FEEDBACK SAMPLE
"The Twickenham Murders"
The director of The Twickenham Murders wanted to receive honest feedback for his independent short 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 #10
Age - 33
Gender - Female
Profession - Actor
Did you like the film?
Very Much
Anything you'd like more of?
I would have liked to have seen more creative transitions between scenes than there already were. I was very impressed by transitions such as panning into the lake and fading out (00:02:30), the notebook slamming down on the date and time text (00:03:43), and the house shot with the day to night transition (00:04:10). A lot of these transitions really made the film feel like it had high production value and gave the film a lot of style, which made the film a pleasure to watch. I really liked the creativity of them. These more stylish transitions also made the fades and cuts stand feel a little flat, although they served their purpose pretty much every time.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly liked? (Please list and explain)
The scene I liked the most was when Oliver turn off dryer making noise. I felt very tense from the moment Oliver heard the dryer making noise and went down to investigate. From how the camera followed Oliver to the reveal of the intruder was done very well and was full of suspense for me. I really liked the hallway sequence when Oliver actually opens and closes the dryer because it looked like it was all done in one-take with great angles to see everything clearly.
I also enjoyed the moment where Clyde’s talks about his new shoes and there is a close-up of the shoes themselves, which look obviously worn out. This moment really did throw me off and made me think that Clyde was the murderer for sure, and I thought the cut was perfect and the shot lingered enough to make you question what was going on.
The reveal at the end of the piece of Oliver’s shirt shown as being removed was also really well done, and it worked for me.
Were there any moments/scenes you particularly disliked, or felt didn't work? (Please list and explain)
All of the scenes worked for me, but there is one moment that stands out to me as one that may have worked the last, the entertainment news segment about the snake eating its own body that happens on the final day before Oliver breaks in to Clyde’s house. I thought that this news segment was so entertaining that it was the only thing that I focused on. I tuned out of what was happening on-screen and missed that Oliver left his house and was casing Clyde’s house.
I like that the news segment was light because it gave me time to breathe after and before some suspenseful scenes, but it felt like it was too light and did not fit in. Some options that may have worked better for me would be playing a more mundane story on the news or fading the news audio out sooner or faster. This is a very nit-picky criticism, and I think the scene overall worked well for me.
Were there any moments you felt annoyed or frustrated by the movie? (Please list and explain)
I was pleasantly engaged for the whole movie, but in some scenes, like the short chase sequence, the camera moved so much that I felt a little motion sick. The scene still felt very tense for me because of the movement, but the severity of the shaking pulled me out of my immersion.
Were you confused at any given time? (Please list and explain)
I was not confused at any time because I think the story was well told, revealing information as necessary as the plot developed. Obviously in the beginning, there are a lot of unanswered questions, but I think it is all tied up nicely at the end.
How would you rate the following elements? (1 to 5)
Please explain your rating.
The Beginning
5/5
Reason
I really liked the beginning because the way everything was set up worked for me. Information was given in short succinct bursts, like with the radio news stories, Oliver’s internal dialogue at the beginning, Oliver visiting Twickenham Park and finding a piece of a shirt, and the conversations with Clyde, particularly about the shoes. The beginning was packed with a lot of information, and you really had to pay attention, but I think the information was doled out in small enough chunks that everything was understandable.
Oliver taking pills at the beginning was also something that I thought was introduced very well. It raised a bunch of questions for me as to why Oliver was taking these pills and kept me engaged, and I didn’t realize the significance of this scene until the end and the second scene with Oliver throwing the pills away.
The Ending
5/5
Reason
I really liked the ending because of the twist at the end that Oliver was the killer and that both Clyde and Oliver were investigating Oliver. I thought this was really clever, and the ending would not have worked without all the piecemeal information that was being given to the viewer throughout the whole movie. I really liked how parts that happened at the beginning of the film (like the missing piece of shirt and the shoe conversation) were brought back at the end. I also appreciated how there were references to past moments (like the shoe conversation flashback and the photo of Oliver taken from the playground), so I didn’t have to strain to piece things together right in that moment. And then I also appreciated the shot at the very end showing Oliver’s torn shirt, which gave me that great a-ha moment for myself. The film ended at the perfect moment by not showing Oliver get arrested or anything like that, and things felt complete and resolved.
The Music
5/5
Reason
For the most part, the music was complementary to what was happening on-screen and not distracting at all. In particular, I liked the operatic music that plays during the scene Oliver is in his room trying to piece together the evidence he had. It felt like Oliver was making real progress, and coupled with showing the computer screen and Oliver closely examining objects, it made this scene feel really important to Oliver’s character and the events of the story.
I thought the music at the end when Oliver is in Clyde’s house was the most standout use of music for me in this film. The music paired so well with what was happening on-screen that it felt like a very well-produced crime TV show or movie. The revelations that Oliver and I were making lined up perfectly with the swells and crescendos in the music. The track felt custom made for that scene. Very well done.
The Pace
5/5
Reason
I thought the pacing of this film was great. For me, the film starts off in an interesting way and slowly starts ramping up as the film goes on. There weren’t any strange or off-putting lulls in the film for me as every scene was jam packed with information and suspense. I really enjoy films that do not take a long time to get going, and the pay-off at the end lived up to the tension I was feeling the whole time.
The Story
5/5
Reason
I really enjoyed the story, mostly because of how the mystery developed as the story went on. The way pieces like the torn shirt, the pills, Clyde’s suspicious behavior, the intrusion (which I didn’t know whether it was real or not), and the framing of the murders from the news stories made me question everything that was happening, while being very intrigued by what was going to happen or what was going to be revealed next. As I mentioned before, I think the way this information was spread out and teased was well done.
Also I could be wrong about this, but twist at the end of Oliver being the killer was great and unexpected for me. For most of the movie, I really thought that Clyde was the killer, and even at the end, I suspected that Clyde was possibly framing Oliver and trapped him. However, after thinking about the ending for a bit, I want to say that Oliver is the killer, specifically because of the inclusion of the pill scenes and the implication that Clyde is dead. This ambiguity really elevates the story for me, and the fact that I was guessing until the very end (where an answer is given) is great storytelling to me.
The Drama
4/5
Reason
I thought the drama in the film was done well. There was tension throughout the entire film but from various sources like the actual events in the plot and Oliver’s individual scenes where he’s thinking or figuring things out. What stood out to me the most were the interactions between Oliver and Clyde. I thought these were very suspenseful and dramatic because of their brevity and the information that each character was conveying. To me, Clyde was skirting around what his true motives were with his line of questioning, and at the same time, Oliver was trying to figure out what Clyde was thinking while trying to hide his own intentions. The scenes between the two felt tense and like a game of chess where one was trying to trap the other. So, I really enjoyed these scenes, especially when I re-watched them, and thought they added a lot to the drama of the film.
The Characters
3/5
Reason
I liked the characters of Oliver and Clyde because of how they played off of each other. With the runtime of the film, there didn’t seem to be much time for very in-depth characterization, but I think what was shown was enough to tell us about how the two characters felt about the murders and the events. I could tell Oliver was a very determined young man who would stop at nothing to solve the case, even when the news mentioned that the case had been solved. Clyde was a suspicious neighbor who doubted the dominant narrative that the deaths were suicides and was chummy at first but quickly started doubting Oliver’s character. My favorite part about the characters is how the roles were reversed by the end of the film, but it still made sense. Clyde’s suspicious behavior turned out to be good intentions, and Oliver’s manic behavior turned out to be more violent and destructive than we initially thought. I thought these two were great characters.
Any other comments or feelings about the film?
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film, and I look forward to seeing more work from this director and crew. I think they have a lot of potential.