Damsels in Tupperware

I like my damsels fresh!

I'm having one of those days where everything I write starts off with a coherent point and then trails off into something that seems to have no clear finishing point. I originally wanted this post to be about props and how the economy of shooting affected their use in my productions. I used to use a lot of props but now not so many because of the cost in time, space and money. It's really not a fun topic though when you can talk about props and damsels, more specifically why I use a certain prop with a particular damsel.

I worked with a girl for a while that had long legs, beautiful feet and slim-fingered hands. Without realizing it I started having her read books, go through drawers, hide keys in her shoes and try to get at things with her legs. Everything was showcasing her legs, feet and hands. Form was dictating function. The physical attributes that I liked in her drove my choice of props that she interacted with. Is it a coincidence that at the same time I was working with a woman with large, wonderfully shaped breasts. With her I'd tie her arms so her hands were useless. She'd knock over her purse with her bound beasts and try to dial phones with he nipples. I actually used an old phone that had large buttons just to make this possible. One model would have the use of her hands because I wanted to see them while the other would totally use the use of her hands because I wanted her to show her breasts as much as possible.

I started to realize that with each model I spoke with about shooting I'd spot some things that I liked about them for story and every prop became a way to showcase those attributes. My notes would say things like, "she drove up to the house slowly," but it would mean, "I will love the look of her hands on the steering wheel." They would say, "even with her arms completely useless she someone knocked the phone off of the mantel," but it would translate to, "I want to see her knocking things over with her breasts." In my mind somehow I was processing what I felt would look good on film from a visual element into prop support of physical elements. It wasn't about the props telling the story as much as the props showcasing the most appealing attributes of the models.

That's how you end up with a damsel in Tupperware. I knew Amaya was small and light, so my initial story idea focused on transport and carry. I would never write a story about stuffing someone into a trunk and dragging them around, but it was the first idea I had for her. She is cute and petite. The best way to show that is to stick her in a plastic tub.

Image courtesy of Agent A is MIA with Amaya Solace.

Adding depth to your video

To each their own but I don't understand why so many videos just focus on the model and sometimes if your lucky a background. I mean yeah the idea is to showcase the model, but the whole thing is about struggle and tension and drama. Now I will fully admit that before I had nice equipment I had to do just that because of focus issues, but once I could control my focus I added an interesting element: foreground elements.

When telling a story sometimes you want push the damsel back and get some things showing in the foreground. Yeah, you even want to partially obscure her for a little bit. Insane you say, but I disagree. Pulling back and showing foreground elements lets the viewer understand the damsel is part of a larger world. She doesn't exist in a tiny corner with a couch, 200 feet of rope and a gag. There's an entire room with drawers that might have scissors, end tables that hold tape and a phone that she knows is there. She's tied so tight she can't make it to the phone. Her hands are numb so she can't open the drawer. What is he going to do with that tape?

Part of story-telling is not just about showing the story, it's about setting up elements that let the viewer paint scenarios in their mind. It gives you the ability to show that things will get more intense because he still has more rope. That applies to audio as well. I have a bunch of pre-recorded audio of me fumbling around on my desk an in my office. You'd be amazed at what that adds to a sound-track that is very dry. The moral: don't be afraid to let the viewer know there's only a damsel. Give them hints at the bigger world and you might find that her dilemma becomes all the more compelling!

Pinched and Pawed in Pink with Amaya Solace made available by Ted Michels Damsels.

Keeping It Fresh

I just love this picture. There are things that you keep writing into stories over and over that you just never can do. I'm always jotting down transport sequences that involve a crate or container of some sort. That's all well and good until you realize the shoot is tomorrow and the model is 5'10" ... good luck making a crate that big by the next day.

When I got the chance to shoot with Amaya I joke that I would put her in my tub for equipment and drag her around. She said do it, she's tiny enough to fit. And she was! It's kind of funny that I'd planned it for years and it just sort of happens by accident. That's the way most things go though. You have to be flexible because the cool things are often the things you don't plan for. And so it was that poor Amaya is all taped up unconscious, stuffed in a tub and dragged downstairs to be dumped unceremoniously on the carpet. It just goes to show you that if you do something enough eventually all opportunities will come your way.

Amaya in Agent A Is MIA available now!

Let Me Give Her the Clamps Boss!

Apologies for the Futurama reference but it seemed appropriate for the image. It's been a while since I've shot with Amaya, but she emailed me the other day about another possible shoot. We'll see where that goes, but it did remind me that I recently located a tape in a box. When I went through the mystery footage I found eight clips on it that I thought I'd lost. I remembered shooting them but I after two moves couldn't find the tape anywhere. I'd given up on them until "poof" they appeared in an office box labeled "stamps" lmao!

I find it somewhat ironic that this clip was shot two abodes ago as well. It was a short stint in a tough space to shoot, but I think I made out okay. Amaya always looks cute with her trademark glasses and her girl-next-door looks. I don't shoot nipple clamps a lot because they shorten the footage. Believe it or not they hurt like hell and that tends to wear a gal out! Amaya does great with them though, so she's one of the few that gets them every shoot.

I go for two things when I shoot with the clover clamps. I like a stark contrast and I love glinting. The stark contrast was achieved by the secretary look on a gal wearing those harsh clamps. The glinting requires a very well-placed spotlight and a gal that doesn't mind you saying, "shake them more". Both worked in this case, so I was happy. And yes, I know the term now is office administrator. I personally don't feel many people have fantasies about tied up office administrators though, so I'll stick to tying up the pretty secretary. Bosses get mad when you put too much ice in their scotch!

If you like a the girl-next-door look, harsh clamps and pleading eyes check out Amaya in He Tied Me Up Tight and Clamped My Nipples.

Tickle Tickle

I'll admit that I like this image because it has depth. I've always drawn comic book pages and as such shoot dramatic angles when it suits the mood. This one was nice because I'm in the background, Amaya is in the foreground and I'm reaching the entire depth. It just implies action to me even though it's a a screen shot.

As for the image, it is a tickling scene if you couldn't guess from the ham-fisted title. I've worked with a lot of ticklish gals, and I find it fun to shoot. I just tend to shoot things that a little grittier, so I don't get a chance to indulge myself that often. I find it more realistic that a captor would grope somebody than tickle them. The first time I worked with Amaya though she told me multiple times that the only time she drooled was when she was tickled. Oddly, she squirmed a lot but never drooled ... boo!

Because of my penchant for grittiness, I always pass on the tickling in favor of spanking and such. I really don't know how people feel about tickle fetish and wish I could get some feedback. If I knew it was popular or not, I'd love to do more of it. Until then this screen shot is from the only tickling clip I've done amazingly. It starts Amaya Solace and is called Tied and Tickled Tart. Yes, I like alliteration!

I can see your face ... at least half of it

The interesting thing about bondage video is that everyone's hair gets in their face. It used to drive me nuts. You spend all this time finding cute gals and coaching them to make sure their face can be seen by the camera and the damn hair is always blocking the gag and their eyes. I suppose it's my fault for liking long hair and preferring positions where the girls are on the ground but even sitting positions have hair issues. The girl will throw their head around and push their chin into their chest. Sixty seconds later you have a tightly tied body with a clump of messy hair sitting on top of it.

My solution has always been to grab the hair, pull it back and do the gag over the hair. It holds the hair in place with the exception of maybe a tuft or two that dangle and look great. This gets into a great debate I've had with people over the years. I get emails and chat messages, "please put the gag strap under their hair." Everyone has a preference, and I respect that some folks like hair over the gag. My preference is born of personal like and professional need though.

Professionally I want to see the girl's face. The most important thing to me is expression, and I need to see those eyes. It's also much easier for the model to breath when their hair isn't tickling their face. Last but not least hair in the eyes is the number one reason I have to stop filming and help a model out. There is nothing worse than a active sequence that is rolling along and the model stopping and mumbling something about hair in the eyes. Tied up people are on a clock. Two minutes adjusting damn hair is two minutes of lost video.

Personally I just plain like it better. My icon is Sally Roberts. She defined the damsel in distress for me and the many images of her hair tucked into the gag strap is something I can never get out of my mind. Add my rampant use of tight gauze and tape wraps and you have hair under the gag almost every time. I do make exceptions: tape strips over wadding for example; but you're almost always going to have that hair tucked with my shots.

That comes to another thing I just adore. I call it half face. It's when the model has her mouth packed full with a rubber ball, a ballgag or wadding and then gauze or tape is wrapped widely over her lower face. All you see is the top of her face and you can tell she is dealing with a lot in her mouth. To me a great gag is as important as a great tie. Coincidentally half-face only happens with the gag over the hair.

A great half-face scene is with Amaya Solice above. We frogtied her, ballgagged her and then wrapped a whole roll of black gauze over the lower part of her face. It kept her quiet and lets you see those beautiful eyes. You can check it out at Amaya Solace in Feisty Frogtie Leads to Naked Hogtie if you like ... or not, it's a free world :)

Bound and gagged blond

This morning I needed something to do while my brain woke up, so I sorted and cataloged my DV tapes. I learned some things. I learned that I have a lot of video shot. I learned that I'm terrible at labeling and providing descriptions with the tapes. I learned that my obsessive need to keep all model releases filed and up-to-date is a huge thing. learned that I have some kick-ass video with capture sequences, transport sequences and multiple positions where the restraint is changed on-screen. Oh, and it's all tight as a drum rigging! I also learned that I used to use vibrators ... A LOT. I can probably do daily updates for 6 months and not have to shoot lol. I will of course continue shooting though ... I finally have a formula that I like and there's no way I'll pass on talent like Kerri Taylor, Nyxon, JJ Plush or Lola Lynn when the roll into town.

This afternoon I'll need to focus on putting together some DVDs though. I've had a goal of getting a couple full-length films up to see if anyone has any interest in HDV format of my material or if they just prefer clips. Time will tell. My top priority is finishing up a custom DVD and shipping it off. That gives me time to start a new one if anyone is interested (wink).

The bound and gagged blond pictured is Amaya Solace. I've seen her at a lot of sites, but I've never seen her in quite the style of rigging that I perform. I have this knack for getting people into a real bind without them getting pissed off at me. We've shot twice, so there's much more video to come. Amaya is very vocal and a constant wiggler which makes for great damsel video. You can see her first installment as a Ted Michaels' captive in Feisty Frogtie Leads to Naked Hogtie.