Menace: CR

The Menace was a project that I toyed with from the moment the options on how to present our final piece were given. The trailers for the film are designed to draw the viewer’s attention to the action that takes place on screen, as well as subtly commenting on vigilante justice and it’s place in society. The final underlying message of the piece is asked by the reporter at the beginning of trailer one, who is cut off after asking the following question: if someone is willing to put themselves in harm's way to break laws and catch criminals, why don’t they stop future crime from occurring by ‘putting them down the first time’. 

The Menace is an action thriller that focuses on the double life of the titular hero, whose true identity is never given in the piece. Inspired by various artists currently working on similar dark pieces such as ‘The Batman’ and even newer content like ‘Moon Knight’, The Menace is an attempt to bring elements of believability and nuance to these superhero spectacles. Much like these new projects, the piece relies heavily on obscurity and misdirection, giving the audience no real clue as to what is going on or when the main conflict will escalate. Darkness is a heavy stylistic choice for all three of these pieces, with The Menace utilizing darkness to shroud the hero, in an almost pastiche sort of similarity to the latest Batman film. This genre of media is heavily embedded in nostalgia, which isn’t something that The Menace has to offer fans as a new and independent film. Thus instead of picking big moments based on comic book parallels like the latest Moon Knight trailers, this piece relies solely on the action and the bizarre nature of the character’s faceless appearance to draw the eye and ensnare the audience. 

Yet another key difference between the projects that inspired The Menace and the film itself is the constraints of the producer. Being unable to use pyrotechnics and lack of access to professional stunt rigging/equipment meant that all of the action for the film had to be done in-camera and with amateurs. This steps away from the crisp and visual effects-heavy action sequences that have permeated Hollywood and returns to a much rawer and grittier aesthetic. By leaning into this The Menace challenges genre norms and interprets action sequences in a much more down to earth manner, adding both a sense of danger for all parties involved and a rougher visual, which is a real fight is more realistic, something that will inevitably draw the audience further into the piece. An easy example of this is the slip on the ground in the end of the second trailer, where the hero slips as they run from police sirens. That fall feels more grounded because there is nothing supernatural or otherworldly about the stunt, and there are no distracting visual effects to make you question the reality of what happened on set. It’s raw and real, something that most modern action films lose because of their sheer budget and size. 

This detraction is something that the target audience of the piece has been extremely vocal about. Most males from teenagers all the way up through men in their 40s consume action and superhero flicks, with the suspense/thriller subgenre attracting a few more intelligent viewers into the audience, similar to what was seen when the public realized that The Riddler’s ciphers in the latest DC film were solvable clues. This target audience is volatile and difficult to please, with minor details such as the green vial in The Batman being blown up on social media for being unrealistic and terribly conceived. This issue of criticism is a double-edged sword. The raw and complete in-camera action approach is one way to reduce this type of outrage over small details, but the outrage can also prove to be useful. The fact that this wide range of males in the audience enjoy chatting to one another about the issues they found in a piece lends itself to this project’s favor. Since this is a small production running on a limited budget, any conversation about the film that promotes the active searching of its content is publicity that is needed.

The other genre norm that is being broken comes with the casting. Although superhero films in the greater Marvel and DC universes are becoming more inclusive, most films still center around a troubled white male whose problems are primarily first world or extremely overarching, like Superman’s alter ego conflict. Although it doesn’t appear as a major source of conflict in the trailer, both my villain and my hero are of Latin American descent. Instead of playing them as stereotypes or as just crazy individuals(see Tuco Salamanca in Breaking Bad), they’re both treated as normal characters, who are simply present on screen. This choice was made to just naturally include the representation, without needing to call onto vast culture or delve extremely deeply into the nuances of the situation. Simply having them in these roles and as leaders should set a standard. The other reason this representation issue isn’t elaborated on in the promotional material is due to the target audience, who for the most part doesn’t care about who plays the hero because the audience is invested in the action. 

The final note is in regards to the branding of the piece. Given that there was a limited window to work on this project(most of which was relegated to the research and planning), The Menace didn’t have an opportunity to fully develop its brand with the audience. However, there were a few things done that would continue if the project were beyond the scope that it currently is. The first is the ciphers. Riddles and clues that indicate where the promotional events are happening or in this small window of time informing the audience they were getting not one by two trailers for the film are subtle ways to keep engagement, with the ciphers helping to match the dark and puzzling nature of the project. If more time was to be devoted to social media and brand growth there would be further developments of this dark color/lighting scheme, more quotes from characters as trailers and teasers continued to drop with new voice lines, and more ciphers for the audience to solve. 

Overall The Menace is a project that comes together to form a spectacle of thought, with action to appease the mindless and subtle nuance that hints at greater conflict in the story and the world. Whether or not that second level is picked up relies solely on the audience and the brand as it continues to develop further.