American

Horror Story
Title Sequence Analysis

Shot Types and Camera

Angles

The sequence uses a lot of point of view

shots as if you are looking through the
door of a hotel room, this relates to the
hotel concept of the series as well as
intimidating the viewer with what can be
seen within these shots. This shot type
allows the viewer to feel more involved in
the sequence as if they were actually
there, which contributes to the fear factor.
The sequence makes frequent use of
long shots down hallways and corridors
which make the viewer feel more
uncomfortable as the shot type is used
so often in other horrors as a jump scare
(e.g. a ghost walking past at the end of a
long corridor).

Lighting

The lighting is very dark, which is

expected of the horror genre and can
often contribute to intimidating the
viewer. Most people fear what they
cannot see, which is why a lot of people
are afraid of the dark and having such
dark lighting brings out this fear in the
viewer. It also makes whatever is in the
frame at that current moment seem a lot
more ominous than it would in broad
daylight e.g. a ghostly girl stood in a dark
room compared to a ghostly girl stood in
the middle of a sunny park.

Mise en Scne &

Typography
The typography is very reminiscent of an
American-style motel that you would
typically see in a lot of horror films,
having this typography adds a sinister
tone to the hotel that part o this series
takes place in. Instead of a warm, caring
hotel the image the viewer is given a
dark and sinister theme surrounding the
setting and its characters.
The sequence often takes objects or
types of people associated with
happiness or innocence and then
reverses this tone on screen. One
example would be the wedding dress
which is stained with blood and worn by a
pale, sinister looking woman.
The sequence often uses children in
ominous and creepy ways, which is a
common convention of the horror genre
and is another example of innocent
imagery being reversed.

Editing

There is a fast pace to the editing and a

lot of jump cuts are used to disorientate
the viewer. A lot of the time it will be hard
for the viewer to actually see what is
happening on screen, which relates back
to the idea of people fearing what they
cannot see.
This fast pace also helps to emphasise
the hectic nature of the sequence, the
length of shots usually shortens when a
character that looks mentally unstable is
introduced, this contributes to the viewer
determining that this character is insane
as well as dangerously unpredictable.
Most shots of something creepy will
often be followed by the door point of
view shot to give the impression that all
this is happening in one building.

Sound

The soundtrack used in the sequence

was created specifically for the series
and consists of a very eerie rhythm that
is constantly broken up by sound effects
of either children laughing/screaming or
of in one instance a sound effect that
built tension for the final series of shots
to be used in the closing of the
sequence. The instruments used in the
soundtrack are mainly violins that
occasionally go out of tune or rise/fall in
volume adding to the instability of the
sequence as a whole.

Summary

Overall I felt the title sequence was fairly

interesting to watch but could have
definitely been better.

The most effective part of the sequence

was the use of the point of view shots as
they made the sequence slightly unique
as well as slightly more intimidating

It is obvious that the sequence is for the

horror genre although it wasnt that
intimidating to watch and occasionally
got quite dull.