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 #4
Age - 24
Gender - Female
Profession - Lab Technician
Did you like the film?
Very much
Anything you'd like more of?
There was really no element missing from any of this film. It was spectacularly done.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly liked? (Please list and explain)
There was really no one scene that stood out to me as meaningful and captivating because every scene was so full of detail and accuracy and felt important that it held that vibe the whole film. If I had to pick one, it would be the moment of her standing in front of the mirror, looking through the pictures and finding out that her previous patient’s death was foretold through his drawings. It draws the viewer back to the scene with the faint outline of someone standing in front of the mirror, and realization hits – so well done.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly disliked, or felt didn't work? (Please list and explain)
The fade away works really well for the few scenes it was done on in this film except for at 2:33 when it fades from Jennifer saying ” You know you’re safe here.” It feels out of place and not in the same flow as the film is up to that point, and at a very stable moment it doesn’t work particularly well. A sharp cut might make it flow more easily especially with the panning of the camera in the next scene to Arthur being handed the charcoal and paper.
Were there any moments you felt annoyed or frustrated by the movie? (Please list and explain)
There weren’t. The film does an excellent job of painting every detail as important and reflecting that throughout the plot. There was a clear idea of what was going on, the relevance of everything that was spoken, and no confusion between scenes. I really can’t express enough the excellence of this short film.
Were you confused at any given time? (Please list and explain)
No, the piece adapted itself very well to molding to it’s role of telling the story. If I only had one question throughout the entire film, it was “what was Arthur’s connection to Jennifer and Wiltkins that made him an interlocking piece in their fates?” but that can be answered merely by the coincidence of life and whether or not it’s predestined at all – it doesn’t even have to be explained in the story to fit it perfectly, and that is what’s important.
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.
I touched upon this previously, but establishing a motive for Arthur to be heinous in his work would be something that would be interesting to see. That, and Jennifer establish a bit more of a personal relationship to Arthur – that’s done well in the short film already but because of the time constraints, a full on evolution of their interactions and connections could be elaborated on for sure.
How would you explain Arthur's character?
When you first see Arthur, he is convoluted in a wheelchair with bandages on his wrists. The next time you see him, he’s sitting up on a bed, farthest from Jennifer, nonverbal and shifty-eyed. As the film progresses and he draws more and more, showing Jennifer in the mirror and asking her to get his colors, you wonder if he was acting the entire time. He makes the comment “I’m always in my studio”, but you wonder, is it keeping him trapped in his foreshadowing or does he embrace this nature of himself? His slow deep menacing chuckle at the end forces your thoughts to be of the latter, even though the entire film you were convinced he needed your empathy as he was trapped in this vicious cycle. To answer this question, Arthur’s character is blatantly the victim of circumstance and very deviously the enemy in this short film. He confronts you with this sorrow of his curse and slyly hands you the realization that he enjoys its warmth. Arthur is a very well written character, necessarily complicated and unnerving.
How would you explain Arthur's powers and what part of his power would you like to see more of?
Arthur brings forth what’s foretold in snippets. He uses this “fear of color” as a draw for Jennifer, ultimately sealing her fate the minute she asks about it. His power is the art of death, and what is going to take place in the near future. A slow simmer, because it also shows the passing of time without anything happening which makes the viewer more alarmed that it’s all scenes in the future when you finally see the scene in the stack of pictures change. I personally think that just enough of Arthur’s power is shown in the film where it creates a really good dynamic between mysterious and telling, but if it were to be expanded length-wise, there should be more happening with his chromophobia plot dialogue – what about his blood draws death into the present? What about the blood’s contact with his drawings brings forth fate? Is it really a curse that he’s embraced, or perhaps darker and more welcomed then that? Do his drawings always have meaning, and have they always?
What do you think is happening with Dr. Haver's character?
Starting with the death of a patient that obviously meant a lot of time and effort on her behalf was an incredible way of beginning the film because it draws cause to Haver’s unsteadiness in dealing with Arthur as a case. Her confidence is already wavering from the start – she’s unsure of her abilities and that shakiness is reflected on Arthur’s treatment. That spiral unfolds her nefariously but subtly until the end when she accepts her fate gazing upon the final charcoal piece. She’s exasperated, determined, and desperate between watching him draw the same thing over and over, his fear of color, his unresponsiveness to medicinal help, et cetera. She’s a victim from the start, and it’s fascinating to watch her stumble with every step towards her fate.
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?
Predictable in the sense that I’ve seen it a dozen times in feature films, yes. Predictable in this story, however, I would disagree with – and I would find it to be a bit of a disappointment. It doesn’t match the story dynamic at all, in my opinion. The story represents desperation and power struggle between two people, or at least that’s the vibe I got in watching it. To paint Jennifer as the villain and victim of herself the whole time would be more of an added plot line rather then an end to an original plot.
Is there a direction the story might go that you would suggest would be very unexpected?
The story itself, while it becomes a realization of the viewer of where it might go, is unexpected in itself. I did not expect the death of the first patient to be foretold so that was a surprise for both me and the protagonist. Her own death being foretold was also a bit of surprise, although admittedly not as much once I saw Wiltkins’s death foretold in the drawing. It would be a bit of a shock to realize there was more of a connection between the two characters – perhaps the house with Arthur’s studio is her childhood home where her mother met her fate, or something along those lines.
Any other comments or feelings about the film?
I consider myself a bit of a snob when it comes to inconsistencies in films – a character drinking some water in one shot and the glass being full again in the next shot, as an example. This film’s attention to detail had me amazed, honestly. From the bandages on Arthur’s wrists being removed after awhile to show the passage of time, to the different hairstyles of Jennifer to show different days, was really incredible. Consistency from one shot to the next was on point. The camera work of course was really fantastic, but consistency in film is such a small thing that is overlooked often that when done correctly adds superiority and professionalism to a film, and it was done exactly right here. Well done.