a question to the shooters:
 

how many of you guys do everything? me and the guys that I know around the world that have been shooting content for 7+ years do everything, or at least know how to do everything.

we know how to light, shoot, edit stills, color correct, shoot video, edit video, recruit models etc. I don't have to shoot my own video any more, or edit it, however I set the look. still do all my own color correcting and a bit of recruiting. hell, we even had to build all our own websites and figure all that crap out.

seems like the new guys hire others to handle that stuff. how much of the content biz do you handle? do shoot stills and video, and edit it all yourself? do you know how? or do you hire all that out and use just your name?

-bmb

To be honest, you are better off doing everything yourself. Unless you dont know what you are doing in that certain field. If you hire someone else, you have to be damn sure he knows his stuff well.

very true, I see lots of guys starting content companies that I know don't do any of the shooting. it's one thing to stick up a website with a few samples and another thing all together different to produce content consistently, solving all the issues for years and years.

like agencies... they come and go so fast it's a joke, yet they all have great websites and companies set up with 3-5 people working for them in like 2 days. the when they find out how much BS is involved in actually running an agency... they fold.

like the movie business: it's great fun to have lunches and meetings to talk about this actor or that actor is 'attached' and so and so is interested, but to actually make a movie is hard work :)

-bmb

The thing is, some people that 'outsource' their work to a lot of people. You see a sample that appeals to you, you hire them, and next thing you know someone completely different makes you some content which is worthless. People should stick to what they are good with. If you arent good at something, dont offer it and outsource the work to others. Its asking for problems.

I want to start shooting, but before I do, I know I need to learn alot. I am currently studying how to use lighting and filming/photography. Not adult, but I have to learn the basics.

11+ years...

We do everything ourselves!

Shoot, edit and recruit Models in Prague, Budapest and Russia.

Although we have broken into 3 specialist teams now and there is 17 of us now.

Moire Candy
is all about high end award winning Features, we won best European porn feature this year.

Max Candy
is mainly pretty girls and hard gonzo primarily aimed at web market.

And "The Gay Team" shooting bi and gay
most team members including myself enjoy the varity of working on all three teams

Cheers

yes it's a good ideas to know what you're getting into. adult is more problematic than some other types of photography however it's uses the same principles.

personally unless you have your own program I wouldn't start shooting. content shooting is a very low threshold to cross. this is because most content is low quality and can be shot by anyone with a k-mart video camera. and most programs are happy with the quality because it's cheap. in the end it will be the surfer that decides if HQ content has value I suppose. -bmb

Hi Max, I know very well who you are and I also know that you don't personally shoot everything. and does 'we' mean that you personally can do everything? I know you started back in the film days like I did, and then had to unwind all the digital stuff as it came along :) -bmb

Its true, but talent is always the key anyone can buy a pen and paper and call themselves a writer too, but how many make a good living. A damn few and they have talent.

Been shooting in the UK for 25 years and then moved to California shooting for 11 more years. I do all the processes and love digital as its made things so easy. I used to hate messing with fixers and developers. Reverse exposures while developing chromes. I even processed Kodachrome while i worked for Kodak UK

'the world makes room for talent' it should read applied talent. lots of talented people doing nothing but nothing. so can you edit a vid if you have too? :)

this just occurred to me, traffic has more value than content and here's why: traffic is finite and content is infinite. scary thought isn't it?

-bmb

Started over 5 years ago and until recently wore all the hats. Late last year I took stock of my strengths and weaknesses as well as interests. I started to bring people in who were better at things than I am. I still do 90% of the shooting and oversee all of the post-production. But things like recruiting, scheduling, and day to day operations I leave to someone else. My business has been much better for it.

I think that the shooter is the creative soul of the business and that their (my) part of the business is best left creating, while others can manage the minor stuff.

Sinclair

you edit video?

post production and running the day to day isn't really 'minor' a content company is like running any business. in doing everything myself the least amount of time was spent shooting.

so you edit video too? -bmb

I mentioned we are a team of 17 people, these days i would rate myself as below:

Skill levels/actual daily work
Digital Photography: 95%/30%
HD Videography: 95%/30%
Lighting: 95%/10%
Video Editing: 10%/0%
Photoshop: 40%/0%
Web Authoring: 1%/0%
Recuirting: 5%/5%
Sales/Marketing 50%/100%
Producing 99%/100%

I could not disagree more, general content may be infinite, but great content/models are not, there more like a precious, resource that is must be found, like gold.

At a very basic level, i just got Final Cut Pro and will start learning that as soon as i finish this months shoots

very true however most clients can't tell the difference... I've seen clients turn down quality work because they can't tell the difference between good and bad photography but are only interested in the model. this is a large successful program too.

and as far as your statement: "more like a precious, resource that is must be found, like gold" that's pretty much the line the agencies out here take. the cost of production as tippled in the last few years due to agencies ... you might wanna come out here and hang out with those guys... I'm sure you'll have much to chat about. :)

strange isn't it when every house has an apple tree in the yard and the prices of apples keeps going up?

yes quality models are rare however they are usually shot so poorly you would never know they were even quality models in the first place.

not true - you wouldn't be on GFY if there was a lineup three blocks long to pay you for 'gold' Max. and there is a lineup 20 blocks long for traffic.

great content is very important and can draw traffic but traffic still remains king.

I think some of your work looks great...been looking at your stuff since about 97-98 :)

whoops!!!! :)

when I say I can edit I refer to me being an 'assembler' in reality. I can chop footage up move it around, fix color and audio, watermark etc... surfers and most clients would consider me an editor... however real editing is an art form. I'm not ''anal" enough for that. -bmb

I do it all myself. I was watching a documentary on this big art/fashion photographer. He told him them what he wanted, when he got there the set was built,girl ready and the lights all set.All he had to do was show up,was handed a camera shoot the set and then handed the camera back. I thought thats the way to go. lol

Thats how the big boys shoot in the UK, it does seem nice !

I think you might be getting 2 things confused.

Value of product vs. market size.

Example; Does Ferrari have a big market? No. Does that mean a Ferrari is not worth it?

Other example: If any of us worked for 1 USD a day, we would all have lines around the block.

and they do NO post at all. turn the raw files over and walk away...

I know a few top fashion guys, its alot harder than it looks and most play alot of politics with mag editors. It that biz it alot to do with who you party with.

Done everything since early '97. Video/Editing/Photos/Touchups/Models. Learning as I go.

like a DP in mainstream, you need some skills but mostly it's political job.

one think I can't do is MU/hair

To be honest, i am embarrassed by most of my stuff from back then.

luckily for me, the market was hungry enough at time to buy it, and i got paid to get better. I doubt i would survive if i started now, knowing only what i did then.

the value of your product appeals to a small market - traffic appeals to a huge market - traffic has its value as well as content - the question is in this industry which has more value - in the web industry traffic does.

if you up Max Candy Productions for sale and FreeOnes.com up for sale ....................

It was Helmet Newton I dont think the old man had those problems.

Ahhh, my production manager (ex-girlfriend) does that. Yeah, I couldn't do that either.... although I know what I want. I could do the clothes/props shopping, but wouldn't want to. That's her job too.

same here...

Politics, Parties and Self Promotion

Most high end art jobs are like that.

Product Value is a function or Market Size and Product Availability.

I am simply saying I am producing a rarer product.

Is traffic more valuable, sure from a money point of view i would rather own GM than Ferrari. But its apples and oranges.

ain't that the truth :)

this is a rare product: www.psycho-thrillers.com

I have pretty much learned how to do everything over the years from back in the days of filming the "Strap-On Sally" series in New Jersey with big crews on Beta-SP and filming amateur movies all over the East Coast and Canada on Hi-8mm to todays all digital high definition gonzo and reality shoots. Working in the office of a large porn company and distributor back in the 1990s in various capacities, including sales, marketing and writing press releases also taught me a lot about the business while I learned everything about production on the weekends when I was traveling and filming.

Nowadays as an independent porn director and custom content producer I pretty much produce every shoot myself, obviously with the help of a number of other people. I do some of my own casting, but also deal with a large number of people to refer models to me as well as some that I discover on my own. I almost always do my own camera work,and I often take stills on set. But I hire other still photographers for the bigger shoots. I know how to light a set, but of course i have crew help lugging my gear to locations and have help to set them up. I think I am an excellent editor and I often edit my own movies, but I also have help for that too when it gets busy. With practical experience I have become very knowledgeable about video editing and video encoding- one only has to read some of my posts about those subjects here on GFY, to figure that out, as I often have a comment on those subjects. I have learned basic html and design skills over the years, enough to competently direct my part time employees who help me with graphic design and web design. Basically, I am involved in all aspects start to finish of every project I am involved in even if that is only in supervisory role like telling the makeup artist what to do or my lighting guys how to light a set.

thats nuts!

I stay away from encoding ...

yes, it is isn't it? :)

Helmet Newton was a amazing Photographer RIP.

He was also famous for great parties!

I watched this documentary on him, pretty amazing and how he got his ideas. It was a great watch. :)

Do remember what it is was called? i would like to see it, he is one of my Idols

he also said beautiful models were stupid and boring.

No I dont,Im sorry. it was on IFC.

Its cool, i googled it there are a few i have to see.

I do everything myself, I do have help from some friends but basically I shoot it, edit it, correct it, recruit, build the sites, admin the sites, do the marketing and cash the fucking checks

LOL

Sad but true. We've tried hiring people over the past couple of years. But it always ends in me back behind the fucking camera.

Many start out good, but then get lazy and quality drops off. But they still expect the get 100% pay.

:disgust