Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I've been wondering, for those of you who produce content while also enjoy being messy and wet yourselves, do you ever "get down and dirty" with your models/clients, or do you keep out of it completely during shoots?

I know some locations may require the director/cameraperson to wade through the mud to get good shots, and under those circumstances, would you only get as messy as required, or would you be wallowing around in your favourite outfits too?

The reason I ask is from a tech perspective. I have always loved getting messy, but the idea of getting my camera equipment even slightly messy or wet gives me nightmares, to the point where if I'm filming something, I would want to keep as far away from the mess as possible as to not damage my equipment, but internally I would be kicking myself for not getting messy myself.

I sometimes dont even get my hands wet/messy so that I can start and stop the filming with no problem.

I know some producers will "check" the substances in advance, make sure they're not too cold (or make sure they are cold enough ) before beginning the shoot, and I'm guessing if, after the shooting wraps, if they want to join in themselves they can, but I wonder your thoughts?

There are multiple issues here.

First and foremost, professionalism and consent. A WAM shoot is a workplace. Yes, it's a fetish environment producing material for fetish consumption, but while on-set (whether in a studio or outdoors) it's absolutely incumbent on everyone to act 100% professionally at all times.

Now it is possible, with models you know well, to sometimes have a little fun - BUT only if fully agreed in advance, and personally I'd say in a strictly platonic way - yes, with someone who knows and trusts you, it is possible to join in a little, but in a strictly non-sexual, fun way.

At the end of a recent day of indoor wetlook shoots using the gunge tank filled with water, and with advance agreement, I took a seat in the tank and Miss Abigail pulled the tank cord and drenched me, while the video camera was still running. I've a mind to see if the male side of UMD might like the footage as a fun freebie. But in this case I've been shooting with Miss Abigail for a good few years, we're friends in real life and know and trust each other. I'd absolutely not have done that with anyone who was new or I wasn't already good friends with. And there was absolutely nothing sexual involved, it was just a fully clothed water deluge, as a kind of jokey payback plus something for the gay guys to enjoy if any of them like large older blokes soaking wet.

When shooting mud scenes, I do go right into the mud with the girls, because it's simply not possible to shoot good mud scenes while lurking about on the bank keeping your feet dry, you have to be close in to the action to get any decent shots or footage. It also gives the girls security that should they actually get stuck I'm on-hand to help them out. But again, absolute professionalism must always be the rule. I usually end up covered to the waist, sometimes deeper, but I keep my hands clean so as not to be trying to work cameras with muddy fingers. I use a solid plastic box to lean on so never need to put hands on the mud directly.

The thing with these situations is that whether you get turned on or not is something you can conciously control, you just focus your attention away from that aspect of it to prevent it becoming a distraction. Many a time I've got to the end of a shoot with no hint of arousal, simply because for the whole time the cameras are rolling I'm focussing totally on the technicalities of the filming, is the framing right, is the background right, am I keeping the person getting messy centred (vital for later making UMD ads from the scene), how much battery is left, how much footage / still shots are left, are the models remembering to leave the four final carrtons of custard for their heads (sometimes they get carried away and forget to keep those till last), are there enough supplies left for them both to get fully messy in the scene, should we pause and open a few more cans, etc, etc. Then when reviewing the footage after the models have been fed and driven home, I'm amazed by what I shot - but at the time I didn't even notice that side, I was too busy properly capturing it to really watch it live.

A thing to always keep in mind: There's a vast power imbalance between men and women. WAM models put themselves in an incredibly vulnerable position agreeing to shoot for producers in the first place, and the history of the modelling business is absolutely full of horror stories of male abuse of women. So keeping our people safe, and feeling safe, is absolutely paramount above all else.

Regarding mess and cameras - while I mentioned above not wanting to have muddy fingers while filming, that's mainly to avoid the risk of moisture getting in and shorting out the controls. Both my still and video cameras get splashed with mud on the riverbanks, it's inevitable. Cameras used in WAM production are business tools, just like a painter's ladder or an electrician's cable strippers. Yes, it's best to avoid dropping a DSLR in a bucket of gunge or a video camera in a river - but if the worst does happen, that's what insurance is for, and you can always buy a newer, better one to replace it. Trying to be precious about the cameras will just resulty in poor footage - the more you zoom in for example, the worse the camera shake will be - better to get up close and personal and shoot wider angle, you get better views, less shake, and far more detail. Just try and keep any splashes off the lens and check regularly for tiny ones you can't see through the viewfinder, and a clean cloth handy to wipe them off.

The only time it EVER happened the entire time I was making videos (about five years), the two models (this is key), were the ones that initiated it. I saw them whispering after I shut off the cameras and announced we were done, and they dragged me into the pit of shaving cream they'd been wrestling in and proceeded to get me messy. We showered together afterwards as well, but that was more a "Yo, get my back." shower. There was never anything sexual implied from either of them, so I certainly wasn't going to try and start anything. It was a fun "what the hell" moment but that's all. I'd also been good friends with both ladies long before we ever did any messy shoots, so that REALLY helped the comfort level the three of us had with each other.

With camera equipment; fully waterproof cameras are available at reasonable prices (especially if you shop around), and the image/video quality is certainly good enough to do the job.

Granted, quality is not 'as good' as the proper camera equipment, but certainly a great option for the 'high risk' shots- as well as being much more compact/discreet so you can hide them from the main shot while getting the close-ups.

I know a lot of old school pie producers did lol. I think since they all had the fetish and making scenes was "exorcising the demons" so to say. I don't think way back in the 90s they were always concerned about being professional and in some cases the models were adult actresses and were ok with some of that. There are of course stories where producers did things that the models were not OK with and it came to light on the forum.

Dungeon Masters reply absolutely nailed it about shoots being a professional environment.

In fact there have been a few instances where producers have posted content where they are touching their models in a sexual way during filming that have made me decidedly unconfortable and I'm not talking about couples producing content - I apprciate that's a different dynamic.

Yeah, I got several issues in that.

1) Professionalism. It's a workplace environment. The models are there to work. You're there to shoot/direct. Everything else potentially crosses into the issue of conflict of interest and consent.

2) Whatever you do personally should be as far as far can be from what you do professionally. Wanna get messy? Great. Don't do it with your talent UNLESS that was what was specifically laid out BEFORE booking. (Ie G/G, B/G etc). Don't spring it on them last minute and definitely don't just invite yourself into the scene.

3) Gear. Yeah, I spent a lot on mine. No, I will never willingly sacrifice my gear for even a second. Yeah it's insured but that's still downtime you are out of using it to make a living.

4). My mind is not even in that field when shooting. I am far too busy looking at framing, lighting, audio, what they are doing and saying, making sure the set is safe, keeping track of memory and shoot times. I do a POV shot I have lovingly called "fancam" where there is a POV shot of the ladies getting oiled for their matches and a fan asked how hard was it to concentrate when shooting those scenes and the answer was easy: I have no room to concentrate on anything else! I have one hand on the oil bottle to oil the model, but to make sure my paws are not in the shot, I am holding it above my head. I have camera 2 immediately to my lower right so I have to keep an eye to make sure I don't come into frame of that shot. Camera 3 is on legs and I gotta keep an eye there because I need to make sure camera op is moving the camera. This is all while wearing a chest rig for my action cam, looking at my field monitor, timing the scene duration, tracking music, giving visual cues to the wrestler so they know where to go and if they are drifting out of frame. It's probably the hardest shot to pull off in the series and it's all done in one take.