How to Make a Sex Video That Doesn’t Suck

If you’ve ever watched a sex scene in a movie or porn, you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to star in your own naughty movie. When your curiosity takes over, there are a few things to keep in mind, including tips for choosing the right partner, finding the best angles, and keeping your video safe.

Take your time with it

Before we start talking about camera angles and lighting, let’s talk about security. Before youthrow thesad trombone at us, think about all these high-profile horror stories of account hacking and revenge porn . Unfortunately, making a sex tape is no longer a decision you can take lightly.

Of course, it is difficult to foresee what someone is capable of in the future , especially if you currently trust the person enough to have sex with him. Surely no victim of revenge porn ever thought to herself, “You know what, this person seems really sloppy and unreliable, but I will continue to do this anyway.” We expect to be literally fucked when we film a sex tape, but we also don’t expect to be fucked, figuratively speaking.

The bottom line is that you need to be incredibly thoughtful and careful. You should only make sex videos with someone you trust with your life. It may sound dramatic, but leaked sex tapes have literally ruined lives (and companies ). Don’t let anyone force you to do this. It’s also worth giving yourself time to think about a solution; that doesn’t mean you have to meet the weekend opening deadline! If you feel that something is wrong, even the most subtle instinct, do not follow through.

Be inspired

This is your sex video, so you want it to be sexy and entertaining for you . Take some time to think about what you would like to gain from this experience and discuss it with your partner. Here are some variables to keep in mind:

• Do you want a plot in the movie? Or do you just want to see sex?
• Do you want to be yourself in the film or do you want to play other characters? For some people, role-playing can ease nervousness as you take on the role of another person. For others, the need to be characteristic can only increase the pressure!
• Where do you want to shoot? A bed is always a safe bet, but you can also move to other rooms.
• What specific actions do you want to film? You can be as PG like a striptease, or go hardcore playing with pain.
• Do you want to play with props or sex toys?
• Do you want to create small snippets (or even GIFs) or a full length movie?

These conversations with your partner can be very sexual. Some people may even find playing with the fantasy of making a sex tape more enjoyable than the filming itself!

If you just want to have a fun evening, you don’t need to plan too much in advance. If you want to create a masterpiece that you watch over and over again, you will obviously have to do more preparation and rehearsal. Use your answers to the questions above to get a rough shot of the actual shooting. Knowing ahead of time what you’re going to do can help reduce your anxiety. You can also do a PG test shoot so you can get a feel for how things look. Before shooting, be engaged in what makes you feel sexy, for example, take a bath, shave legs or do landscaping pubic hair .

What to do if you feel uncomfortable

Making sex videos is awesome! It is perfectly normal to feel shy, nervous, anxious, or awkward. If you think this is too big a project to tackle right away, try breaking it down into small steps.

First, try photographing yourself in your underwear or nude in the mirror. Try to get an idea of ​​your favorite body parts and the best angles to showcase them. Then ask your partner to take pictures of you in a naughty way and get their opinion. From there, try taking simple first-person shots while you’re intimate. Pass your cell phone back and forth and see how creative you can get. You can start with tamed intercourse, such as kissing or touching, and then move on to activities that feel more vulnerable to you. Work on short video clips with just a few motions or taps.

Every time you take a photo or clip, play around with the basic editing software on your phone. This will help you figure out how many improvements you can make to “post-production”, which can calm your nerves a little. You will immediately feel more comfortable in front of the camera!

Choose the right camera

Choosing a camera for a movie really depends on what you want from it, how much money you want to spend, and what your grand vision is. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages, so let’s look at three common options:

• Your Smartphone : Everyone has a smartphone and all smartphones can record videos, so this is a pretty natural choice for shooting your first sex tape. And, if you have a new phone and enough light, this might be all you need – most phones now have no problem recording HD video or even 4K video. The phone is also small enough for you to hold in your hand or switch to a tripod, depending on what type of shot you’re going to take. With a well-chosen video editing app, you can also do most of the post-processing on the phone itself. Smartphones suffer in several areas: audio tends to be below average, while lower-end devices struggle with low light levels. However, if this is your first foray into video production and you’re most interested in the experience itself, smartphones are the perfect place to start exploring your feelings about this whole thing.
• DSLR : Most DSLRs have a video function, and if you already have one, this is a great way to record high quality video without wasting serious money. In fact, the DSLR shoots video better than many smartphones and performs better in low light, although the sound will likely suffer a little anyway. In terms of video quality, you can swap the different camera lenses (wide angle or semi-fisheye should give you a clear picture of what’s going on) to get a more cinematic look. If you want your sex tape to look more stylish, a DSLR is a good option. Depending on the camera body, using a DSLR for POV photography can be a little tricky, so it’s best for use with a tripod until you get the hang of it. For regular old camcorders, you can follow the same rule as for DSLRs.
• Action Camera : Action cameras like the GoPro are perfect for making your own sex tape. It makes sense when you think about it: action cameras are designed to be mounted on bicycles, helmets, and cars, so they can certainly handle the action in the bedroom. Most action cameras also come with a ton of editing options so you can get creative with your camera work. For example, you can use a tripod, attach the camera to a pole, use it underwater, or strap it to your head. They vary greatly in price, but you can get a decent one for under $ 200 . Of course, you get what you pay for. Cheaper models may have difficulty in low light conditions. There is also not much you can do in terms of adjusting exposure or focus, so don’t expect to do something overly complex. Action cameras also usually don’t have viewfinders, so it’s always difficult to figure out what the footage will look like. Bonus (or hindrance, if you prefer): You will also look awkward as hell with your GoPro strapped to your head.

In fact, what you use is up to you, what you already have and what you want to do with it at the end. Either way, start with what you already have before throwing money on camera, as you and your partner might not like the experience.

Adjust lighting

It sounds small, but lighting can improve or ruin the quality of your movie. Good lighting can go from shaded and grainy to almost professional (seriously). So don’t neglect it.

Unfortunately, sparking sex videos is difficult because it can also lift or ruin your mood. If you are ashamed of your body (shouldn’t be!) Or want more modesty, try candlelight. It’s nice on the skin and doesn’t show too much detail. Or use a dimmer to enhance the mood of the lighting. They’ll leave you with lower quality videos, but that might be okay for you if you’re not looking for a lot of detail.

On the other hand, a three-point lighting setting will make your video almost professional, but it will also make shooting less intimate, not to mention hot (in terms of temperature). But you can try to recreate this setting with the light you have, such as table lamps. Directing the light towards the ceiling will help brighten the room without making the lighting too harsh.

Lighting is a very difficult task, but thevideo above is a good guide. If you really don’t feel like exploring that much, you have other options. It’s easiest to shoot in natural light. Open these curtains at noon, let in natural light (from behind the camera) and get to it. Your movie will look great and you won’t have to think about anything.

If natural light is not possible, you can experiment with different lighting settings. We’ve told you about shooting on a budget before, but the best you can do is experiment. Start with a downward-facing lamp above you. Then try placing smaller bulbs behind and around the camera. Your results will depend on your camera and angles, so be sure to play with it before you start shooting.

Find the perfect angle

Porn is all about finding the right angles. One of the reasons that sex in porn is so different from sex in real life is that porn is not so much fun as it captures an angle that looks good in a movie. You can watch porn to find some of your favorite positions and angles, and find out where to put your camera. (If you’re specifically looking for amateur porn, you’ll also find some examples of things that don’t look good on camera.)

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• The easiest angle is to place the camera next to the bed. You will get an overall shot of both of your bodies. You won’t get a lot of detail, but it might be a good low-maintenance option or for those who are shy.
• If you want to see your genitals better, place the camera in one of the lower corners of the bed.
• Use two cameras to get different angles, one wide-angle, the other close-ups on your faces or genitals.
• Let each of you take the camera in hand and discover interesting first-person shots. Find angles that your partner has never seen from their point of view. For example, if you are having doggy sex, remove the penetrating partner from behind.
• Shoot close-ups of penetration. Find a position where your bodies are slightly separated from each other so that the camera can get a good view.

When filming, don’t be afraid to play with several different angles. It can be sexual tease if you stop to check the footage (but don’t take too long or it becomes murderous). If you don’t like what you see, just move the camera and try again.

Have fun

There is no getting away from this; you will feel a little uncomfortable filming yourself during sex. Tell your partner that you are nervous (most likely they are too) and see if you can help each other feel more playful or at ease. Before turning on the camera, start chatting with each other so that you can relax and turn on. Be yourself! One glass of wine can help too (although it’s better to be mostly sober).

During the actual shooting, try to pretend that there is no camera. The more you can be in the moment and enjoy it, the better your movie will turn out. One way to relax is to do what you enjoy most in your normal sex life. On-camera is not the place to try something new, unless you have a great sense of humor and don’t mind having sexual failures on tape!

Art projects rarely come out exactly the way you imagine them to be, and homemade naughty films are no different. It’s important not to expect it to look like professional porn. You don’t have a professional set and a 15-person crew on set. It won’t be perfect, but it will still be hot!

Turn your video into a fun movie to watch

As with lighting, film editing is a complex process that requires a lot of effort. However, for your own sex tape, you probably only need to know one thing at first: trim the beginning and end.

Chances are, your video is too long and has awkward moments that you would like to cut out. You have tons of options for different video editing software, but for simplicity, consider using Video Editor on Windows and iMovie on Mac as they come free with most computers.

At the very least, trim any dead space from the beginning to the end of your video to ensure the action starts and stops at just the right time. You can go further by cutting out certain parts or alternating images from two cameras, but this requires more advanced skills.

If you’d like to learn more about video editing, our five-part guide teaches you everything you need to do to turn your amateur video into something much more professional. Once you master this, you can edit multiple angles and different scenes together.

Keep your video safe

The last thing you need is for your video to hit the web or someone accidentally stumbles upon it on your computer. The safest option is to agree to watch the feed together and then delete it immediately. You can still enjoy your home movie with the added peace of mind knowing that no one else will. Another is to keep faces out of the film or wear some kind of eye mask to partially hide the face. Of course, this will not completely protect your privacy, but it can give you some level of believable denial.

If you want to save your footage, be sure to take some precautions:

• Don’t upload your video to any cloud storage service : This sounds like obvious advice, but under no circumstances should you upload your video to any cloud storage service like iCloud or Dropbox. If you are recording videos on your phone, be sure to turn off auto upload, which you may have turned on in your chosen cloud storage app. Also, download this video from your phone and to your computer as soon as possible so you don’t have to carry sex tape in your pocket all day.
• Encrypt and hide videos on your hard drive . Okay, first of all, everything speaks for itself: don’t call your video something like “oursextape0111.mpg”. Call it something subtle that you’ll still remember and put it in a folder where no one is going to just stumble upon it . Then you will want to encrypt and password protect the video so that no one else can watch it. The best way to do this is with a program like VeraCrypt , which creates a private, password-protected virtual disk hidden on your system. After installing Veracrypt, open it and select the Create Volume option. Select “Create Encrypted File Container” and then select your video file. Choose where you want to save it, choose AES encryption, then enter your password. From this moment on, it will be protected from prying eyes. Check out our complete encryption guide to learn more about how to use VeraCrypt. You can go beyond that with other encryption options if you like , but protecting your video with a password should be sufficient .
• Safely delete videos : If you decide to delete your video, for example, if you are selling an old computer or phone, this is a serious matter. For phones, we’ve walked you through a secure wipe process so that no one can download your video after you’ve sold it. As far as removing this video from your computer, you can use a program like Eraser on Windows or Permanent Eraser on Mac to make sure it has been permanently removed.

There is no such thing as a surefire way to keep your video safe and private, so be aware of the risks before filming. However, it’s easy enough to keep your sex tape relatively safe if you take the precautions above.

This article was originally published in September 2015 and was updated on November 17, 2020 to update outdated links, update guidelines, and align content with current Lifehacker style.