W. TRENT WELSTEAD

A distressed, young woman seeks comfort in a mysterious admirer, unaware of what will soon transpire.  

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We created Menace as a personal project towards the end of the Spring 2017 semester, in the interest of producing one final short film with members of our Fiction Cinema Production class, before everyone parted ways, Amidst several other projects and commitments between our collective schedules, including Essence (2017) and Spark (2017), it was enjoyable work for everyone involved. Nevertheless, a tumultuous, rapidly accelerated pre-production inevitably affected the final product, for better or worse. At several points, for a variety of reasons, this film was less than a stone's throw away from not happening altogether. Who really wants to produce three short, narrative films within 8 weeks anyway, alongside school and part-time work? Well—I suppose I did. Therefore, I remain incredibly grateful to my peers and classmates who generously devoted their time and talent towards this project, especially throughout the busiest time of the semester. 

Menace was shot across six hectic evenings between April 19th and May 4th but edited sporadically throughout the summer. The production was practically self-funded on a budget of roughly $100, utilizing most of my own personal equipment and props. In regards to location, Menace was filmed primarily in neighboring areas of Virginia Tech, while the opening scene takes place on-campus. The story was inspired by my interests in exploring the toxicity and perplexity of human behavior, and the various ways such notions manifest within young adult relationships. Can we accurately assess the character(s) of those we encounter?