Peeping Thom VR Interview

Peeping Thom is a UK-based VR porn studio. I did a Peeping Thom review previously. And, rather than saying too much in this intro, I’ll just allow Thom to do the explaining in the interview below. Enjoy. Also see Peeping Thom Power Moves For 2023 – Indie VR Thoughts.

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Findvrporn: What’s Peeping Thom all about? What are you trying to do with it? What’s your story?

Peeping Thom VR: I come from a TV and Film background and moved into the porn business about 10 years ago. I’ve been lucky enough to have made content for some of the biggest names in the UK porn business over the years but, and this might be hard to believe, I was bored of it.

I stumbled across VR porn and loved the challenge of making it. The thing with VR is there is no play book, you can do what you want without worrying about the rule of thirds or three point lighting or some other “rule” we were taught in film school. I think that’s what Peeping Thom is about… just doing new things and trying out new techniques.

Regarding the performers we work with they’re a wide and very diverse bunch but we do tend to lean towards the MILF/BBW models as personally I find them so much fun to work with. Also the MILF and BBW VR content seems to be something others are not making but we know from our feedback thats its being really well received by the audience.

Going forward we have some fun new adult VR projects that will be launching in the spring.

Findvrporn: Ok, you say, “The thing with VR is there is no play book, you can do what you want”… with that said, what is it that makes for a successful VR porn scene? What’s the goal of it? How do you know it’s good?

Peeping Thom VR: I think everyone will tell you something different as to what makes a good VR scene, but for me, and it seems for our audience they love the dialogue and the immersive experiences.

We try and work with performers that are good with dialogue and can be creative with the story lines we give them. Some of them now are bringing the story lines to us as they’ve had requests through their own social media platforms for specific VR scenes.

Findvrporn: What’s the goal?

Peeping Thom VR: The goal for us is to make better content and as the technology improves we will be able to do that. We also really try and place the viewer into the immersive environment and really give them an “experience”. We know our content isn’t for everyone but we’re growing our own little fan base and they seem to be happy with the direction the brand is going in.

Findvrporn: Where should the camera be positioned during filming? Are you going to start using moving camera? Is there such a thing as getting the camera “too close” to the model?

Peeping Thom VR: The placement of the camera for us will always change depending on the type of scene we’re doing. We’ve recently been making a lot more POV boy/girl content and for that the camera is placed on a jib and then hung over the head of the male performer. We did experiment with cameras attached to the male performer but this just seem cumbersome and sort of killed the performance.

We try and also position the camera to ensure the models can get get close enough to the rig: but not so close that the viewer ends up cross-eyed… however with some of the very busty girls we work with this can be a huge challenge!

We have tried the moving camera but for me personally it throws out the immersive element, however you will be seeing a lot more of it over the next few months from us.

Findvrporn: What are the biggest challenges of being a VR porn content creator?

Peeping Thom VR: I think the main challenge in creating content is the amount of data produced on one scene. We regularly have over 100gb of data from one scene but that does include the stills and the 2D behind the scenes footage we take.
As you can imagine it takes a beast of an editing system to be able to handle all that data. We’re currently shooting in 6k but as we upgrade to 8k and even 12k I can see this just increasing.

Findvrporn: Any other challenges to overcome?

Peeping Thom VR: I think the other main challenge is the locations. We have a studio with a number of sets that we film on but I’m bored of them. I like to rent large houses with nicely decorated rooms as I find these keep the viewer interested, even if he should just be watching the performer bouncing up and down in front of him!

Findvrporn: What do you think of squatting cowgirl hoverface? What about face fetish VR porn?

Peeping Thom VR: We’ve never shot any squatting cowgirl hoverface or face fetish scenes but I know from talking to other producers that these are popular. I think we’ll try that out over the next few months. We have a new project launching soon that this type of content might work well for.

Findvrporn: Okay, so I know about the new project. And, I LOVE that idea! I understand it’s not being disclosed to the public yet, but do you want to say anything about it?

Peeping Thom VR: We’ve not announced it yet so not at the moment, but soon.

Findvrporn: Okay. By the way, I notice the Peeping Thom website seems kind of rough and undeveloped (no offense intended)… any plans to add to that?

Peeping Thom VR: The website was just chuked together really quickly but we are hoping that we will have our own VR store on there once we have enough content, probably towards the end of 2022.

Findvrporn: What’s your favorite mainstream VR porn studio and why?

Peeping Thom VR: I have a few VR companies that I really enjoy, I think  Reality Lovers are doing a great job with their outdoor content. I love the pro/am edge they have and their content always seems fun.

I also like VRPornJack, their performers are stunning and last but not least is Jimmy Draws. Jimmy has become a good friend and we chat all the time about geeky VR stuff… he was also one of the guys that inspired me to get into VR along with Darrel from Wankz.

Findvrporn: Also, you said earlier that your content’s not for everyone. Who’s it not for? Who is it for?

Peeping Thom VR: The comment about our content might not be for everyone is that we’re creating niche content with niche performers, not everyone is into BBW or MILF models, but on the other hand not everyone is into the teen performers… it would be boring if we were all the same.

Findvrporn: A common criticism of VR porn is that it seems very same-samey… That it seems to follow a repetitive template… any thoughts on that topic?

Peeping Thom VR: I think a lot of porn follows a template, since the 80s mainstream porn has pretty much been 5 positions and a cum shot. I think VR gives us far more opportunities to be creative and try new things.

We’ve only been doing it eight months and hopefully over the next few months you’ll see some more of our creative ideas. Directing VR is nothing like directing normal 2D content. With 2D the director decides what the viewer looks at, with VR the viewer can look where they want, it’s more like directing theater and as we all learn the new skills I’m sure the content will become more and more creative.

Findvrporn: This is very interesting how you compare directing VR to directing theater… do you have any further thoughts about that?

Peeping Thom VR: I’ve been behind the camera making mainstream content for a long time and it’s very easy to get the shot you want that you know is needed for the scene. If you think about filming BDSM you’re looking for not just the act of say spanking, you’re also looking for the reaction on the face of the person being spanked.

With VR you can’t ensure the viewer is looking where you want and whilst there is tricks you can do they all break the immersive experience and that defeats the object. If you think about watching a musical theater show the director and cast have to fill the stage, sometimes with a lot of entertainment, but then other times with a more targeted solo monologue.

This opens up lots of opportunities for viewers of VRporn, as they can look at the particular part of the scene that turns them on but can create challenges for producers to ensure all angles are covered.

I might sound like I know what I’m doing but I’m still on a very steep learning curve with VR and I think all the producers are: like I said before, there isn’t yet a playbook on how to me content… and in all honesty, I don’t think there ever will be.

Findvrporn: Who’s your favorite studio between VR Bangers, WankzVR, Czech VR, Naughty America VR, Virtual Real Porn and why?

Peeping Thom VR: If I had to choose between those brands it would have to be Wankz. Their story lines and the dialogue is always fun.

Findvrporn: Do you have a favorite based upon technical considerations (such as quality or how it’s shot etc.)?

Peeping Thom VR: From a tech side, I again think Wankz and also Lust Reality are really hitting the mark at the moment. They seem to have managed to get the optics almost perfect on some of their new clips.

Findvrporn: Also, out of curiosity, how good of a domain name do you consider findvrporn on a scale of 1-10…. I’ve always been sort of curious about whether people think this is a good name?

Peeping Thom VR: Regarding domain names, I’ve always thought about what the person will Google. So I think you’re on to a good name there.

Findvrporn: Where do you stand concerning POV and immersion? A popular view at places like Reddit is the whole 1st person POV immersion sacred cow derp derp… How do you feel about 3rd person POV? Is it okay for a scene to combine everything in a way that’s horny while disregarding this “immersion” ideal? Or is the goal to create a scene where the VR porn consumer can most effectively immerse himself into a 1st person POV perspective?

Peeping Thom VR: I’ve tried shooting 3rd person content and there are people out there that like it, but recently I’ve started to do more immersive POV style shoots. I guess that’s because when you break it down, we’re creating a fantasy, and VR can put you into a situation where you can live out the fantasy of your choosing.

Most of our recent scenes have the performers engaging with the camera and some engaging with the male talent situated behind the camera. These do seem to be far more popular than the handful of scenes we’ve made in a more traditional porn style.

I think the best option would be to give the viewer an option to choose from a POV view and then if they want more of a third person view they could change to that option. The multi rig shoot is something we’re talked about but not yet implemented.

I know I keep going back to it but all the producers are still finding our way and what works for us…. and more to the point what the customer wants.

Findvrporn: When do you expect 6 degrees of freedom to be the standard for a VR porn scene? What about eye tracking? What other innovations are you anticipating?

Peeping Thom VR: Since the recent announcement of the Metaverse, I think a lot of the tech and software companies have started to lean in the VR direction. However I still thing the tech is a few years away from the 6 degrees of freedom and eye tracking being available and affordable for the masses.

For me personally, I’m really interested in AR. I think once the tech is available where you can have a pornstar performing in your own bedroom surroundings that will be the key to the full immersive experience.

I’m also really interested to see more collaborations with the sex toy and VR industries. I think the scripts they have at the moment are good but I can see some real innovations happening in that part of the business.

Findvrporn: Can you give me a sense of how well the VR porn industry is thriving? For instance, Peeping Thom is obviously viable and doing well? You guys are kicking ass or just sort of getting by? I don’t want to get too personal but I find this interesting…

Peeping Thom VR: I can talk generally about the VR side of the business and it seems to be growing slowly and already has a solid group of followers. The difference as we see it between the regular porn business and the VR porn business is that to watch VR porn properly you need to have already invested in the hardware.

The other main difference is that many users are also gamers and are used to paying for their games and seem happy to pay for their porn. I find with the 2D side of the business we are still struggling with the tubesites pirating content however this is changing slowly with the popularity of the Onlyfans style platforms.

Ultimately people need to understand that porn costs a lot to make: venue/location/performers/catering/crew/editing and we need to at least make a little profit along the way.

Findvrporn: Well, about time for me to fire-up the barbecue grill Thom. I want to thank you for providing such honest and comprehensive info. I think our readers are really going to appreciate this interview. I hope a bunch of them will tweet it out and link to it and share it with others. Thank you, Thom.

Peeping Thom VR: Perfect, thanks sounds great and I’m looking forward to seeing the article, and I’ll keep you informed of all the new ideas we will be doing.

Also, I just read your interview with Jimmy Draws and really liked the angle you took on the small boutique style studios that we both are… and how we have to try and make our content with tiny budgets compared to the bigger, more established brands.

Download Peeping Thom scenes from VR Porn.

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You can also download Peeping Thom at POVR.