Published in Vangardist April 25, 2016

Why could VR revolutionize the porn industry?

VR will revolutionize the porn industry for a few reasons. First off, and most importantly, it is truly ‘next level’ where the consumer experience is concerned. The difference between 2D, or even 3D porn, and virtual reality porn is unambiguous. The experience is intense, and once you’ve tried it, there’s no going back.

Switching to the business side, it’s breathed new life into the industry. There’s a palpable excitement surrounding virtual reality. The production companies are excited because, suddenly, and for the first time in nearly a decade, content matters: content is something the consumer is willing to pay for again. The cinematographers are excited because there is new kit to experiment with: different cameras, different blocking, a whole new way of shooting and creating content. The performers are excited because VR is a way for them to get closer to their respective fans than ever before. VR puts you in the scene, and for the most part, that’s what fans want: to be in the scene with their favorite performer, to be part of the action.

Why does people get sticked to VR videos?

Virtual Reality presents the end-user with a visceral and immersive entertainment experience. I call it empathetic eroticism. VR breaks the 4^th wall. It’s the closest thing to being there. Because VR porn is shot primarily in first-person POV, the consumer not only gets the sensation of being on the set, but of being an integral part of the scene.

What’s the hardest part on your job?

Marketing is one challenge. In order to appreciate how unique virtual reality is, you’ve got to experience it, and that requires Google Cardboard, at a minimum (also why we BaDoinkVR gives away a pair of cardboard with every subscription).

Early adopters, hobbyists, technophiles are easy. They’re educated on the subject. They come to us with an understanding of virtual reality, and its potential. However, the majority does not. So it’s a constant challenge—and don’t get me wrong, it’s fun—striving to convey the revolutionary nature of virtual reality with text and 2D imagery. It’s kind of like trying to turn a great poem into a great movie.

The other challenge is the tech. VR is still in a very nascent stage, in spite of all the hype surrounding Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and all the venture capital being thrown around. The aforementioned HMDs are a great start, but that’s all they are. With them, we see what’s possible tomorrow; today, they all fall squarely under a ‘1.0’ moniker. The cameras, and camera options, are neither great nor plentiful. That’s all going to change, of course, and I reckon foveated rendering will change everything. But right now, the tech, because it’s so new, is a bottleneck.

What did you do before working in the adult film industry?

It’s been a while. I was only a couple of years out of graduate school when I got my first job in adult entertainment. My educational background is literature and creative writing. Back in 1998, I was hired by one of the first adult Internet companies in the world to write erotic copy to accompany its online porn pictorials.

This was before digital photography was prevalent, so we’d buy a deck of photographic film slides from an adult studio, and someone in the office would have to go through the process of 1^st clearing the dust off each slide with a can of compressed air; 2^nd, scan, color-correct and compress the images in Photoshop, then put photos online. It was my job to then pen a story to, ostensibly, breathe additional life, passion, titillation into the pictures.

Which content is mostly preferred by the consumers right now?

1^st person POV is most preferred at this point. I’m of the opinion that that is because it is still so novel, still so new. POV is the quickest, easiest way to convey and experience immersion. Beyond that, it’s up to the performer. The more the performer stares into the camera, talks into the camera, the more the consumers like it, the more engaged with the scene he or she is. Consumers are enthusiastic about large breasts, too, but that’s of course, not unique to virtual reality porn. What’s most fun about your question is that I don’t have to guess or theorize. Our users are very engaged, and very vocal. Everything I’m telling you is reflected in what we read in BaDoinkVR’s feedback forum, as well as in subreddits on Reddit.

Which scenes or fetish can’t be filmed with VR or could be less interesting for the viewers because of limitation?

There are no limitations. However, virtual reality content is expensive to produce, and the market is still very much in the ‘early adopter’ phase. It’s a small consumer segment to begin with, and there is a good argument for producing content that will appeal to a majority of consumers within that small segment. So short answer: You could shoot anything; a stereoscopic 3D video focused on erotic dentistry would be riveting, and probably the most intense erotic dentistry video ever produced, but the market for it would be minute.

Filming in VR puts the actress/actor into the main focus. In which way she/he needs the change the way of acting?

The differences are pretty striking. It’s an entirely different way of shooting. In a perfect world, a VR scene is shot in a single take, so there’s often a rehearsal of the scene before the shooting begins. Additionally, if the production is shot from the male point of view, which most are these days, the male performer is not allowed to move. He can’t reach out and touch his scene partner. He’s not allowed to speak or even breathe deeply. He must lie there prostrate, epitomizing the colloquial term: Stunt Cock. Conversely, the female performer has everything riding on her shoulders. She calls all the shots. It’s up to her, and her alone, to titillate and make that connection with the consumer.

Till now VR is a niche experience with a big male user group. Do you recognize tendencies that women want to see boys get fucked by girls?

I see VR as a great victory for the female audience. A sizable percentage of women watch adult videos. In my experience, as a market segment, their most common complaint has to do with passion and chemistry. Women bemoan the fact that most porn lacks both. It’s rare that you see scene partners indulging in a level of ribaldry that seems ‘real.’ And that’s not surprising. They’re right. Adult entertainers are not actors, they’re performers. And while they’re engaging in an intimate and erotic act, it’s a job. Feigning ecstasy, passion, when you’re not feeling it, that’s hard to do, especially when surrounded by a camera crew. VR doesn’t change any of that. It doesn’t create chemistry between the performers. However, because of its inherent immediacy, because it puts the end user right there, in the room, in the scene, I see VR as a way of bridging that gap, and injecting the scene with a higher degree of passion and eroticism.

Where are difficulties compared to traditional porn filmmaking?

I think I covered this above, but if not, let me know.

Did you already started producing gay VR videos?

Not yet. But I’ve spoken with the owner of one of the world’s biggest gay studios. It’s definitely a project I’d like to pursue. However, it wouldn’t be enough to produce one or two gay videos and release them on BaDoinkVR. It would mean collaborating on a separate site.

You are early adopters of the VR technology in adult film industry. Do you already work on the next big thing in VR industry?

We’re committed to innovation, to pushing the envelope. Always. From a marketing perspective, we were the first adult company to give away free pairs of Google Cardboard with every subscription. It’s my opinion that of all of our competitors, we shoot the highest quality VR content. We are also, first and foremost, a technology company. We have developed native apps for viewing VR content on smartphone, software for viewing on desktop with the Oculus Rift, as well as a VR web player that works with iOS and Android. In the months ahead, we will be producing, among other things, a sex therapy experience, aimed at helping users become better lovers.

It’s also important to keep in mind that virtual reality’s goal is full immersion, sometimes called ‘telepresence.’ Telepresence is only possible if you truly feel like you’re inside a virtual space. And in order for that to happen, you need to address more than sight and sound. There are three other senses that need to be accommodated. So we’re doing what we can to reach that goal. We’re working with Kiiroo, a teledildonic company with a haptic solution; and just last week, I had a teleconference with Inhahlio, whose cloud-based scent platform may be the olfactory solution everyone in adult VR has been waiting for.