Trap (2013) - my short film i did last year

[B.Mendez]

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.

If you like the version on top, watch this, the unseen version.

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

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I'm not sure if your film lives up to the concept that you've pitched, it's a very indie film in the way it's shot and played out but that doesn't necessarily make it a good film, an interesting film maybe but something that felt a little unfocused it came off a bit like you happened to film these people one day and then cut together the highlights into a sort of pseudo documentary. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for but I think maybe your explorations happened on the page as you wrote it rather than the screen when you filmed it.
Maybe the character's just mumbled too much and I couldn't really make out everything they said and there was un-subtitled foreign language stuff which I couldn't follow, it's all real but it doesn't really help the audience.
I feel like I'm saying your film is really crappy and it isn't I just think it could use the help of a bit of structure.

 

[B.Mendez]

Peace, thanks Craig W. Bickerstaff for you honest review, I really appreciate it, I need more criticism to improve my craft, I hope more people on this forum will give me their honest opinion on what they think of the film and I hope you get a chance to read this. The inspiration of this film came from several Italian neorealism films and in no shape nor form did we cut together the highlights of what we shot. Everything was by design, if you watch both you will see exactly what I'm talking about. The name of the film is TRAP. The word Trap means several things Craig, trapping is hustling illegal products to make profit, the trap is also a 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 while the viewers could easily think I'm talking about the other two. I shot this piece because where I'm from, most my brothers and sisters are literally trapped into this system, and this system is a never ending cycle that's been going on since the early 1980's across America, especially in inner cites. Most of my brothers and sisters where I'm from (urban Amerika) fall victims to their surroundings and have been duped into believing that they operate according to their own will but in reality we are still being dominated by outside influence. I did this film to show that, I was going to put subtitles but then decided to go without them because I don't care if the viewer does not understand what the dealers are saying since the viewer is not suppose to understand, unless the viewer 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. The same goes for those guys who are being recorded, who have a drug addiction problem and to make matter worse, three out of the four are homeless and one is in jail at the moment, they are also trapped, yet at the same time are experiencing a life that some will say they are living better than most Americans, free of the bullshit Amerika keep feeding us while someone say they are not living at all just letting their life go to waste. The film has no structure Craig, you are right, someone earlier told me that a story (structure) follows an arc of introduction, conflict and resolution. She then went on tell me that I have the intro/set up, there's some sort of conflict when he's buying the dope and then we have nothing, she also right, and I'm going to tell you what I told her. There is no resolution to the story as the problem is a never ending problem that still continues even after I finish typing this. This is real life, this is going outside my surroundings every single day and I'm 25 years old and as far as I can remember this has been going on, one of the guys who acts in the film is from neighborhood and has been a heroin addict for over twenty years and I been seeing him in and out the jail system as far as I can remember. Of course those are fake drugs use in the film but it doesn't take away from it because the people acting in the film really use drugs, when they buy the drugs, life continues on, they are still homeless and will continue to use the drugs, and the dealers not those since (they are actors), will still continue to get money, selling illegal substance trying to escape the Trap (the fucked 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. The story has no resolution as the problem is a never ending problem.

 

[sander kamp]

You have interesting things to say but you need to use the language of film in order to communicate your message. If this was all scripted (and you say it is) then you're doing a good job of making it look natural. But you need to use close-ups, medium shots, cut-ins, cut-aways, music to keep people watching. Your sound recording and editing needs to be good enough not to be distracting and to hear what people say.

 

[B.Mendez]

You have interesting things to say but you need to use the language of film in order to communicate your message. If this was all scripted (and you say it is) then you're doing a good job of making it look natural. But you need to use close-ups, medium shots, cut-ins, cut-aways, music to keep people watching. Your sound recording and editing needs to be good enough not to be distracting and to hear what people say.

Peace, wasn't going to respond to this, but if you don't mind me asking what country you from? Keep in mind this was shot (both) with about $130 dollars, but as a filmmaker I made choices not to use close-ups, cut-ins and cut-aways, you don't need that in order to communicate a message, especially when shooting without a big budget on location with no permit. I choose to shoot it in long takes, as the director of this film I wanted to make it look natural but at the same time I ain't want to let the viewer all the way in, into this world, you the viewer is an outsider looking in and that's why I shot at a distance, I don't want you to see those men faces nor hands in close up shots. Last not least my brother if you study film from the 1900's to the present moment, you will know that it not always necessary to use those things such as close-ups, medium shots, cut-ins, cut-aways to tell a story, people of this generation have been accustomed through blockbuster Hollywood films to think that needed in order to tell a story on the screen. If you get a chance, put the film on silent and tell me do you get a story, I'm 100% sure you will.