camera so that you don’t have to stop the shoot just to dump the full card into the computer.
Poses & Scenarios – At least a day before the shoot, settle on the poses and scenarios that you will shoot accounting for the EXACT number of each type of restraint that will be used. Literally lay each restraint on the floor or bed going through each scenario to ensure that you don’t have an unhappy surprise when you come up short. As for poses, look at the work of great producers and observe how the models are restrained. Mimic and master until you can innovate. It’s far better to shoot a great hogtie tickle than to invent some odd thing that no one can connect to.
Props, Furniture & environments – Preselect your props, furniture and room elements before the models have arrived. This includes tickling instruments as well as supports for the models and the things that will be within the camera’s view. Clean the dam room up so that you’re un-kept room remains a notional secret.
One oft overlooked aspect of this area of prep is that a room which seems perfect for a tickle video shoot because of the props and environment may not be large enough to accommodate proper lighting or depth for the camera. So you may need to get really creative with the camera possibly even positioning it outside of the room. This may also require that you temporarily remove some furniture from the room in order to place the lights. Because of all this effort, it’s really important that this all be done way in advance of the models’ arrival.
Lights setup – One of the things in common with all the video producers who have good production value is that they all use professional lights and they use them well. I’ve recently switched to a great fluorescent light kit (DayFlo FX 4200 - http://www.pclightingsystems.com/fl/3200%20kit.html[/URL] )
I wouldn’t say that “I created fire”, but dam if it isn’t awesome to shoot with these lights. Besides providing diffused light from the three soft-boxes emitting the equivalent of 4200 watts while actually consuming 720 watts, the things don’t emit any consequential heat. So the models don’t squint nor sweat or burn from the lights. Now they only sweat from the heartless tickling.
Of course you don’t need this light kit to produce great video, but you do need to take your lighting very very seriously. Like everyone reading this article, I’ve seen too many tickle videos that were distractingly poorly lit. Remember that a room that’s perfectly lit according to your eye is probably in need of some real lighting for your camera.
Lighting setup takes a little time. Not only should you have this worked out before the models arrival, you should also have a plan for how you will move and set the lights of you are changing sets (rooms) during the time the models are there. If you must move lights, it’s helpful to plan for the models to do outfit changes during that time so that everyone is time efficient.
Here are some critical lighting practices to be aware of:
- Do not over light - Flooding the scene with too much light will wash out the video. If the lights aren't flourescent, the models will sweat and may even get skin burns. My light kit contains 4 bulbs in each softbox and has individual controls for each bulb. Such kits allow great control.
- Don't shoot into open windows or at light sources - To your eye, this may not seem like a problem while shooting. This will however flood the camer's iris and sharply drop the detail in the video making the viewer have to look very hard to see what you're trying to show. This is a major Grrrr for me when I see it in videos.
- Iris setting - If your camera has an iris setting, you may be able to adjust this to compensate for limitations in your lights.
- Fix it in post - Some times, no matter what you do, you wont have enough light. Learn how to color correct during the edit session to compensate. I'm developing a video tutorial to demonstrate this.
The AC – Setting the AC to be cooler than normal is a very good idea. This is even more important if your lights emit lots of heat. The models body temperature will run high as the action heats up. So the combination of AC, fans, drinks and reasonably timed breaks will be helpful. Now on the issue of drinks I recommend that you don’t provide alcohol since this could make the models sloppy on camera and can even make some of them approach dehydration.
Noise & Screams – Brand new thought – “Tickle shoots can be noisy”. Yeah umm thanks James Darke, not really.
You’ve got to assess your neighborhood to determine how much loud laughter will be tolerated. In case you need to compensate for the naturally loud nature of the tickle video, there are two areas you can address. (1) Use of gags are the cheapest and easiest way to reduce the models noise output. The most effective such gag is really tape across the mouth. But you must then seriously monitor her to ensure she’s both physically and emotionally ok. (2) Sound deadening is the process of absorbing and attenuating emitted noise to really limit the noise level that escapes a space. For tickle videos, one of the more practical ways to do this is through sound proofing blankets. Google “sound deadening” for more info.
Personal Hygiene – last but not least is the issue of personal hygiene. Yes being all caught up in the hysteria of prepping for the shoot you can innocently forget. The models noses will always remember. Just imagine hot models always remembering being tied up and having you all over them, and that they were distracted by your lack of attention to personal hygiene. That should do the trick.
Well that’s it for this issue folks. Don’t forget to visit me at http://www.myspace.com/tickling[/URL] to most importantly subscribe to my free blog filled with lots of foot and tickle fetish photos, videos, interviews and real-life stories.
JD
