CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Certainly one of the most unusual filmmakers in modern adult is actress/director Chanel Preston, who just wrapped production on her latest project, All In Your Head. The movie will be released by James Deen Productions and distributed by Girlfriends Films.
"There's no dialogue; I haven't done any dialogue in any of my movies," Preston noted. "It's all just visual storytelling. I like it because sometimes dialogue can get kind of cheesy—not always, but it easily can, especially because we're not all known for our acting abilities when it comes to dialogue. To me, visual storytelling is similar to reading, because it's open to interpretation when you're reading something, and so when you're watching something that doesn't have dialogue, it's sort of similar. You get an idea for what it's about, but I think every person can feel a little differently about it, and I like that, so that's why I've done it that way."
Preston, the veteran of more than 250 hardcore movies and several dozen online scenes, as well as the hostess of the webisode series Naked With Chanel, has taken her segue into directing very seriously, and even at the helm of her fourth directorial effort, she continues to learn everything she can about moviemaking.
"It's fun. I like it," she declared. "It's a lot of work—a lot of work. But I really enjoy it; it's definitely a creative outlet for me. My whole focus has been on directing because I've been wanting to get really good at it, so I've actually been doing a lot of research and learning about production and lighting, so I feel like I've gone through boot camp with that, and that's what I've been focusing on.
"This was the first time I've shot camera," she added. "I actually really loved it. I shoot two cameras on my movies; Ben Hoffman shoots for me, and James [Deen] had the idea, 'Well, why don't you shoot camera on this one?' I was like, 'You're out of your mind.' I've been doing a little amateur photography here and there, so I'm familiar with composition and everything, but I haven't done video before, so Ben kind of gave me a little five-minute crash course right beforehand, and then it started, and I was a little nervous and then I kind of got into it, and was moving around and I really liked it. I felt like I had more control, plus I don't have a monitor, and so I had an idea of what we were both shooting but I wasn't sure until I checked it—but I had a lot more control this way. So I enjoyed it, I liked it, and I'm going to continue to shoot camera."
Preston hasn't scripted her movies so far, though since they're wordless, she gives a lot of thought to how the performers will interact on camera—but once she's on the set, sometimes her preconceptions go out the window and she creates new storylines and/or alters the scenarios to fit her performers' strengths.
"To begin with, I have an idea, and so I hire the performers based on that idea," she explained, "but I know one of the scenes in the movie completely changed. I was having trouble with a couple of the performers, and I had to switch them out, but it turned out fine."
In the end, she wound up pairing Kiera Nicole and Ryan McLane, Anikka Albrite and Toni Ribas, Keisha Grey and Seth Gamble, and Casey Calvert and Bill Bailey, and as the movie's title suggests, there's a heavy fantasy element to the action.
"Each of the scenes takes place in one character's head," she stated. "It's either not real or it's a flashback, so it's kind of neat, and at the end of each scene, they either wake up or they find they're alone, and some of it's sad, some of it not so sad.
"The Keisha and Seth scene is pretty basic in that it's like a flashback that she's having, or maybe it's a fantasy that she's having about someone that she likes," Preston added. "The Ryan and Kiera scene was one of my favorites, because Ryan is very sad, and you see him playing with his wedding ring and he's like pondering and thinking so it has a very somber undertone to it, and in comes Keira, and you just assume that's his wife, but throughout the scene, you realize that she's left him and he misses her. And then, she goes away and he's back in his own mind. And then there's the Casey and Bill scene, and again, Casey is really sad. I joke that I like sad girls, but she's in her room and kind a lonely loner, and she goes to a mirror and she starts masturbating but it's really pretty and kind of sad, and then what she's fantasizing about in her head is what happens. I shot it in a way where I just kind of subtly put it in there where he kind of is there all of a sudden in a close-up, and you're like, 'Oh, he's there and it's all in her head,' and in the end, I cut it so you're aware it's in her head."
Preston was adamant that she didn't want the dream sequences to seem "cheesy."
"It's subtle; no thought balloons or wavy images," she assured. "When you're watching, you don't always know it's a fantasy until the end, unless you know what the theme of the movie is, so there is no moment where it's like, 'Oh, it's a dream or a fantasy.'"
We asked Preston about what her future plans are, but she's playing it close to the vest.
"I wrote a script a long time ago, but I'm not sure what will happen to that," she confided. "But these vignettes have allowed me to learn a lot and start out really slow. When I'm ready to do a feature, I will."
We can't wait!
All In Your Head should hit stores in mid-September.
