“Sex and intimacy is something you should cherish…” Khym, from MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER

That’s a sound-bite from our film that begins this very nice podcast review of MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER from Professor P and Sweet Tits of the Bellingham WA video store Video Extreme. They say MATT AND KHYM is “the perfect couples film, or anyone else tired of cookie-cutter porn.” Yay!

Also on the podcast is a review of Jack the Zipper’s BLACK LIGHT BEAUTIES. The review for that comes first. The review for MATT AND KHYM is about half way into the show. I got a nice laugh hearing Sweet Tits recounting my cold call!
(Press “play” to hear it.)

It’s official! Blowfish is the first US retailer to officially place an order for MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER, and we couldn’t be happier!

Blowfish was the first US retailer to pick up MARIE AND JACK: A HARDCORE LOVE STORY (dig the old cover!), and the first retailer to pick up XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT and DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER.

But then, that’s what Blowfish does – they find the good stuff, and they find first. Blowfish is where I first discovered theVixen Creations String of Pearls. Blowfish is where I discovered the wonderful work of erotic jeweler Jullian Snelling. And it was back in around 1995, after seeing that not even Blowfish had the kind of sex films that I wanted to see that I concluded that they must simply not exist and that I’d have to make them myself.

Indeed, aside from pleasing myself, one of my thoughts as I embarked on this quixotic journey was “I want to make something that people who shop at Blowfish might like.”

Anyone want to make a bet who will be the first to carry ASHLEY AND KISHA?

Just in case you were wondering how to say “Tony Comstock” in Russian. With the help of google’s translation tools:

“[The film] is able to convey a strong erotizm everyday life, which does not end when the cameras are off. This is not a rogue proximity, there is an attempt to portray a pornozvezda Jenna Jameson. Sex is portrayed as a natural element Romantic proximity, and charges of spectators positive sense, Aesthetics which disappeared from pornographic films in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”

A couple of weeks ago I posted a first draft of the cover for our upcoming release MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER. Here’s the final:

MATT AND KHYM has moved from the editing suite to the DVD authoring suite, and that means that there are only a few days left to get this wonderful film at the discount pre-order price of $12.95. MATT AND KHYM is another shot-on-film, anamorphic wide-screen release; you won’t find a sexually explicit film that’s more beautifully rendered.

But what makes this film truly special are Matt and Khym, and their story of a love affair that stretches back to the 1980s, when he was 21 and she was just 18 and still a virgin! Never before have we had a chance to visit with a couple who’ve shared so many years with each other before they shared themselves with us, and the result is a “hardcore love story” of deep resonance. If you’re a romantic old fool like me, or even a romantic young fool, you’re going to love MATT AND KHYM!

Meanwhile, here’s a lovely little peek at this lovely little film. Enjoy!

From the soon to be released MATT AND KHYM

Those of you who are familiar with the Comstock style know that we always interview people in pairs. When we do this, we use two cameras. The first camera (a-cam for short) frames both of the interviewees, and the second (b-cam) is a close-up that stays with whomever is talking. What I like about this is that it lets me do more interesting things with the interview than if we just had one camera that panned back and forth and zoomed in and out.

For example, if we’re on the close-up of Ms. Interviewee, and she says something that makes Mr. Interviewee laugh and nod his head, we can cut to the wider camera angle (the two-shot) and the effect is sort of like cutting to the reaction shot in a film that’s shot narrative style. We see the action (close up of Ms. telling us a cute but embarrassing secret), then we see the reaction (two-shot with Mr. laughing and nodding in response to the revelation).

If it’s done right, the audience shouldn’t even be aware that we’ve switched from the close-up to the two-shot, and the fact that we don’t notice good editing is one of the things that’s utterly magically about film. The camera’s point-of-view moves fluidly through time and space in a way that our own POV never does, yet somehow, when it’s done right, if feels more natural and normal, and is easier to watch than a camera that just sits in one place and stares endlessly at the action.

I don’t make any claims to be a master at this particular part of film-craft (or any other for that matter). But when it’s working right I do enjoy it, and the last few days I’ve been enjoying deciding between the close-up and the two-shot on Matt and Khym’s interview very much. Their interview is chock-a-block with opportunities to move from one shot to the other and back again in a way that helps move the story along and helps to reveal more about Matt and Khym’s relationship.

I also noticed something about Matt and Khym’s interview. I love faces, and usually I’m always looking to find a way to the close-up. But Matt and Khym spend so much time relating to one another that this interview is mostly the two-shot, with the single person close-ups used mostly as color or grace notes. Here and their either Matt or Khym has a longer passage in close up, but time and time again I’ve found that if I stay on a close-up the way I usually would, I miss too much of the relationship. There’s just too much going on between them to stay with the longer close-ups in the way I usually favor. It’s exciting to see the way a couple relates to each other have such a strong effect on the way I cut their interview!

Figuring my way through things like this is one of the things I really like what about what I do. In it’s own way it’s as exciting as getting to see beautiful women take their close off and have sex. While there’s a certain sameness to these little movies, within that sameness there a huge opportunity to enjoy what makes each of these couples unique. They look different, they express themselves differently, they make love differently. That’s what makes this work so rewarding, and that’s what makes me feel so lucky I get to do it!

Well there it is, a first draft of the cover for MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER. They’ll be some more tweeks and tunes–probably a different image, maybe a different background color–but this is the basic idea. If you want to get the pre-order discount price you’d better do it soon, because MATT AND KHYM is not going to be on pre-order for very much longer!

One of the reasons we can make the films we make is because we have a dedicated and patient group of investors that help fund our work. I’m speaking, of course, of the people who take us up on our pre-order offer for upcoming films.

We started the pre-order program with XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT. Clever folks jumped on our pre-order offer and got XANA AND DAX for only $12.95.

Some of the folks who pre-ordered DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER waited as much as a year. But in the end their patience was rewarded with an award-winning film at a discount price! (How many other no risk* investments double your money in a year or less?)

Now everyone who had the good sense to get in on the ground floor with MATT AND KHYM: BETTER THAN EVER is about to see their “investment” pay a handsome return. The narrative has been sequenced and distilled, the sex scene cut together.

Now the whole thing gets viewed and reviewed, looking for what I call the “flat spots”–places where the rhythm and pace bogs down or stumbles, places where the meaning becomes unfocused and attention drifts. This is the real work of editing, this is what turns a sequence of shots into a film.

Meanwhile, Peggy is working on the box-cover art for MATT AND KHYM. Nothing fancy, no tricks to make you think there’s something in the box that’s not really in there. A nice photo, some nice typography. Like the film itself, it’s all about rhythm and balance. It’s about simply letting the film speak for itself.

And to those still waiting on ASHLEY AND KISHA, you have not been forgotten. Whenever I get stuck on MATT AND KHYM I turn my attention to ASHLEY AND KISHA. It’s going to be a lovely film, well worth the wait.

So with the release of MATT AND KHYM just around the corner, I want to take a minute to thank everyone who has pre-ordered a title from us. Your “investment” helps take a little of the pressure off of things around here and lets us take the time to make these movies the way they need to be made. Without you’d we’d have to be churning them out just like everyone else, and that’s something we’re just not interested in doing, and I don’t think you’d be interested in seeing “churned out movies” either. When you think of it that way, I don’t think there’s any other no risk* investments that pay these kinds of dividends!

*All pre-orders are 100% refundable at any time before they ship, for any reason or for no reason at all. Simply ask, and we’ll happy refund your order.

Two days ago I received a note from a fellow who, although he liked many things about Marie & Jack and Xana & Dax, was rather disapointed that both love scenes ended with external ejaculation. Here’s a bit from his note (used by permission):

These videos have what I have been looking for that is missing from the usual “porn” videos with one exception. You claim that these represent real sex but in both cases the man pulled out prior to cuming and we were shown proof that he came…

Maybe these couples actually have sex in this way but I doubt it. If they do I suggest using some couples who do not as well. This was a particular issue in the Xana & Dax video where he spent some time masturbating himself to climax. Why miss out on the wonderful sensations of being in your woman before cuming unless you are not able to do so for some reason. That, to a large extent, ruined the movie for me.

Also, my wife does not often watch explicit videos because she misses the loving relationship aspect of sex that makes it good for her. There is much in these movies that I suspect she would enjoy but I am sure she would be put off by this as well. She has made similar comments about other explicit videos.

He was also concerned that this might also be the case in Matt & Khym, which he had on pre-order. I wrote back:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your thoughtful e-mail. It very succinctly addresses some of the vagaries of shooting sex scenes of people having unscripted and and undirected sex. With your permission I’d very much like to use your letter in an upcoming blog post. FYI, Matt and Khym’s love scene ends with Matt ejaculating inside of Khym. No particular effort is made to “prove” that he ejaculated, but afterwards Khym does reach down to catch a little on her finger and taste it.

Yours,
Tony Comstock

This seemed to (mostly) satisfy his concerns:

From your response I take it that Xana & Dax and Marie & Jack choose to handle the men’s ejaculation without any direction or suggestions. If so I wonder if that is how they normally have sex or if they did it that way because they thought that it might be expected, maybe from watching “normal porn”. You might want to make it clearer to those you film that they don’t have to do things differently, especially that.

I am not complaining if that is normal for them. It just seemed faked because of the way men’s ejaculation is handled in most porn.

The “might make it clearer” comment reminds me of the conversation I had with Desiree in the weeks prior to shooting her and her husband Ben.

“Oh, so you don’t want him to cum all over my face then?” she asked in response to my saying I just wanted them do have nice normal natural sex.

“Um well,” I stuttered, ” I don’t want you to do something you don’t enjoy when it’s just the two of you just because the camera is there, or because you think we want or need you to do something like that.”

“Oh no. I love having Ben blow on my face. I think it’s great, we do it all the time!”

“Well okay then. Please don’t let our being there inhibit you!” (It didn’t. Desiree had three orgasms that were very nearly disturbing in their intensity.)

Meanwhile, a tempest in a teapot seems to be swirling over similar question about what is and isn’t real over at SuicideGirls.com. Between kids, station wagon, suburban tract house, and a BMI of 26, I’m not really an alt kind of guy, (and even when I was young and broke and played my guitar too loud, I still wasn’t wasn’t an alt kind of guy) so I don’t really know that much about SuicideGirls, besides the fact that the chicks have downtown hairstyles, tats and piercings, and the photography style tends toward the deep focus/small focal plane style that I don’t really dig.

I do know what I thought I knew about SG, which was that I thought it was some hip, alternaporn site, run by technologically empowered female scenesters who were using the internet and cheap digital cameras to deconstruct the traditional pin-up. Okay, that’s cool in concept, even if I don’t really dig it as art, let alone as stroke material. Now it turns out that maybe SG is just some site run by some guy who’s making money off a lot of 18 year old girls’ yearnings to be a little less anonymous in the celebrity-obsessed world that we inhabit. Somehow that doesn’t seem quite so hip.

So what’s it all about, Alfie?

Back during that internet thing, people would sometimes say, “Content is king,” and the inflection they used seemed to indicate they thought they were offering a pearl of wisdom. Well here’s my pearl of wisdom, at least when it comes to making sex films: Context is king. Context is king, and when you use ‘reality’ as your conceit you walk a fine line. Most audiences are sophisticated enough to know that “the truth” is not the same thing as what you would have seen if you were on the set that day. But they’re also sensitive enough to know when the “reality” you try and present is too far way from what they would have felt if they had been on the set.

I don’t know what the “truth” is about SuicideGirls. The truth about Comstock Films is that all the way along there is a conspiracy between me and the couple I’m working with to present a very idealized portrait of their sexual relationship. It’s no more (or less) real than the nightly news or a novel.

Before their scene I asked Matt and Khym how they intended to enjoy Matt’s orgasm (experience has taught me not to assume that a “real couple” doesn’t enjoy the “so fake” external pop shot). When they told me that he was going to cum inside of her, I made a couple of suggestions for how we could visually signal the audience “yes, it really did happen.” The result can be seen in that lovely Comstock Films button that Mrs.C made for us.

Does that ruin it for you? I hope not.

Violet Blue is hard at work editing the 2006 edition of Best Women’s Erotica, and today on her blog she writes:

“I don’t know, but I have to say that I’ve noticed a huge difference in the way that previous generations of women have edited erotic anthologies in comparison to my generations’ attitudes about sex. We don’t think that “literary” erotica, especially women’s erotica, needs to be somehow qualified by sadness, anguish, pain or suffering… A message to the publishers and editors (and filmmakers) who imbue the hot fuck with a moral: you’re not relevant anymore… I’m running totally sexually fucking amok with BWE ‘06. I’m tossing OUT all the fucking depressing submissions I’m getting. I want erotica that totally turns my head around, and makes me want to fuck.”

While it’s relatively easy to write a “Penthouse Letters” stroke story with happy ending (no pun intended), it’s no small trick to keep a more substantive story about hot sex from veering into “sadness, anguish, pain or suffering”. Drama requires elements like balance and consequence. Never mind steamy sex, if the characters in a story are having too much fun riding bicycles, you can be sure that someone’s going to have a bad wreck. That’s just the way that story-tellling works. (I think we have the ancient Greeks to thank for this.) Add to that our deep cultural suspicion of pleasure (sexual and otherwise), and it adds up to a lot of stories about people having really great sex, but paying for it in the end. (Let that be a lesson to you, dear reader!)

How then can you tell stories about good sex that don’t end badly? I’ve had some success avoiding sadness, anguish, pain, and suffering by employing the “slice of life” device. In my “hardcore love stories” the much needed sense of drama and consequence comes from constantly being aware that the people on screen are real flesh and blood human beings; that their friends and neighbors and family might see them fucking; that by choosing to share themselves with us in such an intimate way they are, in fact, taking a very real risk.

Of course this “real life” approach is a limited way to explore both sexual pleasure and story telling, and as long as we’ve been doing this work, Mrs.C and I have also been throwing around ideas for how we could produce fictional sex films that wouldn’t tumble off the sadness/anguish/pain/suffering cliff. Between story-telling considerations, audience comfort, and the ever-present constraints of low-budget filmmaking, it’s a tough nut to crack, but I think we’ve laid a good conceptual foundation, and we’ve even got a couple rudimentary of treatments we’re working on. After Violet’s proclamation this morning, I’m very eager to see Best Women’s Erotica 2006. I want to hear more stories about people having good sex and not having to pay for it in the last reel!

Speaking of good sex and happy endings, I’ve got a new tease for you; the first from last February’s San Francisco Bay Area shoot:

Barely out of their teens when they first got together, Matt and Khym spent many years generously taking care of others instead of concentrating on themselves. Now in their thirties, Matt and Khym have taken the time to rediscover the joys of married life and married sex. In this clip, Khym and Matt talk about their first encounter and their first impression of each other, and Khym reveals a surprising secret…

Matt and Khym: Better Then Ever

I think you’ll find this clip utterly free of sadness, anguish, pain or suffering, and hopefully it will make you want to fuck too!

-T.C.