SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Amid the growing controversy about mandatory condom use in adult movies shot in California, one gay studio has debuted a new title designed to present the illusion of “bareback” porn while keeping performers’ assets covered.
Falcon Studios posted the first scene from its latest title, California Dreamin’ 1, to its website in the hope consumers would respond to new techniques that digitally remove condoms from scenes. Reaction in the cybersphere has been mixed, with some bloggers excoriating the studio for seeming to promote unprotected sex while others appreciate the artistic efforts to which the studio went to obscure latex.
In the gay adult industry — and in the gay community as a whole — the issue of condoms in porn generated a particularly contentious debate. Condom advocates find it irresponsible for porn to depict men having sex without condoms, because they feel bareback porn encourages viewers to take risks in their personal encounters. Those in the bareback camp counter that porn represents fantasy, and most men are able to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
The debate is exacerbated to a certain extent by disagreement among studios, some of which believe safer sex can be just as hot and fantastical as bareback sex. Falcon is among the former camp. Lucas Entertainment was, too, until recently, when the studio debuted its first bareback adult feature to both howls of disapproval and applause. Lucas Entertainment founder Michael Lucas has said fan requests encouraged him to experiment with a bareback title, albeit filming took place in a controlled environment.
Unwilling to abandon its devotion to safer sex, Falcon responded to fan requests in a different way: Performers continue to wear condoms, but studio technicians minimize the appearance of protection through lighting tricks and post-production digital wizardry.
“We vigorously support condom use in our films and scenes because we feel strongly that the safety of our actors is our responsibility,” said Falcon President Chris Ward, once a performer himself. “Our company is behind condom use in gay erotica 100 percent, and we’re exploring how to make condom scenes that use production and post-production techniques to mitigate the visual of condoms which many, many customers find distracting.
“We decided to try to see if this was possible, and the result is California Dreamin’ 1 and 2,” he continued. “Anyone familiar with Photoshop and video editing programs will know how to do this, and it’s also partly done on the set with lighting.
“A viewer of this movie will not mistake it for a bareback movie,” Ward added. “The condoms are slightly visible — more in some scenes than in others because of lighting. The goal here was to simply take the condom issue out of the viewer’s experience as much as possible while keeping our models safe. It’s there, but it’s not giant and distracting.”
The scene posted to FalconStudios.com features Ray Han and Falcon exclusive Ryan Rose. In a sly nod to Falcon’s history as a gay-porn producer in the days before HIV/AIDS precipitated the condom debate, the poolside scene overflows with throwback references to previous Falcon films. Oral, rimming and hardcore sex sequences culminate in two money shots.
FalconStudios.com pays affiliates up to $35 per sign-up or as much as 50-percent recurring revenue share through the Buddy Profits affiliate program.
