Deconstruction: American Horror Story Opening Titles

Opening Titles Deconstruction: American Horror Story 

I deconstructed the mise-en scene used in the opening titles of American Horror Story: Murder House, the first series of the programme.

Lair: 

• The lair is dark and cluttered which gives it a claustrophobic feel, conforming to the common horror film convention as it makes the audience feel uneasy and creates tension. 
• The walls are whitewashed and all of the furniture is either white or light wood which contrasts to the dark lighting, allowing only a little of the lair being shown, again creating tension. 
• The floor is never seen, apart from that near the hole within the first 5 seconds. The hole looks as though it has been dug through, creating enigma of why there is a hole and how it occurred. The floor boards are covered with dust and look out of place.

Desks:

• The desks are cluttered with test tubes full of various preserved bodies. The most obvious two are pigs and foetuses. This keeps the audience intrigued and uncomfortable - the main focus of the opening titles for the programme.
• The desks are dusty but look used as the room is lit with on orange light, much like that of a desk lamp.
• The test tubes and jars are slightly lit but they do not show the body leaving some suspense and the unknown helps build tension.

Photos:

• The photos are either black and white or sepia. They are all of children around the age of 5 in dresses and clothes of an older time period. 
• The photos are slightly blurred and they are filmed at a slight angle to make the audience uneasy.
• During the ending of the opening titles the photos are on fire, and are filmed at a close up angle. This is used to progress the opening titles and the fire is repeated throughout the clips of the jars.

Evaluation:

• I like the use of the fire at the end of the sequence, the effect made by this is effective and it increases the tension and suspense within the film opening. We could use this in our film opening as we have wooden sculptures.
• I think the use of preserved foetuses would look good in our film opening but it would ruin the story that we have lined up already, so it would decrease the cinematic effect and make our film opening less fluent.
• We do not have a lair in our film opening so we cannot use the cluttered, dusty effect.