You know that the porn industry is built on the backs (and other parts) of the very young, but it was not always that way. Once upon a time, all someone had to be was willing.
The commoditization of filming someone new to porn and/or new to legal age is a phenomenon that has only been around for the past decade, and so many people are exposed to pornography that getting real reactions out of them when they get on camera is tricky.
That is why watching Vivid’s Brand New Faces series is more of a lesson for us than it is for the people on screen for the first time.
Read more after the gap.
“We have a money back guarantee,” said director B. Skow. “If you can find this girl anywhere else on film doing a scene before this one was shot, you get your money back.”
“You mean a commercial video, or the Internet…”
“Yes.”
Brand New Faces is both a website and a DVD series featuring women who have never before had sex on camera for pay. Why is this so important?
“Because after awhile you can see people phoning it in,” Skow said.
Skow, who picked his porn name 15 years ago – in haste – and now wishes he had chosen something cool like Gram Ponante or Ronnie James Dildo, performs a lengthy interview segment with each girl as she prepares for her scene. Prior to this, Vivid vets the talent.
“Have you ever caught anyone lying?” I asked.
“We did,” he said, “and we busted her.” Skow said that he’s hoping to start a “Busted” section on the site in which women who clearly have been in porn before, whether under a different name or (as was the case Skow mentioned) a day or two prior to the Brand New Faces shoot, get their comeuppance.
“I’ll even call them on: ‘Who told you how to put your finger in your mouth?’ I really want people who haven’t done this before.”
As in America, there is a dwindling middle class in porn. But in porn the attraction is either being new or famous. In this case, the middle class is women who’ve been around for between a month and three years who will never be Tera, Jenna, or Belladonna. And the promise of someone new is intoxicating.
“You’ve got a tiny fucking pussy,” Skow says to Taylor Jones. “Where’s the hole?”
A 25-year-old hairdresser named Makali Chanel is new to the business but she clearly knows what she wants.
“I’m the Porn Princess,” she says about a thousand times.
But the real find of the DVD is Courtney James, who mentioned she turned 18 last December.
“You’ll be 19 pretty soon,” Skow says. “You’re getting old.”
“Don’t say that,” she says.
Skow tells her how to hold her breasts for an upward camera angle.
“Hold your tits over the top of the nipple and push them together,” he says.
James is from South Carolina, natural, and adorable. She arrives at the studio wearing khaki shorts and a t-shirt, like she just got off her job at the ice cream stand. She smiles toothily and has a great scene with Sascha, who can’t believe his good luck.
“Sascha’s one of those guys who really loves girls,” Skow says at one point begging the question: Are there men in porn who don’t like girls?
Like most gonzo porn shot by its director, Brand New Faces features a lot of Skow talking. He manages to walk a fine line between respectful distance, honest admiration, and sounding creepy.
“But there’s a market for Ed Powers, too,” Skow hastens to add.
Brand New Faces #1 features four women, some of whom seem more innocent than others. What separates them is their enthusiasm. There is at least one person in the movie I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of in the future, whereas James might get a contract.
What is especially valuable about Brand New Faces is that the women don’t need too much coaching to appear like they’ve been doing this for a year.
Previously: Monique Alexander gets a call from Santa; Fiat Lux Kassidy
See also: Vivid
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