Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Video Review from GPT#111


Let’s talk about process. Think of it like a peek behind the curtain, here at GayPornTalk, or GPT, as we insiders call it. In terms of video reviews, leaving out toy reviews, we do about 100 video reviews a year. I say we, because Paulie is as much a part of the video review process as I am. I pick out the videos, write up the notes, but Paulie adds another dimension to the review process. (Faithful listeners will recognize this scenario: I start out a review, say that Paulie should remember the video, Paulie doesn’t and then half way through the review, he suddenly remembers the video!) The review process is not arduous, but it does take time.

Normally, I probably watch at least four times as many videos a year as I review on the podcast. (That’s about 400 videos, for the math challenged). I normally watch a video three times over the course of a review: once for general impression, generally with some fast forwarding; a second time with emphasis on scenes and things that I think should be noted in the review; and lastly, reviewing the scenes to find screen captures and annotate weird dialogue. I think that if I were writing the review online, I would probably watch them more, but I think that for oral reviews on the podcast, this is enough.

There are several studios that forward screeners to us and other studios that do not. Right now (hint, hint) sending in a screener is a great way of getting your video reviewed, because a majority of the ‘big’ studios don’t send us screeners. Other times, the sponsor, Gay Cheap Porn, will send we a video to review and other times I scour video stores to find videos to review. I also try to review videos from several studios and try to always get to the studio’s ‘big releases.’ In general, if I don’t like a video, I won’t review it on the podcast because there are so many other videos that I do like that I can feature.

That brings me to “Rocks and Hard Places” from Sarava Productions, directed by Kristen Bjorn. I found it a local video store, had been wanted to see and review it. I loved this movie, as it was cinematic, hot sex scenes, where there was real mystery about what roles the actors will play. (Unlike a lot of other videos, where we know who’s a top and never will bottom) The sex is fluid and the scenery adds to the passion evidenced in the scenes. I gave it 4 splats where the two disc set is worth every splat! After we did this review on the podcast, I got a call from the webmaster for Gay Cheap Porn that they couldn’t find the video from any distributor. They usually feature the videos we review prominently on their site and I hate to be the wooden shoe in the gears. I am glad to report that Sarava has officially released “Rocks and Hard Places” so that it is now featured at Gay Cheap Porn. Go get this truly exceptional video.

No comments: