But now she was back in Los Angeles and ready to model! I looked around the studio at the small crew. It was Heather, Michael Ninn, his wife Q, Red Velvet, Laurent Sky, his wife Nora, Brandon, our two production assistants and myself. Of these people, only Heather, Brandon, and the two PA’s aren’t camera-shy. Both Brandon and I worked extra hard to only shoot the folks who wanted to be in the limelight! [If you don’t want to appear in any Behind the Scenes footage these days, of course, you’d better not be on an adult set anywhere. Of course if you have a camera in your hand, you can always hide – or fight back.]
Heather snapped into poses as Laurent snapped photos. Michael Ninn sat in front of the monitors, watching carefully as Heather’s pictures appeared on them. “Beautiful, Laurent! Just beautiful,” Michael exclaimed as the first photos appeared. “This is too easy,” Laurent replied. (When the model is gorgeous and extremely photogenic it does make the job much easier!) [Apparently “tools” are only part of the equation. Still we geeks are always impressed with technology, and we remain perfectly willing to practice using it with Heather.]
Heather became topless and then naked. Lights were moved and smoke poured from the smoke machine. “That’s the shot! That’s it! That’s the one!” Michael said excitedly. [Of course Michael says that a whole lot of times during a good shoot, but at least he pays attention. We can think of a few directors that do not.] (It’s good for a man to enjoy his work!) [… and naked women help, by the way.]
Time for the next set-up. As Red Velvet added glam makeup to “The Girl Next Door.” PA’s brought a gold wall and a mattress into the studio. Gold gels were added to the lights, and the room was bathed in a gorgeous warm glow. [Well, those cold, sickly glows rarely work well in promotional shoots.]
All that was needed was the model. Heather came to set wearing a white gauzy shirt and nothing else. Another very good look! PA’s added gold sheets to the blue mattress. “Don’t worry. The sheets are clean, just so you know,” the PA whispered to Heather. [Interestingly Heather most likely never even considered that they were not, at least until the “helpful” assistant volunteered the information. We tend to think the best of people we admire, and Heather thought a lot of Michael Ninn.]
Laurent began blasting The Gipsy Kings from the boom box, and Heather danced into poses. Michael loved the look, and happily boogied to the music as he watched Heather on the monitors. [As it turns out, people often do that when watching Heather on monitors.]