MsKitka.com

Last night I received a comment from Heather of JC’s Girls. The comment read:

Actually I do know what a pod cast is. Soon I will be having my own pod cast show called the holy hottie show. I gave you a wink because I think that you are very creative in what you do. If you ever want to interveiw a bad girl gone good I would love to be on your show..heather from JC’sGirlsGirlsGirls.

This morning I wrote Heather an e-mail in response to apologize for the sarcastically evil tone I used on Kitkast episodes 1.5 and 1.6. I post it on my site to publicly acknowledge the apology:

Well, Heather was quick to respond telling me that it will in fact be a video-podcast called The Holy Hottie Show and that she is making it with the help of her documentary film maker Bill Day. If that name sounds familiar to you it could be because, if you saw my review of JC’s Girls on Kitkast, I cited his name as the original source for suggesting the story. I wasn’t too surprised that Bill Day was working together with JC’s Girls since I wasn’t able to find any video footage of the girls on the JC’s Girls web site.

However, this morning I found something interesting. When reading porn news on the Internet, I found an article about how XXXChurch is fundraising to help a porn star to escape from the industry. It turns out that they have already made $12,000 out of their $14,400 target amount to help porn star Trinity James move to Indiana with her daughter and attend cosmetology school. The details of the fund distribution are as follows:

U-haul Moving Truck from Vegas to Indiana Gas for Uhaul Gas for other vehicle Plane Ticket for Trinity’s daughter so she does not have to drive Food and Hotel on the Road Cost to terminate Las Vegas apartment lease AVN booth Space  (Trinity was going to go the Porn Show in January, she owes this money even though she will not go. She has agreed to put material in her booth about the Trinity Project) Cosmetology School for 11 month Degree Start up money for Indiana Total:

$1,200 $400 $300 $300 $500 $700 $2,000 $8,000 $1,000 $14,400

Why couldn’t Ms. James have stayed in Las Vegas and gone to school there? Is Indiana the only place where she felt she could raise her child? Just as you can’t hide from God’s omnipotent power, you cannot hide from sin.

Had James stayed in Vegas and completed her studies there, the cost of helping her out of the industry could have gone from $14,400 to as little as $10,000. That way the other $4,400 could have been spent on helping someone else. But, I guess Ms. James wishes to get back to her family in Indiana… which I can’t blame her for. Family is good comfort, especially if you’re a young single mother.

In addition to the establishment of the new Trinity Project to help people get out of the porn industry, XXXChurch has set up a blog for Trinity James. James has now returned to Indiana and has already started posting on the new blog. Besides the blog, James’ old web site at www.trinityjames.com is counting down to a new site to be launched on 7 January 2006, the precise date of the 2006 AVN Awards. Coincidence? I think not.

My bet is that the new site will portray James as a poster child for escaping the industry and returning to a ‘normal’ rural lifestyle. XXXChurch says that she herself will not be attending the 2006 AVN Awards, but that her booth will remain and will promote the Trinity Project instead.

After visiting various XXXChurch sites to read about the Trinity Project, I discovered that Bill Day is not only the man behind Heather’s Holy Hotties video-podcast, but he is also the documentary film maker of XXX Church’s famous anti-porn film Missionary Positions (i.e. the film distributed on National Porn Sunday). It might be sneaky self-promotion that he sent me the original story idea to cover JC’s Girls, but I’m still grateful for the hint.

I wonder if Bill Day will be making a documentary with Trinity James next. After all, he seems quite well connected to the “Christian Porn” industry.

I was appalled this morning when I read this editorial from the Washington Times:

Remember when the hottest Christmas toy was a Tickle Me Elmo doll? This year, kids will be clamoring for Internet-ready cell phones and video iPods. Parents, if the cost doesn’t deter you, consider this: These new gadgets come with ready access to hardcore pornography.

Consider some of the items likely to be on the Christmas wish lists on your refrigerator.

Apple iPod: It’s not just for music anymore. The new iPod is capable of downloading and storing up to 150 hours of video. Porn industry giants — such as Hustler, Penthouse and Playboy — are formatting content for the new hand-held. Another pornographic site, SuicideGirls, reportedly sold 1 million downloads of nude models within a week of the video iPod’s debut.

This aggravates me because normal kids aren’t smart enough to access the porn and if they are smart enough to go to the great lengths necessary to search, subscribe, pay with mummy and daddy’s credit card and upload… don’t you think those kids are bright enough to watch it? Any normal kid isn’t this smart… only 1337 h4×0r5 like my Zod had that childhood gift!

Besides, why would a child bother spending time downloading porn to their iPod when there are cool music videos, annoying Disney movies and Family Guy podcasts to download?

The truth is, the man who wrote this editorial had no idea what he was talking about.

Who is the author, you ask? He is Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality for Focus on the Family. That’s right… a family organization (i.e. Christian evangelical propaganda organization). In fact, he also runs a web site called Pure Intimacy, which is a site that contains articles pertaining to sexuality and Christian faith.

While he claims in the editorial that major porn companies are formatting content for the iPod, this is news to me… In fact, they have already formatted content for it in the past and I have not heard anything new on this topic. Last month I read an article in Wired that stated who industry giants are actually staying away from the opportunity. So, how does Weiss justify the following statement made at the end of his editorial?

Will moms and dads buy these news toys for their kids? Pornographers certainly hope so.

This claim is ludicrous. Pornographers don’t put the content out hoping that it will be viewed by children. The man who wrote this editorial is deluded and should be discredited as a religious fundamentalist pushing his agenda under cover of a pro-family label.

The Washington Times ought to be ashamed of themselves for publishing this junk. Then again, what more can you expect from a mainstream ‘news’ source that sponsors advertising for pro-conservative hate t-shirts on their front page?

I don’t usually talk about the weather, but today I need the world to understand my plight. Montreal had its first snowstorm yesterday and it’s not even December yet. It has snowed about 4 days out of the past week and I don’t remember seeing the sun in quite a while… it certainly doesn’t make it easy to wake up and go to work in the mornings.

So this got me thinking… not everyone gets snow. I’m sure it snows in some parts of California, but Montreal as the porn capital of Canada certainly differentiates itself with its extreme weather. As a result, I believe I should do a segment of Kitkast in the snow… I have some clever ideas in mind and I think they will be quite enjoyable. The only problem with filming outside is the background noise and the horrible wind.

However, in an effort to work on the challenges of audio problems like the Montreal wind, as well as to improve the general quality of the show, I’m currently in the process of setting up a donation system and a store. Here is my wish list (in order of priority):

• DV Cam
• Microphone or Digital Voice Recorder
• Better lighting
• More lingerie
• Props (Blankets, sheets, fluffy pillows)

The donation button and merchandise store will be online soon, however, if anyone out there is interested in providing me with some sort of sponsorship to help me raise money for the abovementioned equipment (or donate equipment in exchange for advertising), please contact me at kitkast@gmail.com.

The MsKitka.com sites will undergo a slight facelift over the next few weeks to allow for a few more features. It’ll be a good opportunity for me to stay inside and stay warm…

Above: American propaganda poster from WWII

There’s an excellent article in Orange County Weekly this week discussing the known problems with Bush’s war on porn:

Among standard occupational hazards associated with the porn industry—chlamydia, leaking implants and an anal scene with the brawny Lexington Steele—adult-film actors have this new one: sexual predators aided by George W. Bush.

Since June 23, a Justice Department ruling has made it possible for anyone purchasing photographs from an adult content provider to get models’ personal information, including real names, home addresses and telephone numbers.

Adult performers say the updated recordkeeping requirements for sexually explicit materials declare open season on adult stars, already the targets of religious zealous and perverts—and religious zealots who are perverts. Officials say the amended provision to the Child Protection and Obscenity Act of 1988 was necessary to prevent the distribution of child pornography through new technologies, mainly the Internet.

So, in reply to robber_baron’s comment last week on Iranian Pornography Dissidents, it looks like there may not be much more that the Bush administration can do, but releasing personal information of adult performers is actually quite effective. Instead of fighting the ‘war’ using the judicial system, he is using the American public themselves… and we all there are many trailer park Americans who’d love to take the law into their own hands.

All Emperor Bush really needed to do was declare hunting season and legalize lynching. Sure lynching may still be outlawed, but I have to wonder whether the authorities would turn their heads if an ‘immoral’ porn star was the victim. Porn stars aside, isn’t that basically what happened in Mississippi back in 1964?

Camera – Although I did not mention it in the previous part, I presume that you have already realized that you need a camera to film your video-podcast. Do yourself a favour and make sure you have a digital camera of some kind.

Kitkast uses a mere Canon PhotoShot SD200 (Digital Elph). Yes, you heard right. You don’t need a DV cam to make a video-podcast, but I hope that someday I will. The problem with the digital camera is that there is no place to plug in a microphone so the sound isn’t that great.

Positioning – This of the shots you time as a photograph, after all, movies were traditionally known as moving pictures. Try to remember what the focus of the shot is and make sure that it’s in the shot… no one likes those pictures where a person’s head is directly in the middle of the shot; the image is nicer when heads are closer to the top.

Since most amateur video-podcasters don’t have television monitors for the actors/news anchors to see themselves, it is helpful to take a picture of the shot before shooting the film. As someone who is slightly self-conscious wearing her underwear in front of the world, I always make sure that the shots are flattering before we waste space on our memory card to record. It would be nice if some day, Zod and I would have a list of great shots to use on Kitkast, but for now it’s still trial and error. Similarly, you should do some tests and determine what angles look best for your show.

Audio – Although audio is already included in the recording of the camera, you probably won’t like the quality. The best thing to do is to have a backup audio separate from the video or a microphone plugging directly into the camera.

When Kitkast first started out, audio was being recorded on the digital camera as well as on a U2 iPod. What we found, though, was that the audio from the iPod was horrible. The reason for this being that iPods have a sample rate of only 8 kHz. Apparently this feature hasn’t been improved much on the video-iPod. If you want to do yourself a favour, purchase a digital voice recorder or get a microphone to plug directly into your camera.

Silence – One of the challenges of filming is to ensure ‘quiet on the set’. Although not overly noticeable, there are times when background noises interfere with the filming of Kitkast.

Although it is forbidden in my apartment building to have pets, people still have them and they tend to cause a real ruckus when I’m trying to film. I’ve also had problems with the neighbors upstairs who are constantly renovating things and there are often ambulance, firefighting and police sirens blasting in my neighborhood (no I don’t live in the Bronx). The best thing to do is close all your windows, doors and cupboards to cut down on background noise. Even after trying to cut out uncontrollable sounds, it is also a good idea to turn off computers to try and cut out even the slightest hum that could disturb the audio.

If filming outside, make sure that the wind is under control. If you don’t have a special microphone to cut out the sound of the wind, make sure you are in a location that is calm. I filmed an interview with Violet from LiveCamNetwork and Mark Prince from 2Much only 20 feet away from each other, but the sound from Mark’s interview didn’t come out because we were too much in the open. I learnt my lesson for Violet’s interview and re-shot Mark’s interview a week later (this time in an echo-ey office!).

Lighting – How do those girls in the acne remedy commercials have such perfect skin? Lighting. If you flood enough light on your face, you can look like a million bucks. Take Celine Dion for example… instead of getting a nose job, she realized that if she flooded enough light on her face, her nose would look smaller.

Kitkast uses two lamps, but I wish we had more/brighter lamps because sometimes I see my nose casting a shadow on one side of my face! From my perspective, we usually have one lamp at 10 o’clock and one lamp at 2 o’clock. This balances both sides of my face as efficiently as possible without devoting too much money towards our budget (i.e. our own bank accounts). For a good tutorial on lighting, check out Steve Garfield’s lighting tips. Play around with the lighting and see what you can do… remember that shadows aren’t a bad thing; Alfred Hitchcock was a genius at manipulating shadows in his films.

If you’re filming outdoors, remember to film with the actor/actress’ face towards the sunlight… unless you’re trying to make someone look like Jesus, that is.

Props – Think about what you want to be in every shot.

Since I don’t really like the way my apartment is decorated right now, I try and limit the amount of background in the shot. The more you have in the background, the more it will look like clutter. Remember: less is more. If I could get a new apartment and decorate it to be Kitkast-friendly, I would make it spacious, bright and modern… something like the space station on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Clothing – Props aren’t the only thing on video, try to dress (or undress) appropriately for the kind of show you are doing. Remember that if you wear an anti-Bush t-shirt, you will probably lose some pro-Bush fans…

Additionally, if you’re filming scantily clad - Kitkast style - make sure you have a blanket or a robe nearby between takes. I am often terribly cold on the set.

Hair & Makeup – I always find strippers more attractive when they have well-groomed hair. Similarly, if you have hair, you should always make sure that it is well-coiffed before appearing on film. It’s better to take care of it before filming than realizing what it looked like while editing…

Makeup is an optional addition, of course, but is helpful all the same (especially for women). If the lighting is good, you may not need makeup but sometimes it helps to outline/extenuate certain features in your face. Just remember what Oprah looks like on TV without her makeup and do what you can to make yourself presentable. Every detail counts.

Memorization – Depending on how much time you have to write, it’s important to try your best to memorize your script or talking points before stepping in front of the camera.

Since I haven’t quit my day job yet and I try my best to stay on top of sex news stories, the script is usually finished only a couple of hours before filming. I can only hope that someday I have more time to devote to memorization.

Helpful hints – Unlike me, not everyone took Film Production 101 in college. Go read a book about the process and watch your favorite shows/movies for inspiration. Since you may not have a lot of funds to devote to making your podcast look professional, try looking at old Hollywood classics for smart, inexpensive tricks.

Part 1: Creative Planning
Part 2: Technological Planning
Part 3: Filming
Part 4: Editing (Coming Soon)
Part 5: Marketing (Coming Soon)