TRAP (2013) - My Short Film I did last year

[boriginal]

Trap by Brian Mendez explores religion and beliefs, the prison system, and consumerism. Through the depiction of three different yet interrelated character studies, the filmmaker challenges viewers to reflect on their own decision making process and how societal influences may dictate one’s own state of being, one’s own reality.

 

This short film was shot during my last semester of undergrad film school, tell me what ya think.

 

[andretti]

Didn't finish the first one but so far it's good

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

will watch later.

 

[boriginal]

will watch later.

Peace, let me know what you think when you watch it.

 

[boriginal]

This is theThe Unseen Version

 

[georgehimself]

Cool cinematography. It just didn't really "flow" for me. I can't really tell what's going on most of the time except for the black guy talking about crack. The whole scene with the spanish guys is confusing. I know you want the viewer "to reflect" but what are you trying to say? It seems like quality work, I just think the overall story just doesn't translate from your idea to the viewer. The short text intro you posted seems more thought out than the whole video. Keep doing your thing and I'd be happy to watch anything else you make.

 

[boriginal]

Cool cinematography. It just didn't really "flow" for me. I can't really tell what's going on most of the time except for the black guy talking about crack. The whole scene with the spanish guys is confusing. I know you want the viewer "to reflect" but what are you trying to say? It seems like quality work, I just think the overall story just doesn't translate from your idea to the viewer. The short text intro you posted seems more thought out than the whole video. Keep doing your thing and I'd be happy to watch anything else you make.

Peace, thanks my brother for watching and leaving a comment. The name of the film is TRAP. As you know the word Trap means several things, trapping (hustling illegal products to make profit), the trap (place where drugs are sold out off), and there is Trap, a situation that difficult or impossible to escape. The title Trap could mean all three of these things, but I'm only focusing on one in this film. I shot it fam because where I'm from (and it might be the same thing where you from fam), (urban america) most my brothers and sisters are literally trapped into the system, and the more I was thinking about this never ending cycle the more I kept coming up with ideas to do a short for my final year of undergrad school. This stuff has been going on since the early 1980's across America, especially in inner cites and it's 2014 and it's worse than ever. Most of my brothers and sister fall victims to their surroundings and have been duped into believing that they operate according to their own will but in reality fam we are still being dominated by outside influence.  I did this film to show that, I was going to put subtitles on the film but then decided to go without them because it does not matter to me if the viewer does not understand what the dealers are saying since the viewer is not suppose to understand, unless the viewer knows spanish or is familiar with what's going, being that you can be a dealer that does not speak spanish and know what them guys is talking about because almost every dealer especially those who are at the bottom of the food chain selling directly to the customer talk about the same thing. My brothers are selling illegal substance trying to escape the Trap (the ****** up situation they been put in) and yet not knowing that they are Trapped, trapping into they get arrested or even killed trying to get in a better situation. Same goes for those guys who have a drug addiction (three of those guys in the film are homeless) and I think one is arrested at the moment which is sad being that he from my neighborhood and has been a heroin addict for over twenty years, in and out the jail system and he knows it's ****** up, trapped yet the irony of this is that he is also free, experiencing a life free of the ******** Amerika keep feeding us.

 

[trueprada]

havent watched yet but regardless

keep doing your thing famb

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Great message, some of the shots are really good.

Like my man said up there, the editing/cuts are kinda rough at times and really drawn out....it affects the flow of the piece.

Good work though bro, good foundation to build on. It seems stylistically you know what you want your piece to look like, I would just recommend really building on your editing and narrative....editing is everything man.

I also shoot shorts so I know how critical it is to receive sincere feedback, good luck to you .

 

[boriginal]

Great message, some of the shots are really good.

Like my man said up there, the editing/cuts are kinda rough at times and really drawn out....it affects the flow of the piece.

Good work though bro, good foundation to build on. It seems stylistically you know what you want your piece to look like, I would just recommend really building on your editing and narrative....editing is everything man.

I also shoot shorts so I know how critical it is to receive sincere feedback, good luck to you .

Peace, thanks for giving me your honest opinion bro, I appreciate it.