| Review:
SEPTEMBER 2007 RE-VISIT
As
we
noted
in
our
initial
review
of
this
site
(four
years
ago),
we
love
the
films
of
Andrew
Blake.
Everything
about
them
just
smells
of
quality
and
professionalism:
the
lighting,
the
editing,
the
design
and
costumes,
the
sound,
everything.
He
makes
every
woman
he
shoots
look
beautiful,
and
the
beautiful
ones
look
. .
.
well,
even
more
beautiful.
The
way
his
camera
moves
over
a
body
is
poetry.
Every
time
you
watch
an
Andrew
Blake
feature
it's
like
you're
watching
it
for
the
first
time.
Unfortunately
we
really
hated
his
official
site
back
in
2003.
But
since
then
it's
had
a
makeover.
And
it's
a
lot
better.
Still
not
outstanding,
but
definitely
better.
The
design
is,
as
befits
the
material,
very
elegant
and
classy.
Black
background.
Lots
of
streaming
video
playing
in
the
background.
This
is
actually
a
nice
way
to
present
the
video
download
pages.
When
you
click
on a
clip
you
are
taken
to a
download
screen
that
gives
you
your
options
(which
are
QuickTime hi/low,
Windows
Media
hi/low,
DivX
and
iPod),
and
meanwhile
streams
a
20-second
preview.
Beats
thumbnails.
The
best
video,
by
the
way,
is
formatted
at
480x320
and
around
1300
kb/s.
Not
bad,
but
not
HD
either.
It's
also
letterboxed,
which
is
something
you
have
to
take
into
account.
Basically
you
browse
the
content
either
by
film
or
model. The
movies
represented
include
Valentina,
Aria,
Secret
Paris,
and Decadence
(all
later
works).
The
clips
are
only
five
minutes
long,
and
there
were
only
63
clips
up
total
when
we
visited.
That's
not
a
giant
amount
of
content.
But
let's
face
it,
Blake
isn't
doing
gonzo
reality
porn
here.
He's
only
made
something
like
40
movies
over
the
last
twenty
or
so
years.
The
emphasis
is
on
quality
over
quantity.
The
photo
galleries
are
all
basically
sets
of
production
stills
from
the
movies,
reproduced
at a
selection
of
sizes
(800, 1024, 1280,
and
1600
pixels).
They
look
great,
even
a
production
still
from
a
Blake
movie
can
be a
work
of
art,
but
. .
.
they
are
still
just
a
step
above
vidcaps.
The
main
question
we
had
going
in
to
this
site
was
whether
it
was
going
to
be
anything
much
beyond
a
showcase
or
even
storefront
for
the
DVDs.
The
answer,
at
least
thus
far,
seems
to
be
that
it
isn't.
What
you're
getting
here
are
scenes
from
the
DVDs
and
not
much
else.
There
was
a
link
to a
diary
but
when
we
visited
there
really
wasn't
anything
happening
there
yet.
Looks
like
you
can
expect
some
behind-the-scenes
at
some
point,
but
that's
about
it.
Otherwise
no
real
personality.
Which
isn't
surprising,
given
that
we
understand
Blake
to
be a
private
kind
of
guy.
We're
not
saying
there's
anything
wrong
with
this.
Most
sites
that
feature
DVD
content
don't
give
you
much
in
the
way
of
extras.
From
what
we
could
tell
it
looks
like
Blake
might
be
offering
direct-to-the-internet
downloads
at
some
point,
but
you
might
have
to
pay
extra
for
those.
Otherwise,
this
site
basically
just
lets
you
grab
a
bunch
of
five-minute
clips
from
movies
that
we
suspect
many
of
his
real
fans
will
already
have.
FEBRUARY 2003 REVIEW
Say what you want about Andrew Blake--and a lot has been said--you
can't deny the man his style. That style is high quality softcore, porn
without a lot of context or even dialogue, but heavy on beautiful (all
natural) women enjoying themselves in expensive settings. He doesn't like
messy money shots, or, for that matter, even a messy cock. His
photography is perfect, making every other porn director wonder how he
manages to get his angles and maintain his lighting. But it is his
editing, with its roving discontinuous camera work that imitates the
action of the aroused but surreptitious glance, that is really the icing
on the cake. This isn't just porn, it's "erotic art."
Unfortunately, none of this makes his official site worth looking at.
Like a lot of softcore erotic artists, Blake's skill lies in being a
successful tease. His site takes this too far and never delivers.
Basically it is just a front to sell his movies. We were amazed at just
how little content there was.
The pics are scattered around in various poorly labeled galleries,
making it difficult to locate the models or movies you are interested
in. If you want to see some pictures of Aria
Giovanni, for example, do you go the Gallery section, the Special Galleries, the
Girls, the Model Directory, the Production Stills? Answer: You'll find
them in all of the above except the Model Directory, which is only an
order list.
This proliferation of sections is pointless, since many of the sections
are virtually empty. Dahlia Grey, who is favoured with her own section
from the main menu, has less than 50 pics total! That's 50! The Aria Giovanni from Blondes
and Brunettes set features a whopping four pics! Most of these pics
are not large, and vary in quality
due to Blake's experimentation with different types of film (like grainy
black and whites). There are no real series, but only sets of production stills.
The news is just as bad on the video front. There are no scenes
available for download, only trailers. You can also watch one "full movie"
as a stream (Sensual
Exposure--by no coincidence, his worst). As mentioned, this is just a
tease. The site seems to only be an attempt to get you to buy videos,
with some links taking you directly to order pages. But if we wanted to
buy an Andrew Blake movie . . .
The major extra content is RedDoor Magazine, which features a monthly
gallery by Earl Miller. This was actually pretty good, but when you spend most of your time surfing the bonus
features of a site you know you're in trouble. Andrew Blake is hardly a newcomer and this site wasn't just launched
yesterday. We're sure he has lots of good stuff he isn't sharing. Where
is it?
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