Deconstruction of Opening Titles - Louise Hyam

Deconstruction of Opening Titles - American Horror Story Asylum:

 The opening credits of American Horror Story Asylum, starts off with a spooky dark atmosphere of a room that isn't very well looked after and this is a different way to start opening credits as it sets of the horror atmosphere.

 After the room is shown the woman above is shown and she is shown covered in  blood and we are unaware of what has happened to her so this also adds to the horror atmosphere as the lighting in the room is very dark and we are unable to see what is around her and why she is like that.

 There is a close up shot of these eyes and also it is a high angle shot so it makes this person seem vulnerable and the eyes make it look like there is something wrong with the person and that they are in trouble.

There is another close up shot of an eye but this time the eye is shown with a bandage which suggests that something may have happened in that time or that the persons eye or area surrounding the eye is injured but the audience don't know what as happened so it makes the audience very unaware of what is going on.

Next in the opening titles the names start to appear and this is the first name that is presented in the opening titles. The colours used show a contrast and helps make the name stand out as the name is presented in orange and the background is black so this makes the typography stand out. Also the typography used here is unusual because the H is different to most fonts as it is double lined instead of a singular line. Also the letter O is presented at the same level as the typography as a part of the name with two dots underneath which is also unusual and isn't usually shown in typography. The colour orange used for the font also help to signify the horror genre throughout the opening titles.

In the opening titles after that name appears this also appears which is creepy because there is someone standing there but the audience are unsure of why the person is holding a cross and you can only see the outline of the character as the face doesn't show up and the person is presented in all black which also adds to the spookiness of what the person is holding as the audience don't know whether the cross is signifying something dangerous or if it is something to do with religion and the audience also don't know whether the character is dangerous or not as a person.

Next in the opening titles there is a long shot looking at someone. The long shot is useful and effective because all the audience can see is a figure of someone. This could suggest to the audience that later on in American Horror Story this person shown here could be of significance to them but they don't want to give it away to the audience in the opening credits.

 

Another name appears in the opening titles and the letter O is presented in the same way which also suggests that this could be symbolising something that could be a part of the American Horror Story later on.

Again here in the opening titles of American Horror story Asylum another figure is shown by using a long shot as the audience are unable to see anything else about this character or person as the lighting surrounding the person is so dark and then there is a light behind the person which creates a shadow like effect of them. This could foreshadow that in American Horror Story Asylum that this person is perhaps creepy and this is there way of setting it up in the opening titles as this way of presenting the character creates an unwarming sense on the audience as they can't see anything else about the character or person.

 

Lastly in the opening credits towards the last few seconds the name ''American Horror Story'' appears and then the name ''Asylum'' appears. This is effective because the audience get shown all of the other images for the opening titles and the title of the actual series is presented at the end so by showing the audience all those images and parts of American Horror Story Asylum it is going to draw the viewers attention in.