DUCK's Jan Chen Creates Surreal Short Promoting Real Protection

DUCK Director Jan Chen just released a zany animated short featuring a communal home of anthropomorphic condoms promoting safe sex as a universal message for everybody to understand regardless of their age, language, education or social status. The film is done in a vibrant, fantasy-like palette that evokes the surreal excitement of real-life sex.

The animated prophylactics are distinct characters with personalities ranging from the brainy professor to the stumbling dufus to the self-absorbed meathead who live together in an urban loft-like space. Their satisfactory but mundane lives ramble along in relative peace, cycling through the different parts of the day - from activity to late-night sleep - until an alarm startles them into action.

The friends launch into a merciless race down a twisting series of tunnels and chutes toward an unseen goal, each wrapped in an expression of pure joy and anticipation. Their destination is a cavernous space that is quickly revealed as a dresser drawer. The bureau sits amidst an active room, where the silhouette of a couple in the midst of pre-sex passion is visible in the shadows moving across the wall. An animated human hand then fumbles for the drawer and plucks a smiling Rubbud from the abyss.

"This is a PSA above anything else, and the concept here is simple: use one, no matter what your choice," noted Chen. "I wanted to evoke the beautiful and special character of life that emerges when you are about to get some, and the Rubbuds evoke that inner happiness. But in the end, we were trying to convey a very important message in a very adult and humorous way. There are a few important messages embedded in the storyline that hopefully most viewers will pick up after multiple viewings."

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