This month CDGirls, in business since 1998, began selling Jenna Haze Oil Orgy, a two-hour disc culminating in a nine-girl oilslick betweeen Haze and Hillary Scott, Holly Morgan, Carlie Banks, Sammie Rhodes, Bobbi Blair, Marlena, August, and Charlie Lane.
"We had a custom-made oil pit," said CDGirls operations manager Ken, noting that the excess of lubing agents required the movie to be "directed by committee".
The company chose to release Jenna Haze Oil Orgy in as many formats as possible, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It avoided larger porn companies' problems with Blu-Ray replicators by burning the discs themselves. The only difference between the end result and other Blu-Ray discs is that the Jenna Haze movie has no copy protection.
"If there are step-by-step instructions on how to break the DRM (Digital Rights Management) online and people can BitTorrent it anyway, there's no use in that protection," said CDGirls technology officer Manny Ulele.
I asked Ken why he chose Blu-Ray. Did he see it as the future rather than HD-DVD?
"Not really," he said. "Right now we see the same type of fight shaping up between formats as occurred in the Beta vs. VHS days. Apple and Sony are backing the Blu-Ray format, while Microsoft and others are backing the HD-DVD. As it is, even playing major Hollywood studio releases can require upgrading firmware and software, depending on the player a person has, so a lot is still undecided."
Universal's latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale, which debuted on Blu-Ray, is not itself universally compatible with Blu-Ray players. Some require firmware upgrades and others, if upgraded, will not play the disc.
"Judging from that," Ken said, "we decided to hedge our bets as much as possible."
To that end, the company is releasing each Blu-ray and HD-DVD disc in a package that also includes a standard DVD.
"You don't want to receive the disc and pop it in at 2 A.M. and find that your player isn't ready for it," Ken said, but added that the lack of format standardization made it necessary to include customer service numbers with each package.
I called director Roy Karch, whose Reincarnation of Serena, taped in 1979, was the first porn movie shot and released on video. Karch's movie was captured by two Phillips 80 cameras on a switcher.
"The cameras weighed more than the girls," Karch said.
Karch's movie consisted of two half-hour scripted segments, one a takeoff on "Romeo And Juliet" and the other titled "The First Convertible". They were filmed on a soundstage on Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood and featured, in addition to Serena, an actual convertible as well as some fairly credible costumes.
I wondered if the new medium influenced the content of either project. Was there something about video that cried out for porn's resident boor-about-town to play a priest (and I'm not talking about Serena or Maria Tortuga)? Is there something about Blu-Ray that demands Jenna Haze be oiled?
The answer to both questions is No, but a four-camera HD setup, including an overhead jib, certainly makes it easier to count each of Haze's ribs, and the multiple angle option (including footage lensed by Barry Wood) is like a greasy All Access Pass.
Jenna Haze Oil Orgy was shot in September, 2005. You might notice that the movie features Hillary Scott's original breasts, which is a nice touch and worth the $49.95 retail price; a tacit admission that technology doesn't solve everything.
Previously: Wicked decides on HD-DVD; Pirates: "For the love of God let me die"; Concentric circle jerks of porn profits; Kirsten Price before Wicked, Jenna Haze after hiatus
See also: Jenna Haze Oil Orgy, The Reincarnation of Serena
