Customer Reviews

Sex & Camcorders: The Complete Guide To Producing Low-Cost, High-Profit Adult Videos & DVDs

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found the advice in this book to be wonderfully insightful, tho a bit optimistic. If you are the type of person who can pull together a few dozen people to have sex while you take pictures, this book is for you. If you could never see yourself hiring adult film stars, well, buy this book anyway and it may inspire you to buy your first digital camcorder.

There are many good ideas about making, producing, distributing, and marketing your own videos. But, the book falls short for people who do not want to 'quit their day job.' This book tends to present a MMF (Make Money Fast) idea. Buy a video camera, hire some talent, burn a DVD, deposit your checks at the bank. Filling in the blanks is a long, hard road, which the book doesn't convey honestly. They direct you to their website where they promise to provide assistance to wanna-be movie producers - perhaps fill in some of those missing blanks.

But, the website predominantly referenced throughout the book was 'Under Construction' and the only link which can be found is how to write your own book and sell it for 10 cents on the dollar. Fill in your own blanks.

Despite the books failings, I thought it was very enlightening and inspirational. To anyone who just wants to read about making porno videos, this a decent work of non-fiction. And, if you can figure out how to fill in the blanks which this book leaves out, the recipe for success is likely to succeed.

This book was a very quick read and offered a lot of helpful information. In seven chapters Cool takes you through Pre-production to marketing. He gives you tips on how to focus your efforts, and how to get the maximum out of your filming time.

Much like "How to Become a Porn Director" this book doesn;t go into any great depth on any of the subjects, but gives you the info you need to go out and get done what needs to be done as well as some (very) rough estimates on what you'll have to pay for everything.

A bonus in this book is the very comprehensive lists in the appendicies listing almost every US distributor and manufacturer of adult videos in the US. There are also listings for toy companies, production studios, etc.

If you can only get one book on this subject, pick up this one. The author has a website where he promises extra information and updates, however the website contains nothing at this time.

Pros: Valuable information for the adult movie-maker wannabee (like me). Funny, good jokes here and there. Enthusiast author quickly explaining what to do from the pre-production to post. Lots of my questions were answered here.

Cons: Poorly written by an amateur book writer, Mr. Cool also manage to repeat himself nearly once every page. Non-realistic expectations of easy money raining everywhere, this is a business, not a lottery.

Some areas of the production process were truly ignored or skipped. Don't even think about having a professional look in your movies using available light. You need some basic knowledge of video lighting and some cheap but decent equipment. Also consider buying a shogun microphone for acceptable audio.

The author actually works (or worked) for a somewhat content company and more than often ask the readers to send their videos for review. The only problem is the company itself doesn't exist anymore and the only web link that is still working leads to this book.

A good bet for any adult video enthusiast, but don't expect too much from this book.

Being interested in good lighting myself, I noticed it is everywhere in adult videos, from the so-called 'amateur' to pro-level movies. I would recommend this book available here on Amazon.com:

Lighting for Digital Video & Television
by John Jackman

I would have picked NO STARS had that been an option. If you are a pre-teen, just a day into puberty, this book might seem like a wealth of useful information... even then, it still seems like an AWFUL waste of time and money. I recieved this book this afternoon. I am re-packing it and sending it back... It is only 9:00pm.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.

A good introductory to the adult video production business, but it promised a lot of resourses that it couldn't deliver. Mostly the book is designed to send you to the author's two web sites for more info and promised promotional opportunities, but as I am reading Sex & Camcorders, his sites are off line. The book does have some useful information and an adult business directory that is a good jumping off point. If you are really interested in entering this business... this book won't give you an immediate jumpstart, but it will help you down the road.

I highly recommend this book if you are a novice filmmaker. It helped my company avoid alot of mistakes.
[...]

I felt very let down after reading this book. Too many details and subjects left out!

Long have I struggled with the rising costs and low quality of my own personal adult videos. No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to penetrate the obstacles that prevented me from making the quality adult videos that I knew I was capable of making.

Thanks to Benjamin Cool, those days are behind me.

In just a matter of days, I got a perm, grew a mustache and started wearing jogging suits full-time.

It's amazing how much time and money Benjamin Cool's ideas saved me. By substituting exotic locales with my own basement, and high-priced strippers with my friends and co-workers, I was able to produce a movie that rivaled the major studio releases.

Don't waste any more time trying to figure out the tricks of the trade by yourself - read "Sex & Camcorders" and get a head-start on the competition.