Chinese Xi Chen's one man show produces animation works in torrenting fashion since 2018 when he first started, with his rather unusual style, that moves between the stop motion and animation resulting in quite unique works.
“Good Placement of Seeds” is screening at Vienna Shorts
The less than 5 minures animation starts with a creature that looks like a pink humanoid chicken with rectangular shaping that places some kind of seeds on its body, before it goes out of its watermelon house, meets some green, frogish creatures who seem to like its seeds. Then a number of them start going after the red one in a world that is melting, until one violently shoves her (?) to the ground and inseminates her, leading to the creation of a family. Other red creatures also appear after a while.
Xi Chen's presentation is f**ked up in a number of ways, with the story being completely surreal and the animation utterly absurd. Somewhere here however, hides a rather subtle comment about how women present themselves in order to appeal to men and eventually have a family, with the violence incorporated making the whole remark quite pointed, as Xi Chen seems to ridicule the realism of the concept.
Apart from that, the stop motion animation is characterized by an intense sense of flowing, which applies to both creatures and the environment, and in combination with the rapid cuts, gives a sense of constant and frantic motion to the whole thing, adding much to the entertainment it offers. The silent treatment and the minimal music
Truth be told, it is difficult to understand what exactly is happening here, but the artfulness, tension and overall energy are enough to make “Good Placement of Seeds” a more than interesting spectacle.
