The slutty on small and big screens follows a basic rule: you don’t have to see it to believe it. Directors use a number of filming aids to make the viewer believe that the actors are really kicking ass. The temperature of pseudosexual techniques rises according to the type of film: they can range from simple editing jokes to the extreme of real sex. :-O
LIGHTS, CAMERA, HARD!
On sets, temperature rises as scenes get more explicit
PRETEND
TEMPERATURE ON SET: Cold
INDICATIVE CLASSIFICATION, IN YEARS OF AGE 12
Often, the sexual act is not so relevant to the story as to be filmed in detail, as in comedies, or the director prefers to leave the sex implied: you know it happened, but you didn’t see anything. For example, the couple gives some sledgehammers to a jalopy parked inside the Titanic, and, moments later, we only see the heroine’s hand being pressed against the fogged up glass… Remember?
HAIR RENTAL
TEMPERATURE ON SET lukewarm
INDICATIVE CLASSIFICATION, IN YEARS OF AGE 14
You are the director, the sex scene is important to the plot, but the actors refuse to take their clothes off. Either you dispense with nudity, covering them with a sheet, or you call in body doubles, who expose their bodies in place of the stars. When framing and editing, the actors are filmed kissing from the shoulder up, and these scenes are interspersed with footage of the body doubles making out from the shoulder down.
TECHNICAL SEX
TEMPERATURE ON SET Warm
INDICATIVE CLASSIFICATION, IN YEARS OF AGE 16
The sex scene is important in the script and the actors were okay with the nudity. The set is emptied and only the indispensable part of the crew remains: the director, the producer, the actors and perhaps a cinematographer. Nudity is usually complete, with no clothes or codpiece, but the sex is not real. There is physical contact, but no penetration. It’s all fake. The director shoots the scene from multiple angles to have more shot options when editing
LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL?
TEMPERATURE ON SET Call the fire department!
INDICATIVE CLASSIFICATION, IN YEARS OF AGE 18
It’s rare, but some non-porn movies include real sex scenes. An example is the film 9 Songs (2004), by British director Michael Winterbottom. The actors actually get laid, and it’s filmed in graphic detail. The director works as in a technical sex scene, but he has to make the actors very comfortable for the hustle and bustle inside a studio while being watched by several people