Finding your niche can be difficult at first, especially if you entered the industry as a sexually inexperienced 19-year-old like me. To be entirely honest, I had zero idea what kind of clips I wanted to make when I joined my first clip site in February of 2017. I had never filmed myself doing anything even remotely sexual before and had done no research before joining. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision since I had been posting nudes for fun on Tumblr since my 18th birthday, but had never considered what a lucrative business it could be.
My first-ever video was a custom request. It was very vanilla in nature, lasted only three minutes, and was filmed on my phone camera with only the light from the window to illuminate it. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be when I hit the upload button for the first time. There was a certain thrill to it.
With each video there was another version of me. You never knew what was coming next. Maybe it would be cute-shy-Evie, or spooky-goth-Evie or perhaps even the rarely seen sensual-romantic-Evie.
For the first few months that I built up my business (eventually moving to ManyVids) I transitioned from only doing custom requests (which allowed me to explore my sexuality) to filming my own original content. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was on my way to creating my own brand and style.
In one of my very first clip site profiles I remember describing myself as a “shapeshifter.” I wore a lot of wigs at the time since my hair was recovering from another spur of the moment pixie cut. When people ordered custom videos from me, they would not only have to specify what type of scene they wanted to see, but what hair color and length they’d want. Around this time, I’d also started wearing colored contact lenses (so eye color became a factor too). I realized I really loved changing my appearance frequently. It was like going through a breakup makeover weekly (minus the actual breakup). I managed to transform this into a personal brand for my clip business. With each video there was another version of me. You never knew what was coming next. Maybe it would be cute-shy-Evie, or spooky-goth-Evie or perhaps even the rarely seen sensual-romantic-Evie. I’ve always been an indecisive person and I actually managed to create a brand out of my indecisiveness.
My personal brand ties directly into the types of clips I choose to make. So far in my career I have never had a shortage of ideas. I’ve never really needed to sit down and brainstorm. Ideas come to me randomly and frequently. I can be sitting in my room eating a sandwich and suddenly think, “Oh gosh, wouldn’t it be fun to make a video where I juggle dildos while doing backflips?!” I always have my phone notepad handy for times like these and I currently have four lists filled with random video ideas that I have yet to film.
I typically dedicate full days to filming because I usually don’t have the energy to film multiple clips and hop on cam after. Some days I know that I need to update my clip store so with no particular plan in mind, I’ll slap some makeup on and dig through my various costumes and sex toys until an idea comes to be. Most of my content is self shot using either my phone camera or my Canon Rebel T6 and a tripod. Luckily, I’ve managed to recruit my boyfriend to hold the camera for some of my recent videos so that I don’t have to stop what I’m doing every few minutes to adjust the camera angles, umbrella light positioning and focus. Actually, one of the hardest things about filming yourself is making sure your camera is focusing properly. I’ve had to scrap entire videos due to this.
The filming process is actually the easiest part of clip making for me. After filming, I transfer all of the raw clips to my laptop and usually call it a day. I wake up at 4 a.m. almost every day to grab some coffee and start the lengthy editing process. I usually run my clips through DaVinci Resolve to both splice clips together and color correct. When I’m done, I let them render while I watch cartoons (rendering can take hours). When the clips have finished processing I queue them for upload on ManyVids and MFC Share. While they’re uploading, I quickly splice together a preview and a decent cover photo. Everything is usually finished by 8 a.m. when I get to choose between starting the filming process again or getting ready for a cam show.
In the end, the most important thing to remember is to never be afraid to try new things or to allow your brand to evolve and grow. Finding what you enjoy most is a process of trial and error (and trust me, we’ve all had plenty of error) but it makes the end result so much more beautiful.
