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Hi
I was just going through the votes for recent updates and wondering what the top twenty videos and stills sets of all time were on the site (or at least since we introduced the new voting scripts about 18 months ago).
To avoid funnies and test data from sets which haven’t gone up yet, I only counted sets which had had at least 10 votes.Here are the top Twenty Videos, with their average rating:
videoarielbondagehitman1 4.58
videoladieswholunch2 4.5
videodonnachantawhipping1 4.25
videoarieldanceindividual3 4.19
videoarieldanceindividual2 4.14
videofifootball1 4.14
videoladieswholunch4 4.13
videokendraaccountant1 4.11
videoamyhogtied1 4.1
videomedievalepic3 4.09
videoarielsoaked1 4.06
videopetramistresschanta2 4.05
videojasminehousework1 4
videoabigailchantacrazeddomm 4
videogemmahogtied1 3.97
videofichantahogtie1 3.93
videopetraalexliontamer1 3.91
videobellechantaharem1 3.89
videopaigearielspaceship1 3.88
videokendraaccountant3 3.88And here are the top twenty photosets, likewise:
lexicon1 4.67
arieltutorialsteve1 4.59
jasminefuton2 4.54
mylastockingsandcuffs1 4.53
samanthahandcuffsonfur1 4.49
amyallen1 4.43
zoemoviestar 4.41
paigegoldenbrown 4.39
paigenudebamboo1 4.39
arielstevereverseprayerhalfl 4.39
ashleywoffice1 4.38
abigailhookerclubsofa2 4.37
amyaltar2 4.34
catebedhogtie1 4.34
sophiabedhogtie1 4.32
arielfireplacehandcuffs1 4.32
jasminesteelkneel2 4.3
oksananakedhandcuffs1 4.29
anniversary7 4.28
hannahgoldenbed1 4.28Sorry the names are a bit terse, that’s the name of the ZIP file or video file rather than the storyline title (that’s just what the report generator on the website gives me at the moment).
Now I have a few ideas for what might make a set highly-rated, but before I open my mouth I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on common features for these sets? I’m not intending to run Restrained Elegance purely as a slave to the approval ratings, but it is always interesting to know which sets people really liked.
Incidentally my friend Ian who codes for the site will be implementing some more detailed reports for me in version two of our behind-the-scenes software, so I’ll be able to ask questions like “what’s the average rating for a rope bondage set vs. a metal bondage set” and so on… but for now, I wondered what people thought?
Cheers, Hywel.
On a quick glance at the photosets, what seems to be common among the high-scoring sets are:
o metal restraints
o nudity & near nudity
o model able to assume a relaxed, relatively sprawled out position despite her bonds
o model looks pleased, or at least not distressed (e.g. she might look pouty, or haughty, or annoyed, but not worried or fearful or even outraged.)
o ropes, gags, and hogties seem to be under-represented, compared to the usual run of RE photosets.
I’m not much of a video fan at all, so I can’t really comment on those.
Well I have gone through almost all the available sets in the last week or so, and examined the voting, and the obvious conclusion is that the fewer the clothes the higher the rating. The converse is also generally true. Picture sets where the model remains fully clothed get poor ratings. Pictures where there is no sign of bondage or restraint get the worst ratings.
Nudity combined with a look of realism, ie., as if this were an actual picture of a slave girl, if you will, rather than a model with lots of make-up smiling at the camera or making scary faces, seem to score highest. None of this is rocket science, of course. I probably could have guessed as much without looking at any of the sets.
My own advice & “spin” would be “Don’t just shift to the more popular sorts of sets. Instead figure out what’s ‘wrong’ with the not-so-popular sets and fix that.”
In particular, I’d suggest:
o Avoid long sleeves and long pants except in sets where the model ends up losing them. Use short sleeved or sleeveless tops, and shorts or skirts/dresses. (Skirts & dresses can get away with being short or long.)
o Your clothed sets tend to run either to not-restrained-enough (just a pair of handcuffs, or just a collar & chain with all four limbs otherwise free), or too-tightly packaged (especially wrt the arms). Try to find a happy medium between the two.
o Rope is a problem because it tends to lend itself to hogties and other tight-packaged bondage. Also to complicated “web of rope” ties that also seem to be less popular. “Arms behind the back” ties seem particularly over-used – try to find ways of tying arms with rope that don’t involve putting them behind the back.
[It’s not so much that tight-package bondage is bad in itself, but that it’s overused (“yet another hogtie”). Also that it tends to be more wince-inducing. The most popular sets seem to project “I’m a *sexy* victim,” while hogties and other tight bondage tends to shift the emphasis to “I’m a sexy *victim*.”]
o I’d suggest using more leather cuffs, rubber & leather straps, and tape, just for the sake of variety.
o One problem with leather cuffs is that the ones you have look more fetish-y than elegant. Another problem is the “dangling pendant padlock” effect if you lock them. Both problems are neatly avoided by your nice metal restraints. (Wrt the dangling padlocks – I’d dearly love to find someone who makes leather cuffs where the padlock can be neatly strapped to the cuff or tucked into a leather pocket. Or that use an allen screw to lock, like some metal cuffs or collars.)
o Gags. People say they like gags, yet they don’t show up much in the most popular sets. I’d say, use fewer ballgags and more cleave gags & tape gags. More generally, gags that are less jaw-stretching & fierce-looking. Or just go ahead and don’t use so many gags.
Just some free advice that may or may not be worth what you paid for it.
On a quick glance at the photosets, what seems to be common among the high-scoring sets are:
o metal restraints
o nudity & near nudity
o model able to assume a relaxed, relatively sprawled out position despite her bonds
o model looks pleased, or at least not distressed (e.g. she might look pouty, or haughty, or annoyed, but not worried or fearful or even outraged.)
o ropes, gags, and hogties seem to be under-represented, compared to the usual run of RE photosets.
Took the words out of my mouth, though I also think the beauty of the model and the variety of the posing helps too.
These days I can look at a new set and pretty much guess whether it will be highly rated or not. Something like the recent Professor’s Daughter Part 2 for example, its got all the high rated elements you listed and not surprisingly scored a 4.37.
funny – i had an idear to go through avalable sets to make some kind of statistics on what made a set popular.
My first impression was also nudity or close and very clearly metal restrains. But i also has the oppinion that ball gags are rather popular – or maybee its just me dislikeing tape and cloth gags – to hide those gorgeus lips – the ballgag tends to bring them forward and “challenge” them.
Have we done a gag type pool lately???
RegardsAlex
@lurker wrote:
o Avoid long sleeves and long pants except in sets where the model ends up losing them. Use short sleeved or sleeveless tops, and shorts or skirts/dresses. (Skirts & dresses can get away with being short or long.)
o Rope is a problem because it tends to lend itself to hogties and other tight-packaged bondage. Also to complicated “web of rope” ties that also seem to be less popular. “Arms behind the back” ties seem particularly over-used – try to find ways of tying arms with rope that don’t involve putting them behind the back.
Nothing wrong with clothes. The problem is that in most of the sets the clothes don’t change much. The girls should be undressed more and more in each picture. As for the rope, its use isn’t bad, but it tends to unimaginative. Hands bound at the wrists behind the back, and that’s it. How about hands to elbows behind the back? How about, hands pulled up between the shoulders, how about wrists bound together up behind the neck, perhaps tied in place to a collar? Although, I admit, I prefer metal shackles myself, but there too, there could be more variety. Wrists behind the back, sure, but how about pulled up by a chain attached to the back of a metal collar, for example? It would be nice if the poses were more in the nature of “restrained”, except for hog ties, either. None of the girls is ever really restrained. Sometimes her wrists are bound together but that’s it. Some of the most erotic pictures I’ve seen elsewhere involved – for example, a naked model draped across a small round table, wrists and ankles pulled in underneath and chained or bound together, or models draped back across some other surface (that old arched back, breasts thrust out thing) and tied tightly in place.
I would also kind of like to see nipple restraint, either tied, or with the use of clamps, or if the model is pierced, then chains attached to the rings as part of an overall bondage restraint (again pulling those breasts out, that chest forward, do you see a theme here?). I’m not talking about pain here, just tight, but erotic restraint.
That’d be one of my criticisms too, some sets could really benefit from more variety in the posing and clothing. I’d like to see more of a story told through the pictures as the woman is progressively undressed or more severe restraints are added to her. In some sets there’s too much “model posing” by the models where we end up getting 30/50 photos that look the same because the model thinks, for example, that a 3/4 left front shot with her staring at the camera is her best angle.
@Metal Bondage Fan wrote:
In some sets there’s too much “model posing” by the models where we end up getting 30/50 photos that look the same because the model thinks, for example, that a 3/4 left front shot with her staring at the camera is her best angle.
Oh groan, tell me about it. On one recent shoot with a model who will remain nameless, I’d direct her to give me a different angle. She would do so for a SINGLE shot, then back to her fave shot again. Someone (Ariel? Steve?) was assisting me on that shoot if I recall correctly and they were amazed how hard it was to direct. I admit it- in the end I do sometimes just give up. If the model is THAT unhappy taking direction or giving you shots she doesn’t “want” to give you because they aren’t on her “good” side or her “best” angle, the shoot slows down to a crawl and everyone gets very grumpy. The model doesn’t like being forced to shoot shots she believes are from her bad side, the photographer doesn’t like getting 30-50 identical shots, and it doesn’t really work.
I don’t work with models like that more than once, needless to say.
Cheers, Hywel.
P.S. I should distinguish this from photographers who keep trying to test a model’s limits as regards to shooting open leg nudity. I’m not talking here about models who don’t want to shoot gynaecological shots refusing direction. I’m talking about simple stuff like “turn around and face the other way”.
Hi,
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. I certainly take on board the point about variety of restraints, poses and clothes (and about clothing being progressively removed), and many of your other suggestions too.
I don’t yet have the reporting facilities to analyse sets more precisely- it is one of the things in the pipeline for development. I already have sets tagged with keywords like “handcuffs” or “rope bondage” or “hogtie”, it will be very interesting to see how some of these factors separate out. For example, I’d always been under the impression that hogties were very popular, but in the small cross-section of people who’ve posted on this thread the opinion seems to be that they are very over-used on the site. Will be interesting to get more “projections” of the data.
One thing that I also thought was that a lot of the sets were ones that just “clicked” for me- an indefinable and nebulous something that made a set really stand out. Not necessarily spectacular setting or anything like that, just something that made the set seem really special. It is interesting that quite a few of the sets in the top 20 were ones that I remember having that “Wow” factor when I was processing them. Nice to see that at least some of them made the top 20. And interesting that the top rated set of all time didn’t actually have any restraint in at all except for Ariel’s collar… but the Lexicon was a special case 🙂
Anyone got any thoughts on the videos, as opposed to the stills?
Cheers, Hywel.
We have been over this ground before, haven’t we? No other site comes close to RE in terms of variety of models, bondage, backgrounds, clothing (or lack of), ect.
As far as the videos go, I find they are rather more entertaining than stills. So the story line goes a long way here.
@hywel wrote:
Hi,
And interesting that the top rated set of all time didn’t actually have any restraint in at all except for Ariel’s collar… but the Lexicon was a special case 🙂Cheers, Hywel.
I think the reason that set was so popular was because it appealed to a realistic fantasy more than many of the others do. Well, the nudity didn’t hurt either. 🙂 And the model was quite pretty and had just the right expression on her face in most shots.
On the other hand, do the same set again with metal shackles and collar, and I bet it’d get an even higher rating. Do it with a curvier model and it’d be higher still.
@Guest wrote:
On the other hand, do the same set again with metal shackles and collar, and I bet it’d get an even higher rating. Do it with a curvier model and it’d be higher still.
As for curvier models, I think the votes speak for themselves. Ariel features in 13 out of the top 40 sets and videos (admittedly in a minor role in some) including the top two photosets AND the top two videos. She’s our resident slavegirl for very good reason 😮 That does mean she’s got a lot of sets on the site, but if everyone only liked curvier models she wouldn’t have so many in the top 40. Personally of course I have good reason for liking her exactly the way she is, but I’d say the votes make it pretty clear a lot of other people do, too.
She’s also responsible for the creative input on a lot of the sets so I can safely say that the lexicon only came about because Ariel was there to model for it and think up the poses! So I don’t believe that reshooting with anyone else would result in a higher rating for the lexicon.
We do have it down as a project to do a lexicon part two, with bondage, but we’re going to need a couple of shoots to have a good run up at that and we haven’t got around to it yet…
Cheers, Hywel.
i am no fan of heavy punishment – except for persons saying anything unfavourable of all times greatest bondage model – Ariel!!!!
Another thing – it would be fun to see THE collar on other models – but not to recreate ariels piece of art!!!!Regards
Alex
@hywel wrote:
@Guest wrote:
On the other hand, do the same set again with metal shackles and collar, and I bet it’d get an even higher rating. Do it with a curvier model and it’d be higher still.
As for curvier models, I think the votes speak for themselves. Ariel features in 13 out of the top 40 sets and videos (admittedly in a minor role in some) including the top two photosets AND the top two videos. She’s our resident slavegirl for very good reason 😮 That does mean she’s got a lot of sets on the site, but if everyone only liked curvier models she wouldn’t have so many in the top 40. Personally of course I have good reason for liking her exactly the way she is, but I’d say the votes make it pretty clear a lot of other people do, too.
She’s also responsible for the creative input on a lot of the sets so I can safely say that the lexicon only came about because Ariel was there to model for it and think up the poses! So I don’t believe that reshooting with anyone else would result in a higher rating for the lexicon.
We do have it down as a project to do a lexicon part two, with bondage, but we’re going to need a couple of shoots to have a good run up at that and we haven’t got around to it yet…
Cheers, Hywel.
Nothing against Ariel. She’s very pretty. Just commenting on human nature. There’s a reason big business uses bustier girls for lingerie and swimsuit shots. There’s a reason bustier girls feature so prominently in all adult mens magazines and videos.
@hywel wrote:
Hi,
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. I certainly take on board the point about variety of restraints, poses and clothes (and about clothing being progressively removed), and many of your other suggestions too.
I don’t yet have the reporting facilities to analyse sets more precisely- it is one of the things in the pipeline for development. I
Cheers, Hywel.
Well, simply by glancing at the scores of the photosets its fairly easy to see that any set which features a fully clothed model is going to have 50% or higher in the bottom three rankings.
I think it might be misleading to draw to much conclusions from what is featured in the highest ranked sets.
It might be a smile or a lighting effect that makes a set particularly good, not necessarily the type of restraint used.
At least that affects my opinion on a set.I prefer rope bondage but I really hate when that is easily escaped as when a model could just reach up and remove her gag and then use her mouth to undo the knot. That means I prefer the hands behind the back, rope ties, but that alone will not qualify for a high rating.
To get to know what the audience want I would suggest the old polls.
To get to know how well liked a particular set turned out to be, look at the ratings.
@Guest wrote:
I think it might be misleading to draw to much conclusions from what is featured in the highest ranked sets.
Oh yes, absolutely. It is a small data sample with a lot of variables and only a small fraction of the site membership ever rates a set. It is less than 10%, usually more like 5%, and I suspect it is often the same people rating the sets each time.
There is also likely to be a bias from people voting 5* for a set they really loved, 1* for a set they really hated and not bothering to rate the sets otherwise.
So it’ll always be taken with a big pinch of salt! 🙂
Cheers, Hywel.
@Guest wrote:
Well, simply by glancing at the scores of the photosets its fairly easy to see that any set which features a fully clothed model is going to have 50% or higher in the bottom three rankings.
It doesn’t seem to be quite that simple.
Although nude sets and particularly nude-in-metal sets are popular, about half the sets in the lowest-rated 20 are nude, too, and further down the table the mix seems to be pretty even between clothed and nude sets.
Cheers, Hywel.
One thought on clothing vs nudity: It might be worth considering the “Theiss Titillation Theory” wrt to models’ clothing. I.e. “the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly proportional to how accident-prone it appears to be”
Each set with a nice brunette and nipple clamps (clover clamps) is a good set 8)
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