To survive, abbywinters.com must differentiate from our commercial competitors and from freely available content. To gain and retain paying customers, we need to make high quality shoots (note, this does not mean, 8k video and 30mp images! The context here is creative quality).
Shoots Produced at Level 3 meet the abbywinters.com paradigm’s minimum standard. It’s also possible for a shoot to not contain anything off-paradigm and still be low quality (regardless of the Level the Shoot Producer is on).
The biggest influence on shoot quality is a happy and engaged model 😅 (how we present this expectation to models). We estimate that half of that comes from the people we recruit as models (we’re very careful in this, but we for sure don’t always get it right). There are a few techniques for Shoot Producers to deal with this.
But an equal part of what makes a high quality shoot is how the model is led and inspired on a shoot day by their Shoot Producer (more info on how Shoot Producers create the appropriate atmosphere on set).
Apart from the model’s own personality, high quality shoots tend to have these attributes that are in the control of the Shoot Producer. These things form the core of Level 4 Solo shoots, which pay Shoot Producers a higher fee, and have more freedom from the tight controls of the Shoot Assessment system.
- Preparing models well, so they understand what’s expected;
- This helps models engage in the process without fear or hesitation. The Pre Shoot Briefing is a main part of this.
- The Company takes care of most model preparation, but there are several touch-points for the Shoot Producer as well!
- Identifying and taking advantage of opportunities that arise during the shoot
- For example, acting out models’ skills or experiences; digging deeper into stories; capturing unexpected situations; pushing boundaries
- Engineering extensive no-nude material, at each of the three No-nude sub-levels;
- Spending more time on these for lower-Posing Level shoots
- Making each Must-Have “sing”, for both Stills and Video;
- That is, consider how lens length, DoF, light, clothing, and tiny adjustments by the model, setting, background, audio, and model movement can emphasise the key aspects of the shot
- Actively make set-dressing a feature of the shoot
- Identify cohesive looks that create striking imagery – or alternatively, fine-tune naturalistic looks to really drive home the shoot’s narrative
- Shooting in several Settings of one Location
- (more information on the difference between the Setting and the Location)
- That is, while most of the shoot might be “on the bed”, also capture some of the shoot in the hallway and in the bathroom – as well as a sequence shot outside
- Engineering “obvious” Clothing Use opportunities to their best possible advantage
- eg, cleavage, perfect upskirt; down blouse
- Directing models to behave sexually (within the paradigm!), and encouraging them
- For example, interacting with their bodies in slow, intimate and engaged ways
- Directing the model to push her bum out in poses where her bum is visible
- Being careful not to devolve into porn tropes
- Have the model be genuinely happy in the shoot
- That is, wide smiles, laughing because she is having a good time laughing at the Shoot Producer’s jokes!
- Exploring new and diverse fetishes deeply
- Use the Fetish Finder tool
- Aim to capture a new one in depth sequence in each shoot
- Maximal coverage of the highest Posing Level, in various poses.
- That is, covering the extents of the Posing Level (ie, directing the model to do the “most extreme” parts of their selected Posing Level).
- Lighting the model to show her form and texture
- Use lighting techniques to improve the look of images – lighting the background, adding backlight / rim-light, mastering high-key lighting techniques, mastering shooting outside in shade, and in sun
- Directing unique MMaiA activities that feel like a window into the model’s real life
- That is, naturalistic things this model really does (or could) do
- Holding recorded conversations with the model that are engaging for customers
- Asking follow-up questions to dig deeper into the underlying story our customers will find interesting
- Designing the shoot so parts feel spontaneous
- Engineering situations that allow the model to experiment and explore
- Work with the model so she feels empowered to do spontaneous things
This is how SP’s move up to, and stay on Level 4.
Over time, this standard may change.