When it comes to behind-the-scenes pieces, it’s hard to beat a VR porn shoot (pun strongly unintended!)
After receiving an invitation from BaDoink CEO Todd Glider, Vice/Motherboard writer DJ Pangburn attended a BaDoinkVR shoot at a five-story Hollywood Hills mansion, effectively recreating his own Big Lebowski moment.
While naked people were about to have sex on set, Pangburn found himself in a very professional setting full of VR rigs, tech geekery, and a somewhat surprising lack of “smut peddler vibe.” Director Nick Melillo, widely regarded for creating the “Brazzers look” — and as Glider calls him, “The Burt Reynolds of VR porn” — was in charge of the ambitious 180-degree shoot at the top floor of the mansion.
Porn star Christie Stevens played a Hollywood trophy wife, who welcomes a vacuum cleaner salesman into her house and negotiates her own payment plan, as she rides the lucky vendor in full 3D display.
“Melillo says the single biggest challenge in VR porn filmmaking is that the crew only has one or two angles,” Pangburn recounted. “Stevens must do the majority of the work by looking into the VR rigs’ lens, establishing the virtual first person illusion. She, more so than the male star, must play to the camera. During the shoot, Maxwell is basically locked in a stationary position because of the VR camera rig positioned over his head, while Stevens has to strip, fellate, initiate penetration and everything else.”
The very talented Stevens showed just how different and more immersed the whole VR experience can be, adding that VR technology and 3D porn will definitely be a big hit in the industry.
“It’s not that we’re going to reinvent sex or new sex positions, we’re just showing it through a new experience,” Melillo told Pangburn. “There are two or three other companies that are doing this, but I’ve seen their stuff and they’re not doing it well. As long as you’re number one in quality, (people will) come.”
