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I was just checking out the ratings on recent videos, and noticed with happiness and surprise that ‘Jail Cell Chain Gang’ had been popular. I’m so pleased; thanks to those who voted. It was my idea and I always worry about them most.
While we’ll never slavishly try to recreate stuff that was highly rated, because that seems like a dangerously ‘by the numbers’ approach to something as creative as producing Restrained Elegance picture sets and movies; it’s nevertheless very helpful data. And it gives me confidence when we’re thinking about what to shoot next, which is really useful too. I’ve still get a great big smile on my face when I notice that Bondage Gymkhana’s doing well in the ratings – I thought it might be a bit too crazy to shoot 🙂
So thanks to those of you who vote; both of us do appreciate it.
Ariel 🙂
Actually, I feel that it might be a good thing to slavishly recreate highly rated sets. Not frequently, and maybe not more than once, but maybe just once, as an experiment.
In particular, let be bring up my old idea of taking a popular set and redoing it with a different model, for an “exactly the same, only completely different” effect.
Think of “bringing back a scenario to use with a different model” as a counterpart to “bringing back a model to use with a different scenario.” A popular setup may not deserve as much stardom as a popular model, but I think it does deserve some applause and encore performances for its supporting role.
“Remake” seems a popular enough format in Hollywood and I don’t think Restrained Elegance need be too afraid of it. I have often come across older sets and videos in the Archives with lovely concepts but which suffer a tiny bit from their age. It’s not so long ago that file sizes were seriously limited by equipment and internet connection speeds. The latter problem isn’t totally behind us but we have advanced enough that a few selected remakes to modern quality would be really enjoyable.
And the other, slightly different, popular style is the sequel. I suggest “Jail Cell Chain Gang” and “Bondage Gymkhana” would both work with that approach. What were the other prisoners doing on a different chain? What other events were in the Gymkhana? and so on.
Come to think of it, the simplest idea for the Gymkhana is “What happened when the race was re-run the next year? Would that be a remake or sequel? Fun either way.
Andrew.
Yep, I definitely think some of our old sets are super inspiration for new sets and videos, and I’d absolutely love to revisit some of them. Personally I’d be keener to use them as a springboard for new ideas that try to do some sort of ghastly shot by shot remake in the style of Gus Van Sant’s Psycho, but for sure, using them as inspiration (or doing sequels!) feels like a great plan 🙂
I’m catching up with what has gone onto the site while I was on holiday recently and would like to offer “Re-Education” as a candidate for a video remake (obviously, an “inspired by” not a “word for word” remake). It has a wonderfully cute concept but the technical quality is showing its age (I specially noted this in the sound department) and I am sure the content too would be even better if made to modern standards.
And while on the subject of recent additions to the Archive (and departing even further from the original subject of this thread), it was lovely to see “Ariel’s Blues” – and to see how important cake has been from Ariel’s earliest days with the site. 😀
Andrew
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