She had built it from scratch

Posted at 14:09 on 15 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in female gaze, light-hearted

I can't help feeling that I (and this website) resemble this Wondermark panel...

She had built it from scratch, each part carefully sourced and fitted just so. It was a difficult beast to manage, all fine adjustments and counter-intuitive weight distribution, but it was a challenge, and it was unique, and it was hers. Some explained how she could make it simpler, or do it a different way, but she expected that. It could be simpler, but it wouldn’t be what it was. It could be different, but then it wouldn’t be her own. It was a terrible way to get around, but at least until she tore it down for parts again, it was a real, metal, 800-lb accomplishment. She’d take the smell of smoke in her hair over the rot of unfinished plans any day.

Painstakingly hand-built, more complicated than it needs to be, putting principle over practicalities, the culmination of year's love, sweat and tears during which everything came second to the project's completion? Challenging, unique, often inconvenient, and not entirely profitable? This is all sounding very familiar.

But it's worth it to see your labours bear fruit, and to feel a glorious sense of pride and ownership of your achievement.

I'm sure that my boyfriends can empathise with the source comic strip:

Dating the owner of a start-up can be a trial at times.

(Speaking of putting aesthetics over profit, you could argue that this is a better metaphor for what I'm doing here. But I know from experience that at least some things on this website fit in your mouth.)

New series: The Morpheus Club

Posted at 22:17 on 13 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in Amelia Jane Rutherford, back whipping, BDSM, bondage, bottom grasping, cane, collar, dominance\submission, double caning, edgy, flogger, groping, hand spanking, hand tawsing, hot wax, humiliation, Hywel Phillips, M|F, nipple clamps, nude spankee, objectification, over the knee, Pandora Blake, sensual, service, slave training, stockings, strap, tawse, Thomas Cameron

I'm a little bit in love with the music in our newest film. I had a lot of fun editing this one, not least because that combination of powerful classical cello with more industrial rhythms is guaranteed to get me wet, regardless of whether it's accompanied by any sexy visuals. I don't know why, something about the vibrations perhaps. But it doesn't hurt that Amelia Jane Rutherford looks utterly gorgeous writhing under splashes of hot red wax:

The movie is called Pandora's Initiation, and is episode one of our new BDSM/spanking series, The Morpheus Club.

New slavegirl Pandora is nervous, untrained and intimidated by the experienced Amelia. She endures bondage, nipple clamps, humiliating inspections and punishment, culminating in a painful double caning.

So much happens in this 37-minute BDSM epic that there was no hope of me squeezing it all into the short scene description above. I decided to focus on my character's journey, but you only need to look at the tag list or trailer to get a sense of just how much else is packed into this movie. (The tag list is so long it almost breaks the page layout!)

Specifically, the scene description fails to mention any of Amelia's myriad kinky activities, including gruelling slavegirl postures, strapping, spanking, hot wax and a flogging on her back and bottom - all of which she submits to with sublime grace and poise.

This is one of my oldest fantasies. It's got a dark non-consensual edge (the implication that my character has consented to be enrolled in this establishment out of desperation, rather than because she is kinky) but otherwise it's absolutely classic. The idea is not original in the slightest: this scene has echoes in dozens of erotic novels.

I'm honoured to have had the help of the talented Hywel and Amelia in bringing this fantasy to life, and indebted to Hywel for his expertise behind the scenes, particularly in taking over the direction from me to allow me to concentrate on performance.

In our version of this classic concept, the Morpheus Club is an underground society with a faintly historical flavour. Members are kinky men and women with a range of tastes; all of them top, and some of them switch. Male and female 'pets' are recruited by fair means or foul - some are the equal partners of members who give full consent; others have less choice in the matter. Members have equal access to all pets, and training is undertaken collectively, but new pets are often mentored by their recruiter. As a natural consequence of the cast, this scene is pure M/F, but there's more to the Morpheus Club than that, and we'll see more of it in future episodes. 

For me, the hottest parts during filming were the inspections, both kneeling before the Doctor, and exposed on all fours on the table with my new employers dispassionately discussing my body and reactions. That moment is the hardest part of this scene for my character, and undoes some of the confidence she gained during the bondage. This was the first time I'd played with Hywel (exciting!) and my nervousness about whether he'd find me pleasing was quite real. But I also had a lot of fun with the nipple clamps, slave training, picking things up in my teeth, and watching my handsome boyfriend flog beautiful Amelia. And, of course, the spankings!

Watching the finished film back, more things leap out at me. Amelia's hot wax sequence is one of the most glorious pieces of D/S play I've ever had the privilege to film. Her grace is just astonishing, and the genuine chemistry between her and Hywel is a joy to watch. Oh, and there are quite a lot of shots of both Amelia and I crawling on all fours with our bottoms in the air, which I hope some of you will enjoy.

You can find more of Hywel and Amelia's work at Hywel's bondage website Restrained Elegance, where Amelia is the resident slavegirl as her alter ego Ariel Anderssen. They have also made several bondage and spanking feature films which can be found at Elegance Studios. Their work is artistic, imaginative and beautifully executed, with the highest production values of any kinky studio in the UK. Spanking fans will particularly enjoy their domestic discipline movie Amelia's Sunday Spanking, which I've reviewed on my other blog here.

Assorted geekery

Posted at 14:50 on 11 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in files and formats, pay-per-download, site development

I'm currently rolling out a few changes to our video files and how they reach you. These are mostly improvements planned since before we launched, which are only now becoming practical to implement. Here's the details.

1. High definition video

When the site launched, all our video files were the same screen resolution: 960x540px. This is big for web viewing, but it's not going to fill a large TV screen.

Now, I'm proud to be able to offer high resolution MP4 files at a DVD-quality 1920x1080px. This is so big it has to be shrunk down to fit on my computer monitor!

So far, A Taste of Her Belt, Liberated Ladies of the Jazz Age, Dana for Senator and The Prefect's Revenge - part 2 all have high res MP4 video files available at the new HD resolution. The embedded video player and low res/small download files will still run at 960x540px as before. 

Click on the image for a full-resolution preview of the new HD video size (and this week's BDSM film epic...)

Video formats

Our archive is getting bigger by the week (53 spanking scenes and counting, of which 30 include video), and as the site grows server space becomes an increasingly pressing issue. Last week I needed to free up some space on the server at short notice, and I took the step of cutting back on the number of video formats offered for a small number of scenes.

Did you notice the change? Did you find it disruptive? Let me know!

When the site launched I wasn't sure what formats people would prefer. I needed to balance quality against download size. MP4 offers a good quality to file size ratio, but I know many Windows users prefer WMV. When the site was very new, I went down the route of offering everything: an embedded video player, a large/high quality MP4 and WMV, and a small/lower quality WMV and MP4. I never intended to keep all of these, but I hoped to collect some data that would help me whittle the selection down.

The option I am currently testing with some video scenes is to offer the following:

• Embedded popup video player (960x540, 1.2mbps) 
• High quality, large download MP4 (1920x1080, 1.5mbps)
• Lower quality, small download WMV (960x540, 1mbps)

Many spanking sites still only offer you one download option, so I'm hoping this will still provide enough range to be convenient for most people. It also halves the amount of time it takes me to export and upload video files, as well as saving space on the server. 

My current intention is to roll this change out to all scenes by the end of the month. If it's going to muck up your browsing habits, this is your chance to leave a comment and tell me what would suit you better.

'Buy Scene' links

This is the really exciting one.

Eventually, I want a shopping cart on-site which allows you to buy individual scenes instead of a membership, with discounts for bulk purchases. This is on the wishlist up there with selling printed DVDs. It'll cost a bundle to write the code and I'm unlikely to afford in the next year. 

In the meantime, of course, you can visit our Spanking Library store. Spanking Library has a very clean page design and easy to use interface. But you have to create a user account - it's not quite a neat one-click process. So I've come up with an interim solution.

If you're not currently a paid member of Dreams of Spanking (which is still the best value option if you want to watch more than one scene), viewing each spanking scene page will give you a "Buy Scene" button next to the button to join the site. Clicking this button will take you straight to a payment page for that video. No site membership, no subscription, no pressure: just the one scene you're interested in, available for download at your fingertips. 

If you click this button, the transaction will be handled by Clips4Sale, who don't require a username and password to buy clips. I've duplicated our clips store on their website, and the button will take you straight to the payment page for the scene you were viewing. Simple, easy.

I'll be rolling this exciting addition out to all the scenes in our archive over the next few weeks!

Mike Stryker does Barelesque

Posted at 14:20 on 8 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in female gaze, Mike Stryker

I hope he won't mind me posting this, but I LOVED this video of Mike Stryker, our newest spankee, on stage doing a butch, Teddy-boy themed burlesque striptease, and I thought the ladies reading this blog would enjoy it too. He seriously knows how to move!

Removing her belt

Posted at 17:48 on 5 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in Adele Haze, belt, consensual, domestic, Fforbes, film, free video, F|F, hand spanking, light-hearted, over the knee, photos, Zoe Montana

Have you ever seen a spanking video in which a woman removes her leather belt and uses it to deliver a whipping? I hadn't. Twitter informs me that Nuwest and Leda Productions might have explored this niche in the 90s, but it's certainly not as common as seeing a man do it.

I love watching a top remove their belt. Hands at the buckle, fingers working. Loosening the leather and sliding it, knowingly, deliberately, smoothly out through the belt loops with an audible swish. Their eyes watching you, while you watch the belt, mouth drying. Is the speed with which the belt is removed a hint of the pace of the whipping to follow? Swiftly, all in one breath; or slowly, drawing it out, savouring your anticipation?

Either way, it's hot as hell, an erotic pre-punishment ritual improved only by the unbuttoning of cuffs and rolling back of sleeves. But all of these preparations, in my experience, are usually assigned to male tops. Why? Why not a female spanker, resplendent in tight denim, fixing you with her gaze as she slides her leather belt free of its constraints and puts it to another use? 

Well, this is exactly what Zoe Montana does in our latest video, all the better to whip Adele Haze:

It was an absolute treat to cast Zoe and Adele together for the first time. I'm grateful to Adele for stepping in at the last minute as spankee for this unscheduled scene, after plans had to be re-written on the fly; and for tolerating the not-entirely-flattering script I came up with on the spot. I can assure you that Adele very rarely drinks, and when she does she's perfectly charming and would never dream of stealing anything. Still, she looks very pretty while being spanked, and we thought the film would be a bit more interesting if we gave Zoe some excuse.

Personally, I could just watch the bit where Zoe removes her belt over and over again, but if you need more reason than that, this video also includes some hard hand spanking and 24 searing strokes of the leather belt on Adele's bare bottom. If you like that sort of thing. Which if you're reading this blog seems a reasonable guess.

A Taste of Her Belt also includes a 6 minute behind the scenes video including out-takes, negotiation and some post-shoot lotion and aftercare, 36 high resolution screengrabs and a bonus gallery of 12 photos, in which our photographer Fforbes had a go at capturing the 'spanker's eye view' from above Zoe's head. I think my favourite is the shot which shows the white handprint left behind by Zoe's palm on Adele's pink bottom.

Have a great weekend!

Spanking Library store now open!

Posted at 21:08 on 4 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in pay-per-download

Those of you who prefer to buy spanking films as individual downloads might be interested to hear that we've just opened our own clips store at Spanking Library. You can find all our video updates there, and I'm keeping it up to date with new releases each week.

Each 'clip' is a full movie including a title sequence and credits, and a complete storyline in its own right - exactly the same video file as is available to site members, in fact. So that means no partial clips, but full films with our trademark imaginative plots and character development, not just context-free spanking (although some of the videos squeeze in rather a lot of spanking!).

The films range in price from $4.99 to $24.99 depending on length, so none of them will break the bank. The longest, Caning Merit Badge, is 59 minutes long and shows me taking 39 whacks with the bath brush, 100 hard cane strokes, 20 cane strokes on the nipples and a final 30 strokes of the razor strop. Bargain!

Here are some of the many other clips on sale:

Not only that, but I've just added our latest film, Liberated Ladies of the Jazz Age - in which Zille Defeu and I play rebellious young flappers subjected to cruel domestic belt whippings in the Roaring Twenties:

The videos are all high quality, with a bitrate of around 1.5mbps and a resolution of 960x540 for older scenes and 1920x1080 for the newest ones. As such downloads might take a little longer on slower internet connections, but it'll be worth the wait.

So if you prefer to watch spanking videos on a pay-per-download basis rather than with a site membership, you can now bookmark our Spanking Library store and cherry-pick your favourite movies from our growing archive.

Video blog: Dreams of Spanking HQ

Posted at 13:19 on 2 May 2012 by Pandora Blake in Pandora Blake, video diary

In this video blog, I show you around "Dreams of Spanking HQ" (i.e. my new flat!), tell you about yesterday's photoshoot and my video shoot plans, and talk you through the contents of my toybox. 

The video is public so you don't have to be a site member to view it. Click on the image to launch the popup player, or alternatively right click to download the MP4 (high res, large file) or WMV (low res, smaller file) version. Enjoy!

Flappers, belt whippings, and all that jazz

Posted at 20:56 on 29 Apr 2012 by Pandora Blake in , behind the scenes, belt, domestic, Duncan Defeu, edgy, historical, kissing, M/F, Pandora Blake, photos, romantic, scolding, sensual, shoots, stockings, struggling, tawse, Thomas Cameron, unfair, Zille Defeu

I started editing this week's film on Tuesday, and for twenty-four hours I honestly believed I wasn't going to be able to show you it. Not because of technical difficulties: but because the scenario was so unpleasant that editing it actually left me a little bit traumatised.

This is one of my nastier fantasies. I wrote it, and Tom, playing the role of top, followed my script exactly. It needed to be intense to achieve the emotional effect I was after, and as an actor, I knew he could deliver. But the first time I watched the footage, it left me shaking. This is horrible, I thought, I can't possibly publish this.

Luckily, by the time I'd wound up the story to its conclusion, the initial shock had worn off, and I changed my mind.

This is a story about a generational culture clash between old and new: the repressive moralism of the late 1800s and the "new woman" emerging by the Roaring Twenties, who proclaimed her right to vote, drive, date, dance, drink and smoke. There's a clear potential for punishment in the resulting conflict.

The original form of this fantasy was dark and solitary, a flapper trapped in an abusive domestic situation, envying her friends their freedom - and, eventually, after one particularly severe punishment, effecting her escape. It was always crucial to my enjoyment of this violent, non-consensual scenario that the mistreated heroine win out in the end.

When I had the chance to shoot with Zille in an amazing period apartment, I seized the opportunity to invite her into the scenario. This was the first scene we filmed together, and it was not an easy shoot. With so many shot changes and other factors to consider, we got behind schedule and I found the whole thing pretty stressful. This was only the fourth video I'd ever produced, and I was still on a very steep learning curve. But it was also glorious, because after months, if not years, of admiring Zille online I was finally with her, in person - getting spanked with her - and it was a constant delight to explore this new dimension to our existing friendship. I think it's pretty clear from how this scene plays out how much we'd been looking forward to meeting each other!

Here are some screencaps I grabbed from the behind the scenes footage:

The petting session our characters indulge in to console themselves after their punishment was not, in fact, scripted: it was a purely spontaneous mutual development on the spur of the moment. But it fits. The real beauty of it is that repressive Uncle Thomas couldn't even imagine that such a thing might be possible!

This film should probably come with a trigger warning for domestic abuse. The punishment sequences are not nice: the whippings are delivered in anger, there's shouting, struggling and crying, and Tom is convincingly unpleasant in his role of my horrid uncle. But the story, ultimately, has a happy ending. The repressive ideas of his generation have a sell-by date, and the "new woman" he so abhors, in the end, will long outlive him.

I'm rather hoping that the next time I shoot with Zille we'll have the chance to film the sequel to this. I do believe that the young flappers succeed in their plan to escape Uncle's clutches and sail across the ocean to prohibition-era California. I'm sure many adventures await them there! For a start, I'm looking forward to meeting Zille's bohemian gin-distilling aunt...

I particularly enjoyed putting together the soundtrack for this one, including hits by the Duke Ellington Orchestra (Admiration and Saratoga Swing), My Cutie's Due from Two to Two Today and There'll Be Some Changes Made by Billy Higgins. I'm indebted to both Zille and her partner Duncan not only for their roles in the film, but for teaming up to produce such beautiful photography to complement it. There are a total of 113 photographs accompanying the film, plus 11 behind the scenes snaps, all gorgeously atmospheric. Thanks so much to Sleek Images for their help bringing one of my more challenging fantasies to life.

Ladies of the jazz age

Posted at 13:25 on 25 Apr 2012 by Pandora Blake in historical, Pandora Blake, Zille Defeu

I've spent the last two days listening to 1920s jazz, and it's put me thoroughly in the mood for this week's film starring myself and Zille Defeu. It's an edgy period punishment flick featuring flappers, domestic belt whippings, lingerie and some sexy (and VERY illicit) kisses and cuddles between myself and the delicious Zille!

It's out this weekend. If you're a fan of the roaring 1920s and severe prohibition era punishments, I think you might like this one.

Principled porn - full interview

Posted at 11:38 on 24 Apr 2012 by Pandora Blake in consensual, female gaze, feminist porn, interviews, media

When Kitty Stryker was researching her article on Principled Porn, she sent me and various other performers/directors some questions to get us thinking. They were pretty interesting to answer.

What makes for ethical porn from a consumer point of view?

As a consumer, my benchmark is being able to trust that the performers had fun, had space to express their own sexual desires, were able to say no, and were paid and treated fairly.

What makes for ethical porn from a director/performer point of view?

The same, plus. As a performer, I'm particularly concerned with how performers are presented by the studio. Does the language describing the scene humanise and celebrate the performers, or demean and objectify them? I look for a clear distinction between reality and fantasy. It's the difference between "watch this fat slut get what she deserves" and "[name] was amazing to work with, it was a real treat to be invited into explore her kinky fantasies and her enthusiasm was a joy to watch". This is something I look for as a consumer now as well.

I think scenes exploring power play, historical fantasies or non-consent play should be guided by the performers, and their agency and desires should be paramount. The website and promotional copy needs to reflect this focus. An ethical director will contextualise the non-consensual fantasy of the scene by framing it with the consensual, ethical reality - rather than trying to pretend that the non-consent fantasy is real and the performers actually didn't consent (ick).

As a director/producer, it's my business to make sure that I negotiate clearly with performers before the shoot, respect their preferences and don't pressure them into anything, give them space to be creative and contribute ideas if they like. I pay my male and female models equally, respect their limits (once someone's said 'no thankyou' I don't ask again) and try to treat all my performers like royalty on set. It's also my responsibility to be organised, cater to performers' unique needs (such as dietary requirements), and prevent production stress from impacting my performers so they can relax and have as much fun as possible. This is an ongoing learning curve but I'm definitely better at it now than I was when I started!

You are all people who create your own content. Why did you decide to do that in addition to/instead of working in the mainstream? What are the benefits? What are the disadvantages?

The spanking niche is small enough that even the most well-known performers only do a couple of video shoots a year. If you want to work more than that (and I do - acting in spanking films is the most fun I ever have) you needs must produce your own content. 

I always used to come up with ideas for storylines when working for other people anyway, but it's nice to have full creative control over a film and be able to realise ideas exactly as I envisage them. I get to do something I love full time, which employs a large number of creative, technical and social skills. I get to express myself creatively, and I learn new things about myself all the time. I feel much more grounded, balanced and fulfilled as a person, and my sexuality and relationship with my kink has reached an amazingly centered, happy place. 

But those are just the day to day benefits. The long term ones, the reason I think this is worth spending my time and energy on, aren't all self-involved. When people tell me how much my work has helped them accept their own desires, that's really what makes it all feel worthwhile.

Disadvantages... hrm. Working as producer/director makes it harder to relax and enjoy the thrill of performance, because your mind is full of other things. So acting in my own spanking films is a more complicated experience than acting in other people's, and the straightforward performance buzz is harder to find. But when I've co-ordinated a shoot that connected people, watched my performers get the buzz, and created something imaginative and hot? The sense of satisfaction is tenfold.

I have to spend a lot of time on admin and marketing, which is tedious. It's not super profitable and my income is unpredictable. But those things are true of any creative industry. I can't tell everyone what I do, but that was true before I produced my own content, too. In general I wouldn't say there are any disadvantages unique to producing your own content. Or perhaps I simply haven't encountered them yet!

What unethical practices or attitudes have you had to fight/come up against within the adult industry, if any? Names not at all required, but this would be a good time to talk about racism/sexism/pressure to have unsafe sex/pressure to do more than you want to do if that's occurred.

As a performer I've only found myself doing things I wasn't comfortable with a couple of times, when I was new to the industry and not very confident about maintaining my boundaries. I had to learn to be outspoken about my comfort levels and clearly communicate if something was bothering me. Since I learned those communication skills I've managed to stay out of sticky situations. I've also learned to trust my instincts and not book work with people who are ringing alarm bells. 

More generally, there's a worrying trend in the spanking scene which privileges M/F (and, to a lesser extent, F/F) play at the expense of all others. Most studios are very male gaze; I think I'm the first director to shoot male spankees for a female audience. It grates on me when people talk about M/F kink as if it was universal, and it does make me less able to enjoy playing patriarchal punishment fantasies in that context.

It's also very normal in the spanking scene for male actors, spankers and spankees, to not be paid for their work. I think this is appalling: it's demeaning to the men, it creates a culture where male actors are expected to perform in porn "for kicks" (imagine how it feels knowing your spanker has no screen experience, has been booked off a spanking forum and is there to get his rocks off, rather than a paid professional) and it drives talent away from the industry. You get what you pay for: and you value what you pay for, too, which I think more directors should bear in mind. I pay spankers one rate and spankees another, regardless of gender, and I've been lucky to shoot with some gorgeous, talented male actors.

Radical feminists are often very anti-porn because they see it as degrading and violent. What have discourses around porn, ethics, and feminism missed in their analysis? What are some things radfems say, if anything, that you agree with?

At its simplest, porn is a record of sex. If it's possible to have sex in a feminist way (and it is, through clear consent, negotiation and mutual respect) then it's possible to make porn in a feminist way. Recording a sex act doesn't make it inherently degrading or objectifying.

A lot of porn is problematic, but so is a lot of sex. The key to fixing both is improving consent and communication.

What are some things mainstream porn companies could do to promote a more ethical work environment?

Studios who care about their ethical reputation should:

• Make an effort to book performers with a variety of body types: not only white, skinny, youthful, cisfemale people are sexy!
• Pay male and female performers fairly.
• Make expectations clear beforehand. Don't put performers on the spot during the shoot by asking them to do something you never mentioned before, particularly if it involves pushing their limits. Stick to the script - unless changes arise organically with the clear consent of the performers. Use your performers' ideas and enthusiasm. Pay close attention to your performers' body language and back off if they're uncomfortable, or ask them what you can do to improve their experience.
• After the shoot, don't write about your performers in an ugly way. Blogs and twitter are great, but they aren't a place to continue a power exchange fantasy. Don't be insulting and don't conflate the performer with their character. If you shot a scene where a character was spanked for, say, washing a car badly, don't say of the performer, "having met this girl I'm surprised she even knows what a car is!" Don't make rude comments about their body shape, and don't call a performer rude names like "bitch", "slut" or "stupid" even if their character was called that in the fantasy.
• And this one is specific to spanking, but: Don't assume that only women get spanked, deserve to get spanked, or are sexy getting spanked. Don't assume that your audience consists of only straight white male tops.