Checklist for documenting Bondage sessions

[PurpleVibes]

I would like to document my sessions in a more thorough way. So what would you think would be a good checklist when sharing a bondage session?
and what info are you more interested in?

[ltxrob]

everyone is different, but for me its definitely a mix of tech info and feelings.
I like to see and hear about the layers of gear being applied and its resulting added restriction

[Max515]

Are you making videos?
- nice cloting; for this forum I belive spandex and latex are best
- show the release method, setting it up
- show the process of self bondage, but cut long boring sequences: don't show every loop of the rope, but focus on the last handcuff or padlock clicking closed
- show the first moments when you realise you're trapped
- show the struggle - this should be the main part of the clip
- cut the parts when you don't move, but leave the moments when you're tired and need a break from struggling, a zoom-in would be best if you can arrange it
- show the release method and the moment it triggers: keys falling, timer padlock count to zero
- show unlocking or cutting the rope, show the rope marks

[Frank]

Some good points right there. I'd like to add a few regarding the camera.

• Use highest resolution to allow for cropping & adjustments later.
  
• Check the field of view with some pillows as your body double. It sucks to finish up & find out half your body was out of frame.
  
• Batteries fully charged?
  
• Unless you're outside on a sunny day, you can use more light. Turn on every light you have and make sure the flash is on. 
  
• Clear the stage. Countless times I've left a bucket in the background or a stray thread on the carpet.
  

I'm still new to the "bondage session producer" thing myself, but it feels like there is 5 main phases to either talk about or show. The setup, the tying, the finished package, the struggle, and finally the escape. I like to have a picture or two along with a little commentary about the thoughts or feelings being expressed at that time. Each person will find their own style of writing and photography, so just jump in and start having fun!

[Anne]

All good points, I have made some videos and participated in discussions on the technical site of it on this very forum, I'm only unable to find these posts right now.

Some quick wins are indeed:
- light, you need it. If you only have one window in the room it's probably not enough. You can get away with decent quality video on a bright day in a well lit room but for better results you need to add lights. Like those things you see on construction sites for example.

- do a few tests, start the camera, get in position and move to every border of the area you plan to use. Also sit up, stand up etc and then look back at the recording to see if you need to zoom out a bit, or maybe remember where to sit and to be in frame.

- as Frank said, clear the stage. It just looks more professional. pushing a piece of furniture out of frame can make a lot of difference. Don't have stuff all over, it will look messy. For quick and dirty sessions I put some blankets over stuff and/or blur stuff out in post.

- edit your video. At a minimum cut out the boring bits. If you feel like it do some pan or zoom effects. For these to work you need to film with some padding and you'll also sacrifice some resolution. My camera does full HD but my video's are 720p because of this.

- storytelling. Every story has a begin, middle and end (not necessarily in that order). Most self bondage video's are more like tutorials, they show all the stuff used, the actual bind, then some struggling and eventually the release. If you have help you can do the classic "discovered in self bondage" trope and have somebody come in and add to the bondage or take the release away. You've all seen videos like that. More interesting stories have the setup in the beginning, then something happens and our hero is in trouble, finally the resolution. In self bondage videos there is often no resolution and the hero stays trapped or gets discovered.

Most of my video's are simple, and require some setup going from "cleaning up the room" to full blown setting the stage and looking for locations. My stories are mostly: 1. I'm tying myself 2. I'm stuck 3. fade out or release and fade out. But I did some more elaborate ones like:

Source: https://www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?v...fae4c2575e

and

Source: https://www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?v...6836bed6ee


These are a lot of work and I did not have any help for the bondage, camerawork or the editing. I consider those the highest level of videography I can do on my own.

Just experiment. If you have a lot of work on your outfit you wont have a lot of recording time left, if you have a lot of furniture to move you have a lot of cleaning up to do afterwards. Try to keep things simple and practice, don't try a new way of self bondage with a new outfit in a new decor. I practice new ties without any setup, sometimes I do the minimum effort needed to get it on camera and only when I know the tie will work and have tried out the outfit a few times of camera I go all in and do a full video session.

Practice, film yourself, see what bothers you and do it better next time. I have many hours of grainy, messy videos that I don't upload but without them I could never have made the ones I do upload.

My "quick and dirty" setup is just my bed where I pull of the sheets, put some blankets over the nightstands and hit record. I've done this so many times I can do it really fast without thinking so there is more time and energy left for the bondage part. For quick and dirty I just put on a swimsuit or something easy, as soon as I know the bondage works I can do a video with a better outfit.