FEEDBACK SAMPLE
"CHROMOPHOBIA"
The director of Chromophobia wanted to receive honest feedback and get a deeper understanding of how the viewers interpret his film.
You can watch the film below and read a sample of the feedback the filmmaker received below, or you can read the feedback in Excel.
FEEDBACK #2
Age - 27
Gender - Non-Binary
Profession - Film Production
Did you like the film?
Very much
Anything you'd like more of?
Honestly, I’d just like more time in this universe. This is such a rich concept, I’d love to see it expanded to either a full movie or a series.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly liked? (Please list and explain)
I really enjoyed the sequence of Arthur frantically drawing – the realization by Dr. Haver that he’s drawing his studio – and her subsequent trip to his house. I thought this was a really interesting sequence of scenes that was well shot, well acted, well written, and made me more intrigued in the story.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly disliked, or felt didn't work? (Please list and explain)
No, every scene of this short felt like a necessary contribution to the larger story.
Were there any moments you felt annoyed or frustrated by the movie? (Please list and explain)
No, I wouldn’t say I was frustrated at all during this short. The characters all acted rationally and believably, which for me is the biggest cause of frustration in film.
Were you confused at any given time? (Please list and explain)
While I wasn’t confused, I think this film could benefit from a bit more time up front establishing its central characters. We’re thrown into the psychiatric hospital and it’s somewhat disorienting trying to get a sense of who our main character will be initially. If this is going to be expanded, I think a bit more time to establish the hospital & Dr. Haver as a person would go a long way.
If this film was going to be expanded into a feature film, what part of the story would interest you to see expanded most? Please explain why.
First of all I would definitely see this film if it were expanded into a feature. Horror is my favorite genre, and this kind of psychological horror I find particularly compelling. The relationship between Dr. Haver & Arthur, I think, would be something to expand. It reminds me a bit of the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter in the series Hannibal. And I suppose to a lesser extent Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi. If this were a feature, I could see a really intriguing cat-and-mouse game developing between these two.
How would you explain Arthur's character?
Arthur is a very interesting character. When we meet him, he seems like just another psych patient, albeit one with tremendous artistic abilities. It seems as though Arthur can see things/has visions and then draws them over and over again to perfection. However, these drawings aren’t completely random, and end up manifesting in the real world – from the prior patient’s strange looking suicide, to the reveal at the end with Dr. Haver. I would really like to know more about Arthur’s character if this does end up getting expanded – whether he has some control over these visions, whether or not he LIKES some of their more horrifying elements, etc.
How would you explain Arthur's powers and what part of his power would you like to see more of?
Arthur seems to have the power to see things in his head, whether or not those things have already happened, and then draw them to perfection. He was able to draw Dr. Haver’s previous patients’ suicide from his home studio, and able to draw Dr. Haver in said studio from the hospital. In terms of seeing more of this power – I guess I would like some expansion into the “chromophobia” of it all. Is he really afraid of color? Or does he not want to make blood/death manifest? Furthermore, what about other colors?
What do you think is happening with Dr. Haver's character?
I feel like Dr. Haver’s character, particularly after the sudden death of one of her patients, is spiraling a bit. She’s trying to regain control of her life by throwing herself into her work and a new patient in Arthur, but he proves to be much more confusing than anything she has dealt with before. It seems as though, being surrounded by mental unrest for as long as she has, Dr. Haver finds herself struggling with mental health as well.
If Arthur's character were a figment of Dr. Haver's psyche and Dr. Haver was actually a patient — would you find this to be a predictable story twist?
Honestly, yeah, a little. The two-characters-end-up-being-the-same-person trope is somewhat overused in my opinion. I would much prefer to develop this complex relationship between Dr. and patient rather than undercut it by saying it was all in her head. These kinds of twists just beg for holes to be poked in
the plot of your story, and the plot of your story is already compelling enough.
Is there a direction the story might go that you would suggest would be very unexpected?
When watching, I really didn’t expect to lean anything about Dr. Haver’s past. That shot in particular of her discovering her mother’s body was pretty shocking, and if this were developed into a feature, having the story of her mother somehow connect with this present day story would be very interesting.
Any other comments or feelings about the film?
Overall, I really enjoyed this short. The relationship between the two leads makes for a great story, the cinematography and direction are fantastic – this movie looks gorgeous, the music choices fit in nicely, and really the whole thing leaves you wanting more.