AS Thriller Evaluation - Raze Up

My first essay for Media...

An assessment of one of the previous years Thriller Video called 'Raze Up'.

                 Raze up is almost immediately recognisable as a thriller because of the first seconds of shot. We are shown a man wearing all black, which was used to show the villain in the thriller, watching riots on television. The tension is built as the camera zooms in on news headlines, the one of interest being 'Old man has been killed' and the viewer sees the concentration on the villains face and the interest in all the violence. This immediate interest in violence and destruction shows the viewer that something bad will happen, therefore enabling the viewer to see it is a thriller.

                 I thought the sound fitted well with the footage as there was rioting in the background which highlights the destruction going on around the main character. Whenever there was an important prop that needed to be noted by the viewer, the camera zoomed in to highlight the importance of the prop and give the viewer a hint of what might happen. This was very effective and succeeded in building the tension. I thougth the setting was very basic which worked well because it showed that the main character was a seemingly ordinary person. The lighting was dark throughout which helped to give the impression that something bad would happen.
                  I really liked the build up towards the end and the sudden burst of music as the car exploded and the villain walked slowly away. In my opinion the best shot was of the car exploding and the vandalist walking away as it showed the vandalists power and the extremities of the vandalist. I think it worked very well with the beat of the music. I would maybe put some low music, when the vandalist begins walking towards the car and gradually the rioting would get quieter as the music would get louder to really increase the tension.
By Alice Gamble.