Making a sex tape these days is a radical act. Between the threat of accidentally uploading your video to the cloud, having a partner post it publicly as revenge porn post-break-up, or forgetting that you’ve saved it to the save thumb drive as your school or work presentations, there’s a lot of reasons to be downright terrified of taping yourself in the act.
If seeing yourself and/or a partner on camera is one of your biggest fantasies, though, it’s worth the forethought to plan out an evening dedicated to your – ahem – directorial debut.
Back in the day (and by that, we basically mean the days of VHS tape), it was a lot more difficult and a lot less visually pleasing to create a sex tape that was more arousing than poorly lit and downright cheesy. Remember how hilarious and horribly-shot your 1980s and 1990s family videos looked? Yeah, we might suffer from a lack of internet privacy, but your parent’s day was not an ideal time to create at-home porn.
Now that we’re all carrying mini high-res cameras in our pockets and purses and have access to near-pro level editing tools at the click of an app download, it’s a hell of a lot easier to pursue your DIY sex tape dreams.
In the sex-tech world of LELO pleasure products, we fancy ourselves to be dual experts in technology and sexual health. We’ve re-written the basics on making a sex tape to better fit the modern internet age.
First Thing’s First: Turn Off the Damn Cloud!
As crazy as it sounds, cyber security should be #1 on your list of concerns when preparing your sex tape for ultimate privacy. As a computer security expert once explained in a CNN Business article, “iCloud is not private from the government or Apple. iCloud is just someone else’s computer.”
Cloud syncing can apply no matter what kind of device you’re using, so take note of the specific instructions per your specific make of smart phone, laptop, or tablet. A quick Google search is all it should take to learn more.
Remember the horrific debacle that poor Jennifer Lawrence endured in 2014 when her cloud’s photo back-up was hacked and her private, nude images were leaked online? You don’t have to be a celebrity to have something similar happen to you.
There are myriad ways your data can be accessed when you give your smart phone permission to send all your images and videos into the cloud. But guess what? You don’t have to send anything to the cloud if you don’t want to!
Before you take any nude photos or even think of creating homemade porn with a partner, turn off the damn cloud syncing feature. This article by Business Insider explains how to do it on all of your devices you might use for recording, including iPhones, iPads and Windows devices.
Make a Plan for Your Video Before You Make It
Even if your video is safe from the cloud, you and your partner will need to plan for what to do with it. As much as it frankly sucks to consider, you never know when one of you will have a change of heart, whether that relates to the video itself or to the entire relationship, no matter how long you’ve been together.
Do you want to save it for a week, watch it a few times, and then click the delete button? Or possibly watch it just once, using it as inspiration for your next romp, and then deleting it forever? Maybe you’re not so fond of making homemade porn that you want to create an entire collection of videos that you and your partner can choose to watch again and again.
Either way, you need to prepare for the worst when it comes to your digital footprint. Honestly, the best way is to pretend you’ll be breaking up in a week and consider how you’d want to address your sex tape from that viewpoint.
Would you want your partner to be able to keep a copy? Would you prefer they delete the tape immediately? Could you foresee your partner trying to use it as revenge porn if things got ugly between you two (which, of course, is totally illegal, but still a nightmare to lawyer-up in response to)?
The absolute safest route is to delete the video after watching it once. You can always make a new sex tape later, of course – and if it’s as fun as it sounds, you’ll probably want to!
But if you insist on saving your creation past a single view, agree that you’ll both keep a copy on your respective, private devices, and agree upon where it’ll be stored. Agree that neither of you will ever upload the video elsewhere or even move it to another folder or storage device. That way, you’ll be sure it’ll never accidentally end up on your work computer or the thumb drive you use for Power Point presentations for school.
Live Up to Your Artistic Potential with Editing Apps and Phone Stands
Now that you’ve planned for a secure sex tape, you can breathe a sigh of relief and explore your sensually artistic side. There are so many cheap or free ways to film and edit yourself in a flattering, arousing fashion.
If you prefer not to hold the camera or clumsily change angles a million times, a smart phone tripod is a super versatile option that can be attached almost anywhere. From smaller versions of the traditional camera tripod to three-legged, bendable tripods that you can wrap around whatever is near, there’s something for every price range. Our favorite is the octopus-style tripod that bends and folds to your needs.
When your video is complete – and especially if you went all-out artsy with candles, special lighting, and pro porn-worthy lingerie – relive the excitement by editing your favorite parts (if you can even get through the viewing process without needing to take a break for more sex or solo play).
Photo and video-editing apps will not steal your images, but if you’re still worried, you can always disable wifi and data while using them.
And who knows? By the time you’re done editing your sexual masterpiece, you might decide it’s so good that it deserves its own OnlyFans page! (Just kidding… or are we? It’s up to you!)