I can only go by my experience. I've been producing pie vids for myself since 2010, using a lot of the same models.
Since I gear my shoots to be as model-friendly as possible, it's their choice, since I can get the shaving cream pies to look pretty close to the real thing. I'm into only the humiliation aspect of pies - one mean girl slamming it into the other's face, so for me the type of pie is irrelevant.
There are pros and cons for the girls I work with. The pros for real pies are obvious; they taste good. The cons, however, is they all complain about how long it takes the get real pies out of their hair and the next day, their hair stinks - especially when using anything cream based.
Their choice? Shaving cream pies - every one of them chooses that after being hit with both. One model I work with won't even take custom orders if it's real pies 'cause her total time to make the video isn't worth what the customer is willing to pay.
On my end, the production end, working with real pies is a total nightmare. It sucks. It add 10X's the amount of time to the shoot and adds in expenses. Coverage is hit more miss at best so I stick with shaving cream.
Newt said: I don't mind cake icing/frosting, it's the cake itself I don't like. They're dry, crumbly sponge. I always get depressed when I see these videos where producers have bought a bunch of giant sheet cakes, presumably thinking that "big = good" and five minutes later there is a massive pile of dusty old cake rubble on the floor and a slightly smeared model.
You really need to look at my cake vids sometime then. Exact opposite of what you describe.
leonmoomin said: We don't really do much shaving foam pies, it's way too much effort getting the foam out of the cans. It's also way too much effort getting the quantity of shaving foam we'd need.
Have you ever tried shaving sticks? (The idea being that you grate them, then whisk with water.) Personally, I've never had much luck with them, but your team might have the magic knack
Love you, too
