opinion

When Seeing is Believing

In part one of our series on virtual cyberchats, we dealt with the primal need to chat and the role A-I plays in this. Now, we'll look at one of the most basic human needs – visual stimulation – and how nowhere has this been more apparent than in the adult market.

In the Victorian age, dirty French postcards were the cutting edge of visual pornography. Since then, we have graduated through full-color monthly magazines, video cassettes and DVDs, and finally today's webcam shows. The eyes have it when it comes to the adult market. Witness the explosion of webcam chat sites. The impact on the 1-900-talk-dirty market and other non-visual media is undeniable.

As always, we all look to the future. What new technology will catch our eyes and stir our imaginations? When videos are used with software something wonderful happens.

A very primitive example of A-I (Artificial Intelligence) technology paired with video clips is shown on SubservientChicken. Even as an insider in the adult entertainment industry who knows that everything is not as it seems, I bet the first time YOU saw SubservientChicken, you thought, "Oh my God, they really have some guy dressed up as a chicken doing this?" How long did you keep playing with it till you knew for sure it was not a real person? With fewer than 400 clips and only key word matching, SubservientChicken does a pretty good job.

Our research has shown that a few thousand short video clips make a very convincing Cyberlivechat girl sitting on a bed, typing to a customer while taking off or putting back on different wardrobe items. Of course, this includes her touching and playing with different parts of her body and so forth.

Adult web cams normally show just the small universe of the actor/actress and their immediate surroundings. In most cases it is a shot of an actress on a bed or couch typing to the client. This limited amount of backgrounds simplifies things greatly.

Short video clips can be stitched seamlessly together on the fly. There is a group of standard movements and actions, of about 500 clips per niche. We do multiple takes of every action, allowing the chance of any noticeable repeat of an action to be minimized. This takes only one day of filming.

Video webcam clips are a collection of pixels that can be processed like any other database chore. Your talent will never age or be off-line. These clips working hand and glove with A-I software can change their response at any time to keep up-to-date with slang, current information, and can even be used with other languages.

How Do You Make it Real?
Cyberlivechats, by their very nature, are simpler to shoot than a movie. A Cyberlivechat still has a script like a movie and the script describes actions, movements, wardrobe, props and even moods. This is all done with thousands of mini scenes using 5- to 15-second (duration) actions, like "touch your hair with your left hand;" Take 1, Take 2 and so forth. Multiple takes of every action are needed. This multitude of recorded scenes on file enables our Cyberlive program to randomly select scenes, blend them together, and thereby keep up the illusion that it is a real human you are seeing.

Cyberlivechats, of course, have their own unique challenges. A Continuity Director can be critical, to make sure the model keeps on the mark and lighting and other background conditions do not change during breaks. It would not be good to have to re-shoot parts because a model had brushed her hair a different way. Continuity also comes in play with the use of toys and props. It becomes very important to recall exactly what position they were left in or if they were moved off of the set. One needs to keep meticulous notes of everything from lighting and camera angle to makeup, etc., if one ever hopes to come back to add additional short clips to a grouping. As always, the devil in the details...

All different actions must have a "home" position video clip. This can be her sitting on bed with her hands over the keyboard or her kneeling with her hands over the keyboard. In the simplest example, if she needs to touch her hair by a request or other reason... one of the video clips of her touching her hair will be played, then one of the many home positions clips will be played matching that flow (standing, sitting, kneeling, etc.) during the chat.

I'm Not That Kind of Girl!
One can never shoot every possible action under the sun. You probably will not have one with an actor chewing on a pencil and patting their tummy. The good news is with AI software you don't have to. If some customer tells the Cyberlive girl to stick a peanut up her nose, she can ignore the request, or she can say "no," or change the subject to smooth over any missing actions. This also points out a reason to keep outside props and items to a minimum.

When filming Cyberlivechats, a common error is trying to make it look too slick and professional. This destroys the whole illusion of it being some real, live, girl in her bedroom that you are talking to.

This example deals with a single chat, if one wants to work on repeat business then additional clips might be used. You may film some of the actions for your database to use of the girl with different outfit like a light blue teddy and ones with a black one. This allows you to use your core clips of her being nude or in a standard white bra and panties. Try changing time of day with lighting or some of the background like a different bedspread to inexpensively increase your options. Some of these effects can be handled digitally in postproduction.

To maximize your investment, keep in mind the local blue laws when shooting. Some countries have laws dealing with things like showing pubic hair, penetration and so forth. The A-I software can pick the appropriate clip on the fly using geo-targeting to show and stay with in the legal limit.

This article is too short to deal with all the additional variations on this topic, like the use of specialty toys, the mobile market, multiple actors, niche kinks, etc. We can only note with Cyberlivechat that mom was right when she used to say, "don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see."

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