FROM THE STUDIO · #01
A photograph doesn’t tell you how a performer works, and getting exactly what you asked for isn’t always the same thing as getting the best possible custom.
A custom video starts with the customer’s fantasy. So of course the person ordering it may have very specific ideas: a particular performer, a certain scene, a precise way a role should be played.
The problem begins when having a clear fantasy turns into refusing to listen to any advice, including advice from the person who has to turn that fantasy into an actual video.
I see this all the time.
The customer knows exactly what excites him. But I know the performers. I’ve seen them work. I know what comes naturally to them and what is likely to look forced. I also know which ideas work in front of a camera and which ones, despite sounding great in someone’s imagination, become much more difficult once we actually try to shoot them.
And sometimes the customer unintentionally ends up making the video he is paying for worse.
The right performer isn’t always the one you already chose
One of the most common situations is becoming completely fixed on a particular performer.
I understand it. If you’re ordering a custom video and that woman is already the person you see in your fantasy, being told that somebody else might be better can sound almost contrary to the whole idea of a custom.
But some fantasies are very specific, and performers are not interchangeable.
A performer can be beautiful and professional while still being wrong for a particular role. Someone who is naturally dominant will probably be far more convincing as a mistress than when being asked to suddenly act completely submissive. Someone who dislikes a certain activity is unlikely to make it look spontaneous and convincing.
And of course personal boundaries are not negotiable. If a performer doesn’t do nudity, she doesn’t do nudity. If she doesn’t want to perform a particular activity, there should be no expectation that a custom request will somehow change that.
Yet sometimes the contrast itself almost seems to be part of the attraction: choosing someone known for dominant roles and insisting on seeing her submissive, or choosing someone who prefers one side of a fetish activity and specifically requesting the opposite.
I can understand it as a fantasy.
But as a producer I also have to ask: is this actually going to look good?
When I say, “I think another performer would be much better for this scenario,” I’m not trying to sell you someone you don’t want.
I’m trying to give you the best possible video from the fantasy and budget you’ve given me.
A photograph can make you reject the right performer
Another thing I see constantly is a performer being dismissed almost entirely because of a photograph.
“I don’t like her.”
Then months later the same customer happens to see a video featuring that exact performer.
Suddenly he discovers her.
He likes the way she talks.
He likes the way she moves.
He likes her attitude.
He likes the way she performs that particular fetish.
Sometimes she even becomes one of his favourites.
The amusing part is that months earlier I had recommended her for exactly those reasons.
A photograph can tell you whether somebody immediately attracts you visually. It cannot necessarily tell you how that person works on video.
I may have watched that performer work for hours. I know whether she can act, improvise, play dominant, be funny, aggressive or sensual, handle dialogue, perform a convincing medical role or make a simple non-verbal scene work.
A picture cannot tell you any of that.
And sometimes one cosmetic detail is enough to stop everything.
I remember a customer rejecting one performer because she had very short hair.
For his particular fantasy, apparently this made her completely unsuitable.
Then we showed him the same performer wearing a wig.
She became his favourite.
His muse.
I’ve seen similar things happen with tattoos.
Someone sees a few photographs and immediately says: “No, she has too many tattoos.”
Then he actually sees her performing and suddenly the tattoos become almost irrelevant, because her beauty, screen presence, ability or simply her magnetism completely outweigh the detail that initially seemed so important.
The opposite happens too. Someone insists on a performer with absolutely no tattoos and rejects an excellent candidate because she has two or three small ones.
If that really is essential to the fantasy, that’s perfectly legitimate.
But it’s worth asking yourself: am I choosing the best performer for this video, or am I eliminating great possibilities because of a photograph and a detail that may barely matter once I see her on screen?
If something really matters to you, check it before ordering
There is another category of problems that is even easier to avoid.
I’ve had customers order a custom with a particular performer and then complain afterwards because they didn’t like her voice.
But her voice wasn’t secret information.
Our store is full of videos and previews.
If a performer’s voice is an important part of attraction for you, watch a few previews before commissioning a custom. Listen to her speak. Watch the way she moves. Find out whether you actually like her on video rather than only in photographs.
The same applies to many other visible or easily verifiable characteristics.
A custom is a very personal product. Precisely for that reason, if there is something that could make the difference between “I love this” and “I don’t like this,” spending five minutes checking before ordering is probably a good investment.
We can give advice. We can explain how a performer works. We can suggest the people we think are best suited to a particular scenario.
But we cannot know that a certain voice, tattoo, hairstyle or other detail is a deal-breaker for you unless you tell us.
And it’s difficult to complain afterwards when the information was already available beforehand.
Some scenes work better in your imagination than in front of a camera
The same principle applies to technical instructions.
Sometimes we receive extremely detailed scripts specifying positions, movements and sequences that make perfect sense on paper.
Then you physically try them and discover they don’t.
A position is uncomfortable.
The bodies block what the camera needs to see.
A movement cannot be repeated naturally.
A scene that is supposed to feel spontaneous turns into choreography.
When I suggest changing something, it normally isn’t because I want to make my job easier.
It’s because I already have a fairly good idea of what that scene will look like on screen.
Of course, the customer can insist. It is his video.
But there is a point where following every instruction literally creates something that is technically faithful to the request while being artistically worse.
And then comes the particularly frustrating part.
The customer watches the finished video and says that a certain scene looks a little forced or unrealistic.
Yes.
That’s exactly why I suggested changing it.
The best customs are collaborations
I’m not suggesting that customers should send us two sentences and let us decide everything.
Quite the opposite.
The better I understand the fantasy, the better I can produce it. I want to know what matters, what is essential, what excites you and which details absolutely need to be there.
And if a particular physical characteristic, voice, outfit or any other detail is essential to you, tell me.
But there is a difference between describing your fantasy clearly and directing every second of the production while ignoring every suggestion.
The customer is the expert on his fantasy.
The producer should be the expert on turning that fantasy into something that works in front of a camera.
When those two kinds of expertise work together, the result is usually a better custom.
When one side completely ignores the other, sometimes you end up getting exactly what you asked for.
It’s just not as good as it could have been.
Steve Footjobs / DafneFetish