Titan Media founder and president Bruce Cam is announcing changes in the foundation of his company and technological advances that will place Titan Media in the forefront, if not the very front, of the gay adult industry.
Cam's two-pronged announcement is centered on the TitanMen holiday release, Breakers. You could call it a surf-and-turf feature, since it moves from the beaches to the forests of Northern California. But that would belittle what will be an extravagant and final flourish to Cam's famed succession of panoramic outdoor features. "I try not to film my features on sets," Cam once told me. "I figure that God is a far better set designer than I'll ever be." Breakers will be a two-disc set with over four hours of hardcore content and plenty of extras. Cam confides that it will be the finale - the last triple-X full feature that he will direct.
Cam's second surprise is that Breakers will be Titan Media's first release filmed in true 1080i High Definition format.
"We've just made a huge investment in new broadcast-quality HD equipment," Cam said, talking to me in mid-October in the expansive warehouse which houses the Titan Media studio and offices. And he wasn't talking about the $6,000 prosumer HDV cams that other studios are trumpeting as High Definition. "If you can hold the camera in one hand," Cam quips, "it's not true HD."
With true HD DVD players not yet in common use, the initial release of Breakers will be in widescreen, standard-definition (SD). "It will be several more months before we release Breakers in HD format," Cam said, while promising, "The SD release will look even better than our current high-picture quality and certainly better than HDV. It's the next level of quality."
I've been reviewing gay erotica since 1978. Weaned on grainy and inevitably overexposed 16mm film stock, I appreciated the move to video production. Its resolution was better, but still low. So I rejoiced at the advance to DVD quality. The footage Cam showed me of Breakers trumps it all: from a glorious California sunrise to the beautiful detail of the skin and hair of the performers, the 1080i HD format is truly incredible; not to mention what it does for the performer's special bits - well, gay sex never had it so good!
As Titan moves forward technologically, Bruce Cam will be moving forward creatively. He is preparing to start producing and directing documentary films.
"It's an evolution," he says. "Of course, I will continue to be the executive producer of all our films. I'm still the person ultimately responsible for our business and our 22 employees. But my creative outlet will shift from adult features to documentaries. It's just the next step."
It's the step of a man with a cause. Listen to him tell it. "I absolutely refuse to be a second-class citizen because I'm a gay man. So many times, gay men, especially within the adult industry, are looked down upon. I cannot tolerate or accept that. So I'm going to be making documentaries that will take direct aim at the hypocrisy of the religious right.
"I feel that Titan Media is the breakout gay studio. Our core business will remain documenting the most beautiful men in the world having great sex, but we're ready to go into a new area of filmmaking. I think it's time that I move my personal creativity towards making a wider commitment and a bigger impact in the world we live."
For Cam, that's kind of like returning to home base. After all, he started out in broadcast journalism, attending the Newhouse School of Communication before becoming a commercial photographer, and then working at CBS, the Sports Channel, and ESPN. It's where he developed his kamikaze technique - he's fearless about shooting in public spaces. When he met Al Parker, he made the shift to gay adult, although he had to convince Parker to take him on. "By coincidence we had adjacent PO boxes, and after six months of my telling him I was a television cameraman, he finally hired me. The first adult feature that I shot and edited was with Al." Following Parker's death in 1992, Cam continued, to this day having made well over 70 features - including features for Parker, Falcon, All Worlds, VCA, and Titan Media, which he founded in 1994.
He's won the awards, been inducted into the GAYVN Hall of Fame, and feels it's time to do something new. His explanation for the shift is quite simple. "There's really no need for me to do it anymore. I have two incredible business partners in Keith Webb and Brian Mills. Keith does an amazing job overseeing Titan's legal protection as well as managing our marketing and promotions, not to mention the remarkable job he's done at branding Titan's image. Our customers have a good understanding of what's in each of our lines. Customers who like an all-sex TitanMen feature know they'll get that in a Bruce Cam or Brian Mills feature; those who like character and plot know that's in our Joe Gage titles. Our TitanMen Fresh line of DVDs delivers non-stop sex among stunning Eastern European men, with the focus on younger guys, 21 to 27, not twink, but jock. I've traveled to Prague repeatedly and worked with our Czech director, Richie Oldmann; he truly understands the Titan format and is doing an excellent job.
"Brian Mills has been at my side for 12 years now. He has the company vision and knows how to shoot for our editors so that each feature remains seamless; Brian has also helped develop the company policy of not cluttering up a feature with unnecessary dialogue; he's spectacular at ‘showing not telling' a story (and no one is better at lighting); Brian Mills is now Titan's premiere director."
Cam's passion may be shifting to making documentaries soon, but that shift certainly has not happened yet. His ardor is certainly evident as he discusses Breakers. "I'm really pleased with the production; the cast was stunning; every performance was superb; I came home with almost every shot I set out to capture."
Breakers encompassed 14 production days, all of them on location; it stars 11 of Titan's Exclusives, complemented by big, hairy Arpad Miklos and newcomer Jackson Wild. It includes TitanMen favorites Alex Baresi, Damien Crosse, Dean Flynn, Diesel Washington and François Sagat. It also features a return to film for the mature, evermore handsome Eduardo. Tony Buff seconds his startling debut that he made in Fear ("In popularity, I think Tony Buff is going to be hot on the tails of Dred Scott," Cam says), and is joined by newcomer Rick van Sant ("I love that innocent look of his... even while being fisted.").
Although Breakers will undoubtedly become another career highlight, there are numerous others Cam speaks of with pride. I asked him to reminisce about his favorite movies.
"I'm still extremely proud of our first Titan feature, River Patrol. It's got a special place in my heart. Recently I had a great visit with Cliff Parker, its star; we had some good laughs talking about all of the mistakes we made during that first feature.
"With Fallen Angel 4: Seamen, I think we got it really, really right - it is our top seller of all time! And I'm so proud of Gorge. Nine days on houseboats and lakes to get those shots. Ray Dragon could not have been better, and then, of course, there is the amazing Dred Scott, in Trespass — what a vision Dred had for what he brought to his performances!"
When it comes to the summing up of his directing career, Cam hardly pauses. "I wanted to shoot a wide variety of handsome men in spectacular outdoor locations. I wanted my company to do the great job that it has done in bringing the light of day to fetish. I feel we've done a really good job at eroticizing safer sex. The Fallen Angel series, and now Fear, contains lots of fetish, things that are really nasty, but follow safer sex practices. I'm also proud of our condom-only policy: We will close our doors before we ever shoot a condomless movie, period.
"I'm proud that our success has enabled us to contribute back to our community. We've just guaranteed a minimum contribution of $20,000 to the new TitanMen/Folsom Fund. We have committed a portion of each DVDs sale from the TitanMen/Folsom line of hardcore leather and fetish films, like Folsom Leather and Fear, to support non-profit organizations that specialize in gay men's health and education."
It's onward and upward with the arts as Cam expands his creativity with the move into documentaries and secures his company's success with the pioneering, and sure to be popular, implementation of true HD. Finally, though, I just had to ask. Will Breakers be Cam's First Annual Farewell Film? Is he launching his cinema version of Cher's Never Can Say Goodbye Tour?
He swore, "Absolutely not."
GayVN
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