January 23, 2007

High Definition Porn . . . Too Much? "Pornography has long helped drive the adoption of new technology, from the printing press to the videocassette. Now pornographic movie studios are staying ahead of the curve by releasing high-definition DVDs. They have discovered that the technology is sometimes not so sexy. The high-definition format is accentuating imperfections in the actors — from a little extra cellulite on a leg to wrinkles around the eyes."

Within the industry, the issue seems to have created a difference in perspective that cuts roughly along gender lines. Some male actors have begun using makeup to mitigate wrinkles or facial flaws, but generally they, and the male directors, are less worried about high-definition’s glare and more enamored of the technology. Ms. Daniels said that attitude was just so typical of men. . . . Still, Ms. Jane likes the technology, as does her close friend Kirsten Price, 25, who appeared in “Manhunters” and “Just Like That.” “HD is great because people want to see how people really look,” Ms. Price said. “People just want to see what’s real.” Ms. Price is allowing them to do so, mostly. She had laser treatments to diminish tiny purple veins on her thighs that weren’t visible to viewers before.

posted by petebest 17 years ago
  • Sony isn't in any position to be choosy over its business right now. I'm surprised they would make a decision this short-sighted. With pr0n bigger than Hollywood, they could create demand for their format all-round, and move lots of units. But what do I know..?
  • Sure I read an article recently debunking the myth that porn was bigger than Hollywood, but my google-fu has failed me ... Surely no-one's expecting Sony to make any rational decisions?
  • Maybe it isn't -- it's what I understood, though. Regardless, it's not small business.
  • Depends on the actors involved. Well, dangnabit, somebody had to say it.
  • Thank you, TUM, for throwing yourself on that grenade. We all appreciate it.
  • Heh-heh..."move some units"...huh-huh-huh-huh...
  • I seemed to remember a factoid about the adult movie industry having had a hand (so to speak) in the triumph of VHS over Sony's Betamax. When I did search I came across another article on a subject closely related to the one in the post: Next-Gen DVD's Porn Struggle It is a bit of irony that they actually downplay the role of porn in the videocassette format war. They quote a figure of $3.6B for video sales and rentals on 2006, which I don't think exceeds the movie distribution business gross.
  • In the doppelganger thread on Metafilter about this, I was cracking up at this comment: This reminds me of when the first wave of gigantic flat screen TVs (60+ inches) came out in the late 90s. I lived in NYC and had this friend who was a total Howard Beach goomba. He would tell anyone who would listen to him, "You godda see porn ondis ting. I swayuh da Jesus you can see every last pimple on da goils ass, you don't miss nuttin." He had a tiny one bedroom and I swear the TV took up one entire wall. The furthest you could sit from it was like three feet. From that distance everything was a total blur but he swore it was the greatest thing ever. Comedy gold.
  • The article says that razor burn is a problem. No kidding. Apart from the pumped up boobs, a "porn star" twat shave is the icon of the industry. That and the high heel shoes, which may be the only part to not suffer in the HD conversion.
  • You can see every open sore on the guy's leprous wang. Yay for technology!
  • nothing like knowing yr fav porn star has a rash from her brazilian :D
  • I have a theory that the internet has created the trend of men shaving/trimming their pubic hair. It has to do with the accessiblity of pornography and the desire to emulate the guys in the movies. I shall not go into it.
  • When sound on porn catches up to the new HD picture, everything from the orgasm "ohs" to the butt pimples will be gloriously fake. I mean, more fake. I mean hi-fidelity fake. Whatever. It's still naked people...
  • It is a little known fact that the pus from butt pimples is not the same stuff that comes out of ordinary zits. When mixed 3:1 butt pus:olive oil, the result makes for a wonderful lip balm.
  • Some male actors have begun using makeup to mitigate wrinkles or facial flaws Wait, you mean that people are looking at the "actor"s' faces? My boggling mind!
  • the trend of men shaving/trimming their pubic hair. Every inch helps, bernockle... *cough*
  • No one likes to take a walk through overgrown undergrowth. Trufax.
  • This goes some way toward answering (in the negative) a question I've been wondering about: "Is there a point in time at which we'll have made all the porn there is to make?" I mean, I can see a need to continue making films, as there's likely an infinite number of variations on stories to consider. But is it really necessary to keep on making porn, once a critical mass has been produced? We've only so many orifices, and there's a finite number of sexual activities, so is there an exhaustion point where all the porn's been made? Perhaps HD and successor formats will serve to maintain the industry.
  • NO MORE PORN!!!??? Say it ain't so!
  • Depends on the actors involved. So... geezer porn?
  • I can't help but wonder if maybe this will have an effect on any unrealistic expectations folks may be having about their real-life partners' bodies. Yeah, probably not. But it's nice to wonder.
  • What real-life partner?
  • Yeah, come on TUM, this is the internets here!
  • "How come your razor burn isn't as red and bumpy as Jenna Jamesons?"
  • Remember those soft-focus shots of Cybill Shepherd in "Moonlighting"? That's what I'm talkin' about. "Is there a point in time at which we'll have made all the porn there is to make?" Were sorry but 
    petebest
    has encountered a processing exception and must now close. Send email to Porn Support? Yes/No
  • Japan has confirmed again and again that there's always something new that can be done in porn. Let's leave it at that.
  • while I don't doubt that new ground will continue to be broken in the pr0n world (in fact, I'll do my small part to make it so!) I do believe that, contrary to roryk's point above, it must be the case that every non-porn story has been told (over n over again) based on the abysmal cinematic overings available these days. /curmugeon
  • overingsofferings
  • High def promises better views of boob job stretch marks, along with visible Santorum™ adhering to the male lead's member. I can't wait.
  • Visible corn in scheisse! Anyone want to tag that one?
  • new ground will continue to be broken Is that your super-secret way of saying that someone's getting their cherry popped? Hmm...wonder what that would be like in HD.
  • Furthermore, we could see the scars from John Bobbit's stiches. Yummy.
  • as if I could find a cherry to pop around here!
  • I think I have cherry Pop Tarts in the kitchen, you cherry-popping tart!
  • I have a sausage wrapped in a pancake.
  • onnastick
  • Stu Stu Stu! You'll like these jokes. They're simple.
  • oooh! did someone mention pancakes??
  • Monkeyfilter: you cherry-popping tart!
  • > it must be the case that every non-porn story has been told ... based on the abysmal cinematic offerings available these days. I do not recall any previous movie featuring serpents in aeronautic vehicles.
  • it must be the case that every non-porn story has been told ... based on the abysmal cinematic offerings available these days. Jeez, Medusa, are you on a cranky pill or something? More good cinema than you can poke a stick at if you don't mind going outside the usual channels.
  • Go see Pan's Labyrinth. Right now.
  • If you had HDTV porn you could go see Pam's Labia. Right now.
  • Pan's Labia-rinth?
  • I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth (yet), but Volver was quite good. Hah, I dare ya to try to make a porn title from that one!
  • Seconding Pan's Labyrinth. It was marvelous.
  • Volver was indeed excellent. Even aside from the gratuitous boobie-shots of Penelope. Which were also outstanding. Literally and figuratively.
  • roryk, I don't think I have been cranky, but I am, unfortunately, not always in the path to hear about new foreign, independent and small studio movies as they are coming up, so I often don't find the good ones but every once in a while. I had not heard of Pan's Labyrinth, but I will check it out!
  • Girls are icky.
  • Yes. Yes, we are.
  • Does Pan's Labrynth have a good story to back up the visuals or does the Fantasia/Baraka/___qatsi-like experience compensate for the lack of traditional storytelling?
  • Is that the one with Tim Curry as the Devil?
  • Pan's Labyrinth is a fairy tale. A savage, bleak, dark tale. Not for little children, surely. Great imagery, a somewhat twisted storyline, solid acting. Another two good flicks you should catch if possible are Babel (great cinematography) and Children of Men (incredible ambience, may be a little too depressing). Volver was quite good. Hah, I dare ya to try to make a porn title from that one! Uh, Volver could be translated as, eh, Coming Back... : P
  • I think the obvious one for the Spanish defunct is Vulvarrrr; a pirate movie about the netherlands. Sounds like Pan's Labrynth is the movie of the weekend. The other two sound good too, thanks Flag.
  • This thread is supposed to be about PORN! Come on, stay on target! STAY ON TARGET!
  • Give it up Wedge, you can't do any more good back there!
  • Um, er... how's about them pictures of nekkid folks, then? Eh?
  • You don't care for pirate themed vulva movies, kit? Starring: Mulva.
  • Reminds me of my very favorite after-shave: Aqua-Vulva™. I don't wear perfume; yet there's something about Aqua-Vulva.... *continues humming the jingle*
  • I personally prefer Chanel Number 69™.
  • I think there's plenty of porn that hasn't been made yet. I'm no expert, but I've yet to hear of anyone actually using CGI to great effect, for example. Live action tentacle porn, anyone?
  • urge... to answer... too much to endure... Again, look to Japan. CG porn in their hentai computer games is... uh, advanced. As for feature films... no idea, there. But if the level of animation excellence from sci-fi films like FinalFantasy, Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell (films already brimming with biomechanical tentacled goodness) is any indication, there should be something in that venue soon.
  • I use CK's Escape. Mh. *crickets*
  • Is that the one with Tim Curry as the Devil? No, that was just "Legend", which also introduced Tom Cruise's potential as a messiah. No porn in that film that I know of, but then Ridley Scott did censor Eva Green's sex scene in "Kingdom of Heaven", so maybe he's got a clip of Tim Curry Demon on Tom Cruise porn in his personal stash.
  • Lots of porn yet to be made. Porn in space ... with leprechauns Orc porn Porn version of The Wind in the Willows Porn version of Planet of the Apes Porn version of Manos: The Hands of Fate My Fair Laddie -- gay Scottish version of the classic tale with Henry Higgins played by Frankie Boyle et cetera
  • funny you should mention it fuyugare, cause I have a sex fantasy involving orcs....
  • Dabu!!
  • "Get your hands on me, you damn dirty ape!"
  • Go see Pan's Labyrinth. Right now. I went to see it this weekend. Talked my wife into going to see it with me over Babel and The Queen because "I'm in the mood for something escapist." HAHAHAHAHA Damn, that was one gorgeous, gorgeous, beautiful, sad, devastating, did I say gorgeous? film. My very pregnant wife fought the boo-hoos the whole time -- well, the whole time she wasn't shielding her eyes from the brutality. She almost lost it on the way out of the theater when the old hippie burnout in front of us admitted that he couldn't stop crying. Good times. How that didn't get a Best Picture nom at the Oscars, I'll never know. Oh yeah. It's subtitled.
  • *adds to list of will-never-see's*
  • im in ur universe eschewin ur pop-culturez
  • im up yr bum with a HD cam
  • well I just saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. thank you all so very very much for that recommendation. it was incredibly beautiful, brilliantly brutal and lovely and gorgeous. I was really blown away.
  • Me too. I saw it last weekend. I noticed a family with small children in the theater as we sat down. Needless to say, they weren't there when we left. Don't people try to find out what kind of movie they're taking their kids to before they go?? Fun facts: Doug Jones, an American actor, played both Pan and the monster at the banquet table. He insisted on learning his lines in Spanish (rather than having them dubbed), so his mouth movements would be authentic. He also had to learn Ofelia's lines, as he could neither see nor hear her.
  • Nah gah'n see it. Wouldn't be prudent.
  • Whatsa matter? Ascairt of the evil monsters? They're just make-believe, pete. They're not hiding under your bed, right now.
  • Nope. They're in your closet.
  • Boo!
  • Doug Jones also played Abe Sapien in Del Toro's Hellboy. I knew the Pale Man reminded me a character in some other film... Don't let the language barrier and having to read all those little captions make you miss this one, pete. Brutal moments, but also beautiful ones. And at least a plot hole that, sheeez. what was that with the lock?
  • Brutal moments Yeah, see? No. Not even interested. Nope. Great story? Well good. No. Not even a little bit? Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnno.
  • Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.
  • I just saw Pan's Labyrinth this weekend, down at the local artsy cinema. While it wasn't the high-definition porn I was expecting from the comments in this thread, it was still an awesome movie. Highly recommended. Go see it, Petes...there's lots of fascists gettin' kilt. You like that, doncha?
  • Yeah, pete. Lefty rebels hiding out in the woods, fascists to boo against before they get kilt, a nice, breathy lady rebel to cheer for -- it's great! Just watching the guy do self-surgery, you know not only is he a fascist, he's a really e-vil fascist to boot. Not Nazis, sure, but everybody does Nazis. Nazis are easy. Or does your reluctance to see it have more to do with you're being unable to read?
  • And I put in that "you're" as a literacy test. Did you pass?
  • Monkeyfilter: nazis are easy
  • No! Not neither no-how! That's a Big Negatory Good Buddy, capiche? Nein! Nyet! Comprende? Capital N Capital O! Not even! >10 set foot=down >20 goto 10
  • Where do you live, pete? I'm comin' over. And we're goin' to the movies.
  • Shotgun!
  • "You've got your porn in my pizza!" "You've got your pizza in my porn!" What's not to love? Sure, it's a little bit greasy, but it's still good...
  • You mean the rental DVD or the pizza?
  • Reminds me of my very favorite after-shave: Aqua-Vulva™. I don't wear perfume; yet there's something about Aqua-Vulva.... Vulva Original. Uh, wow. NSFW, if that has to be mentioned in this thread.
  • When I go out with a woman who wears Vulva Original, I splash on a healthy dose of Mandom.
  • Gah! *hoses down thread* Go'n git!
  • me, i put a tuna fish sandwich under my arms, maybe one or two behind my ears and then i don't smell like any other guy!
  • *hoses down eeQ*