46and2 said:
Actually Francois if you have a look the original non-bon thread got to about 7 pages long, the response was enormous.
Indeed, I just browsed that old thread, and many people from the TMF really do seem to like or even prefer non-bondage tickling. It's actually quite popular. However, I still suspect that more ticklephiles prefer some form of bondage in their tickling videos. I may be wrong, though.
Mind you, I would find it rather neat if most people preferred non-bondage tickling. It's pretty easy to do, it requires less equipment and preparation, and while most candidates don't mind the bondage aspect of the project too much (at least the way I do it), it's still a little more reassuring for some of them to be free. Tickle fights can be a lot of fun.
Still, as neat as it can be, free tickling (or at least tickling that involves one or more ticklers holding down a ticklee) has some limitations. There's just something about a model not being able to defend herself too much. As I said in a previous post, some models are tricky to tickle effectively, and having to wrestle with them doesn't improve things. Free tickling can be a tad more dangerous too, as well as harder to film. And for those who enjoy feet, it's easier to get good steady shots of the feet when the model is restrained, like in stocks for instance.
Another issue is the times I work with a solo model and have to tickle her myself. I feel it's enough of a touchy situation to begin with without having to wrestle with the model myself. That could be highly intimidating and embarrassing, very inappropriate indeed. I'd never do that. In those cases I simply don't have a choice but to have a restained model. I prefer her to feel just a tad vulnerable (as long as we agree to do it that way in advance) but limit physical contact than grope her all over trying to keep her still, sticking my hands everywhere in hopes of tickling her. That's not the kind of reputation I want for myself. I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it. It works fine for some people, but not for me.
Anyways just so you know that if you ever released a vid like that, I'd be the first to buy it, and I haven't bought a tickle vid in years. Especially if you involved some gang-up tickling as well as tickle fights. It's awesome also just to see a woman being held down and tickled.
That might be a nice variation for a video, but I'm just not sure how popular free tickling really is. I'm not sure how much of a risk it would be, financially speaking, to try that. How well would the videos sell? This may sound materialistic, but I do have to take money issues into consideration if I want to continue doing this.
I kinda like what I've been doing in my last videos: mostly moderate bondage, but some free tickling scenes for variety. I don't know if mixing both annoys more people than anything else.
Gang-up scenes involving 3 models or more would indeed be great fun, whether it's free or restrained tickling. However, it's really hard to find trios that work well and are willing to do it. Getting decent duos is hard enough as it is. I mean, the more models in a group, the more chances of one deciding she's not comfortable with the project and dragging the others along with her. Quite a frustrating situation. Also, the more chances of one not having what it takes, and I'd hate to select two candidates but refuse the third, even if it might be a wise move. It's especially touchy when the reason this particular candidate doesn't quality is her looks. Can I really tell her that? How would the others feel about doing a session if I had to turn down their friend?
Another problem with groups is the salaries. When I have a duo, each model gets less than a solo model would get, but more than just half. If I go on adding more models, the total salary goes up, and at one point a video would become too expensive to produce.
Of course, I could decide to offer each model less money, like offer them the same total salary as I'd offer a duo, assuming one or two of the models isn't a ticklee (models that are just ticklers get a little less than ticklees). However, the less a model gets, the less likely she is to agree to participate. I can't reduces salaries too much, no matter how many models I have for a session. I mean, the role of a specific model may be limited, but she's still appearing in a video that's sold to customers, and that in itself deserves a certain salary.
So trios and larger groups are not only hard to find, but also hard to pay. I'd need models that are interested enough in the project itself that they're ok with a reduced salary, the fun experience compensating for it somewhat. But how likely am I to find such a group? Hasn't happened yet. Oh, I got a few interested trios, but for some reason they never seemed to qualify for a video as a whole. That's too bad, because if I got a really interesting trio, with at least two good ticklees, it might actually be easy to hire them for two videos, in which case I might be able to get a kind of "volume discount" for the salaries, which would make it easier for me to hire a trio or quartet.
