A thousand pardons. We supplied the wrong link when we ran this story earlier.

Matt Wilcox writes at www.xxxwasteland.wordpress.com : To say that Matt Morningwood is a man of many roles would be a gross understatement. As director and producer with top adult studio Pink Visual, Matt oversees many projects under the company’s banner and has played a large hand in developing PV’s reputation as one of the most technologically advanced brands in the industry.

I spoke with Matt on the eve of the 2011 XBIZ Awards in Hollywood (Where Pink Visual would go on to pick up Mobile Company of the Year honors) to discuss his career in adult entertainment, the importance of technology to PV’s overall marketing strategy and more.

(Special thanks to Quentin Boyer of Pink Visual for arranging the interview. Photos #1 and #2 courtesy of Matt Morningwood)

Q: Can you tell us about your background and how you came to work at Pink Visual?

I graduated college and thought I was going to be an independent filmmaker or documentary filmmaker. I was freelancing doing video production work when I got out. It was freelancing stuff, so I’m sure you know it’s feast or famine, and I got tired of waking up every morning worrying about how I was going to pay the bills. So I responded to an ad in the paper as an HTML editor. It was pretty plain – it wasn’t very descriptive as to what I’d be doing. I went in for the interview and the boss said, “It’s in adult. Are you okay with that?” And it took me about thirty seconds and I said, “Yeah, I’m fine with that.” (Laughs) Because when I was in college I had actually dabbled in being a webmaster for Gamma Cash, one of the earlier programs.

This was in 2001. So, I started in the HTML department for TopBucks – it wasn’t Pink Visual then. We didn’t have our own content. We were purchasing content from other sources or leased content – which is what all the websites were doing back then. And then we said, “Hey, instead of buying other people’s stuff, why don’t we do it ourselves?” So, they sent me from Arizona out to California to start up a production company which we called BlueMoon Productions, but we produced solely for TopBucks and Pink Visual, unlike other production companies out there. So basically it’s part of the same company, but not legally or whatever. But they sent me out to set the studio up. That was in 2004.

Q: And that is how Pink Visual was created?

Yes, about the same time that I came out here to shoot content, that is also when we decided to have a customer brand for our DVD lines and stuff. Because up to that point TopBucks was for webmasters and affiliate programs. It was all about the same time. I came out here and it was just kind of trial by error. It’s not that tough to shoot porn, but at the same time it is tough to shoot porn. There are a lot of things people don’t think of that make it difficult.

Q: Which actually leads into a question I wanted to ask you. Are there a lot of common misconceptions people have about your job?

Oh, sure. When I first came out here, my family and friends, they were a little … “You’re going to do WHAT?” But I like to think that I brought maybe a little bit of naiveté. That actually benefited me, because I didn’t do all the shady and sleazy things that other guys who had been around a long time had. There was no “casting couch”-type stuff. I set the studio up like a business and treated the girls with respect. Once I had that going, I had friends come out and maybe see a shoot, and they changed their minds. And just over the course of the past few years it seems like the public’s perception of (porn) is not nearly as off-center as it was. Granted, you will still run into puritans who are just disgusted by what I do for a living, but it’s a lot more accepted that I ever thought it would be.

I went to a Catholic high school and I went back for my twenty-year reunion – that will date me, so maybe I won’t say twenty (Laughs). I went back thinking, “Uh-oh,” because they are going to grill me over the coals for what I do. But everybody just cracked up, thought it was great, and wanted to know all about it. The stigma is not there as much – it’s still there, but not as bad.

Q: I’ve noticed that as well. Can you describe some of your responsibilities and types of projects you oversee at Pink Visual?

Whew … everything.

Q: (Laughs) Sort of a broad question, I suppose.

(Laughs) Yeah, just put “Everything” in the article. It makes for good reading.

(Laughs)

Going back to starting it up – everything from finding the building and getting the studio built. Hiring crew to deciding what technologies we were going to use – cameras, etc. Also, in the earlier days it was more, “I’ll show my directors what I want done, but let them do it.” Now it’s morphed into pretty much where I’m doing the shooting and producing, because we’ve trimmed back.

Q: I’ve noticed that Pink Visual more so than other companies attempts to be on the cutting edge of technology pertaining to the adult industry. Is it a conscious effort on the studio’s part to make tech-related services PV’s calling card?

Oh, absolutely. It was a couple years ago that we decided to change our focus, because – and I don’t mean to belittle what other people are doing, and certainly not what my directors or myself have done creatively – but for the most part, content is content. As long as the audio is good, the picture quality is good, the lighting is good and you are hiring good girls, it’s pretty similar. You can take an award-winning series and put it up against something that’s not award-winning and there’s not a whole lot of difference. As I said, I’m not trying to belittle anything – there are differences – but really in the big picture, not so much. So, we decided to focus on how we delivered the content and we really seem to have found our spot. And we like it.

Pretty much every shoot I do I try and incorporate new technology into it, whether it’s something simple like using an iPad in the scene, shooting with an iPhone, or whatever we can do to push that technology to the forefront, so people know that if it’s techy, Pink Visual likes to do it.

Q: Pink Visual offered a very unique demonstration (free “virtual blowjobs”) at its booth during the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas last month. Can you discuss that a little bit?

It’s an example of augmented reality where you can take a live video feed from a webcam and overlay prerecorded video on top of it. I shot Lexi Belle, Karlie Montana, and Tiffany Tyler in front of a green screen kneeling down and giving an empty chair a blowjob. Then our programming guys – I don’t know how they did it, I’m not that technical – put it together to where somebody could be sitting in their bedroom – or at the show, it would work either way – with a webcam on them. And as long as they have what we call a “marker” – which we made our logo – that tells the overlay where to center itself. So, basically, they sit in the chair, look up at the screen with a webcam pointed at them and they’d see Lexi Belle walk out in front of them, kneel down, and go to town. A lot of people had fun with that.

Q: The display certainly sounded revolutionary when I first read about it. I actually interviewed Allison (Vivas, President of Pink Visual) a couple of months before AEE and she mentioned that the studio had something very creative planned for the Expo.

We always try to do something new and for the fans – a combination of the two. The year before we had showcased augmented reality because no other studios were doing it. But it was really simple. Then we decided, “Let’s make it a little bit more interactive.” And we did.

Q: I also wanted to ask your opinion on the role of 3D in adult. Some people believe it will be a huge part of the industry’s future, while others feel there will not be a large demand for it. What is your take on the matter?

It’s a mixed bag for me. We threw our hat in the 3D ring a couple of years ago because we had a deal with a company that made a case for the iPhone. It had a screen that was on the front of it, so you could watch 3D content on your iPhone without glasses.

We were doing the standard rig where you mount two cameras next to each other – two of my Panasonic HVX200s. Then in post they make it work with that overlay. The problem was when you mount two cameras next to each other, the distance that the lenses are apart – from center of lens to the center of the other lens – dictates how far away you have to be from the subject in order to get the correct convergence.

The problem with having to Panasonic HVX200s standing next to each other is that the lenses are pretty far apart, even though the cameras themselves are snug right up next to each other. I had to stay about twelve to fifteen feet away from the action and that just doesn’t work for porn. We did it for that phone overlay, but since then, we’ve cooled a little bit on it. My personal feeling on it is that until you get the TVs where you don’t need the glasses, 3D is not going to be a big deal.

It’s a big deal in the media because the Sonys and the Toshibas and the Panasonics are really pushing it and the mainstream Hollywood studios as well because it’s an additional source of revenue. I do think 3D has a future, but it’s once those glasses go away. The good news is we are probably going to be throwing our hat back into the 3D ring just because we want to have content shot so we have a back catalogue when that time comes.

The new Panasonic camera is a Panasonic 3D video camera. The lenses are right next to each other. I can be about a foot, foot-and-a-half away. So I can shoot with that, and the great thing with that is – and one lens is for the left eye and one is for the right eye – they are separate streams. So if I shoot with that camera, I can then use the 2D footage from one of the lenses and it’s the same quality image I’m getting out of my Panasonic cameras now. So basically, I’ll just shoot everything with it and we’ll put the 2D up on the Web and on the discs, but when the time comes we’ve got tons of 3D content already shot. So that’s what we are hoping to do.

Q: Excellent. To finish up, are there any upcoming projects at Pink Visual you would like to mention to readers?

Our biggest thing is called PV Locker. I can’t tell you a bunch of stuff because we are doing things in phases, but basically it’s going to be a way for you to keep your porn off of your home computer, but you will have access to it anywhere – your iPad, iPhone, Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry … whatever it is, Pink Visual is going to make sure it works on your device. Then you don’t have to worry about spouses and kids on your computer running into your porn. Porn is very personal and I think it’s great if we can make it where you keep it personal.

Q: I agree. Thank you very much for your time, Matt. All the best to yourself and Pink Visual in the future.

Thank you, same to you.