Monster Energy’s ‘Finding Monsters’ Social Short Film Highlights Unshakable Pull Of Soul-Defining Dreams

Monster Energy launched an athlete endorser led short film in April called ‘Finding Monsters’ which sets out to ‘capture the unshakable pull of soul-defining dreams’ and to demonstrate that no obstacle is insurmountable once a big dream takes hold.

Monster Energy, an active extreme sports sponsor, created a film which features the dreams and aspirations which motivated brand ambassadors Lizzie Armanto (skateboarding), Taka Higashino (motocross) and Clayton Vila (freeski) when they were young and retells their stories with intimate portraits of kids’ faces juxtaposed with archive action footage and shots of their families.

Initially posted on the energy drink’s YouTube channel on 8 April, the film follows the three athletes as seven-year-old kids who, whilst growing up on different sides of the world, shared an infatuated with action sports.

Each faces a different set of challenges which stand between them and their dreams of achieving world class athlete status.

For example, Higashino is from Osaka in Japan where the sport of motorcross has almost no following to speak of, while Armanto was brought up in a society which considered girls in skateparks as little more than ‘cute’.

The film includes the tag line: “Monsters are hiding everywhere. Help us find them.”

The film, which has the look and feel of a contemporary indie film, was directed by X-Games medalist-turned-director Clayton Vila himself via the Brooklyn and Los Angeles-based Greenpoint Pictures and it was executive produced by Josh Bishop.

The idea behind the film emerged after conversations between former skier and Monster Energy endorser Vila and his own mother about how she handled his innate daredevil nature when he was young. This led him to wonder whether other athletes on Monster Energy’s roster grew up in similar environments which weren’t particularly conducive to their ambitions.

“I hope the film inspires anyone who is in the difficult situation of raising a talented little daredevil to let them give it a shot,” says Vila. “These days, with companies like Monster out there looking for the next big thing the odds are more in a kid’s favour than ever before.”