I first heard about Lucie Blush right here on BaDoink, when our very own John Lane interviewed her. I connected with her ideas and what she had to say about porn. I, too, enjoy scenes that show real people having fun during sex; something that bypasses the adult industry clichés and looks for its own identity by simply being in the moment.

Her blog (NSFW) became a regular fixture of my daily procrastination routine and the promise of a steady flow of new scenes on her hardcore site (NSFW) is clearly establishing her as a new force to be reckoned with in the world of feminist porn.

So when my editor asked me if I’d be interested in doing a “Femporn: Behind the Scenes” article, my response was similar to the answer I gave an ex-girlfriend when I was 19 and she proposed my first threesome to me with her hot friend: I nodded, said it sounded interesting, and that I would probably like to give it a shot. Internally, though, I was busy just thinking which one of my friends I was going to call first to brag and celebrate with. After a series of calls, Google Talk messages and enough variations of “Man, you have the coolest job!” to pamper my ego, I signed up for the project.

I suggested doing a brief interview the day before the shoot, just to get a better idea of what I was going to see, and to talk to Lucie while she was calm and not stressed out with the production.

“I’m freaking out about tomorrow!” Lucie confessed in sort of adorable fashion. “The actors are coming from Valencia. We’re shooting at a friend’s place, which is really cool, but we’re going to have to work on lighting and stuff like this. And then there’s the party scene, with like eight of my friends, more or less. So I’m going to have to coordinate everything.”

As someone who grew up with heavy DIY leanings, I relate to the stress. Everything gets a little more complicated when we’re learning on the job and starting to get more technical. Once you start being aware of your moves and why they work or not, you get hungrier for a better product. “I don’t feel like I’m an expert in my field. I’m trying to learn as I go.” Lucie added. “The first time I was all over the place. I had no clue what I was doing! When I first started shooting movies it was just me and two people fucking. Now I have a friend helping me out with a second camera. And you’ll be there!”

I would!

Although she’s made five movies already, this is only the second time Lucie features professional porn actors for a scene. The first one, called ‘Don’t Touch Me’ (NSFW) was surprisingly warm, in the sense that both actors looked like they were truly having fun. When Lucie began directing, she was just using amateur couples, but acknowledges sometimes it’s hard to find amateurs willing to have sex in front of the camera.

“With real couples who don’t have experience shooting porn, they get really nervous and I think maybe that clouds the fun, you know? But it really depends on the couple. I’m finding that for both, amateurs and actors, it can be difficult to keep their concentration. Usual sex problems. Condoms. Erections. Sometimes they can’t come. There was a guy who told me, ‘Sometimes it takes me hours to come.’ Well, we don’t have hours! We usually have about three or four. Tomorrow there’s more of a plot, so it’s going to take a bit more time, I think. We’ll see how it goes.”

We would!

The day of the shoot I woke up happy and started getting ready for it. I’ve rarely been so keen on going to work, ever, but this is not exactly an office job. I was literally about two hours away from watching people fuck, documenting what happens and being paid to write about it. Take that, guidance counselor!

I’d never been on a porn set before. The only times I’ve seen people have sex in front of me had been during threesomes, and even then – although I might have sat out for a couple of minutes here and there – I was always a part of it. I had never watched people fucking without being involved in the actual sex.

I walked into a normal, cool-looking Barcelona apartment. Sole Rubin, who also does the second camera and helps with production, lives there. I met her briefly and then got introduced to the talent, Joel and Alexa, two good-looking Spanish porn stars that are also a couple in real life. Joel was rather quiet and shy, Alexa was a bit more perky in general. It was time to start, so introductions were short.

First they shot the scenes that established the plot. We would see them look at each other, flirt a bit, going in and out the apartment. I think for everyone involved it was a little easier to see that first, and then watch them build it into the sex scenes.

The first sex scene was in the kitchen, as Joel approached her from behind, they kissed intensely while he slowly slid his hand into her pants. Lucie asked them to take their time. She wanted slow, tender kissing, that was also passionate. She stressed that the important thing was for them to look like they’re enjoying themselves, and while an orgasm was encouraged, it wasn’t required.

“I want it to be really spontaneous and natural,” Lucie told me the previous day, “So we just go with the flow and I’ll guide them. But with actors, after five minutes they’re already fucking like crazy. I have to tell them, ‘slow down, pace yourself.’ Actors are ready to do anything, but you have to tell them exactly what to do. It’s not about positions, it’s about letting people… see everything; the faces, the feelings.”

One of the coolest things about this experience was that there was always a feeling of uncertainty. I think a lot of the porn shot all over the world just has this whole “going through the motions” vibe.

But hey, not everything about this day was great. Something nobody tells you about being on a porn set is that you might have to move constantly, and because there are two cameras, the chances are most of the time you’ll be far enough from the action to really get a good look.

It finally happened: I was standing by the door of a dark, empty little room. I was writing random thoughts on a notebook while I watched a dude finger a girl in the kitchen. I know this is supposed to be just a great gig, but I’d be hard-pressed to find a good excuse for this not to feel a tad creepy.

A porn set is not unlike running into someone you know at a nude beach. They know they’re naked, you know they’re naked, but we all pretend this is a completely normal thing. “So you just got here today from Valencia, huh?” I asked Alexa while making a gigantic effort not to look at her beautiful vagina. Small talk can already be awkward with clothes on; this was just fucking strange.

By the main door, Alexa got on her knees and started sucking Joel’s dick. I’d like to tell you more about this part, but I had to get out of the shot and couldn’t properly watch it.

The next one, though, might have been the coolest scene of the movie. They both came back into the apartment and we could see a long shot of them all through the hallway, while they kissed fervently and stripped on their way to the bedroom. It looked awesome, and they didn’t even make it to the bedroom, as Joel sat her down in a living room chair and went down on her. I was looking in from the balcony. By the time the cunnilingus started, though, I had to move out of the shot and I only had a good view of her left leg.

It was a nice left leg.

Once in the bedroom, they started having sex. Lucie got in bed with them, shooting from the top corner. “I like being almost on top of them,” she told me later. “I’m always thinking, ‘would that angle turn me on?’ I liked that position, because hopefully the people who watch it will feel involved; will feel close to them.”

I finally managed to find a comfortable spot to watch. The bedroom had another glass door that led to the big balcony. I hid right behind a curtain and proceeded to peep some more. About two or three minutes into this I remembered a simple fact about light: Since the sun’s coming in from outside, the curtain probably makes me look like a mysterious shadow lurking at the couple having sex (which, let’s be fair, is not that far away from the truth, but I don’t know if it’s in anyone’s best interest to document it.) I asked Lucie later if she could see me. Apparently the shots that included me were cut from the movie. “I don’t know if people would have noticed, but it looked a little creepy,” she told me; although it is probably not the first time that sentence has been said to me.

Sole handled the second camera, which is trickier than you’d think when filming a largely spontaneous sex film, where standard porn clichés are not present. “The lighting plays a big part,” Sole would tell me later. “I’m trying to get the shots where we don’t see (Lucie’s) shadow.”

Both Lucie and Sole have less interest in bed sex. Sole would expand on this: “Out of all the sex scenes, the one I liked the least was the one on the bed. When you’re somewhere else you have more tools to play with than on a bed. The bed is like a cube, so it needs too much expression by the actors to make it work.”

While we set up for the final sex scene, we were also wondering what the nice Muslim family that lives next door might be thinking about all the sounds coming from Sole’s room. And also wondered if any other neighbors would notice Joel open the shades, bend Alexa over the window and fuck her from behind. The sun was coming in strong and we finally had enough space for everyone to sit back and watch freely.

Like a pro, Joel came when asked to do so. They were both impressive, considering they’re barely 20 and there are strangers watching the whole time – and in my case, taking notes and judging; always judging.

When the sex stopped, there was a post-coital sense of satisfaction all around the apartment. It felt like a group effort was accomplished. We sat back and hung out while waiting for Lucie’s friends to come over and shoot the non-sexual party scenes.

A somewhat large group of very distinct people came in with drinks and a will to have a good time. They were as natural as you can get, and I’d be willing to bet at least a couple of them didn’t realize they were being filmed most of the time.

That being said, the party scene felt a little strange, as the two actors just looked so out of their element there. This was clearly not their crowd. It’s interesting to notice how different comfort levels are for everyone doing diverse things. These two porn actors wouldn’t mind doing anything naked; there was no weirdness while they were fucking and being watched by strangers. But when you put them in a social situation that was out of their normal comfort zone, they just seemed kind of shy and disconnected.

I did like what Lucie did in terms of using their limited acting skills. Many porn actors can’t… well, act! I understand they’re hired for their sexual performance and not their mad thespian skills, but it’s up to the director to make the best possible use of what they can actually offer. Lucie did that. There’s an emotional storyline, but there’s no real dialogue. She just let the looks and overall mood express that on their own.

There was a lot of spontaneity encouraged throughout the shoot, but don’t let that fool you; there’s a structure to Lucie Blush’s films, and a very specific and personal view of what she likes to see on screen.

“The whole project, on welovegoodsex.com, and the movies and everything, is a very selfish one, because it’s all about me”, Lucie told me that night, almost apologetically. “It’s all about expressing my desires, putting them on screen. I have lots of fantasies in my head. Lots.” At this point I just stared at her curiously and said, “Go on…”

She did: “So I was very inspired. Most of the movies don’t really look like my initial fantasies, but the core is there; so it’s very personal. They’re things that I’ve imagined and felt. I like the challenge of making myself vulnerable, because I think it gives more to the content that I’m doing. It gives honesty, and something you don’t have in porn, really.”

Lucie’s movies keep getting more interesting. If you’d like to check out a little preview, there’s a brand new trailer available for it (NSFW). The film, titled ‘Up All Night’, will be up on luciemakesporn.com on July 21st.