Opening Credits American Horror Story Asylum
Genre
The genre for this series of American Horror story is sci fi/possession horror. This is because it includes the patients of the asylum being subjected to influences such as demonic possession and extra terrestrial abduction, conforming to common conventions of this genre of things such as extra terrestrial activity, crazy/mentally disturbed characters and at least one person getting possessed.
Mise-En-Scene
The very first shot is of a woman screaming. This is chilling as it is the first thing the audience sees and it looks like she is screaming at something, making the audience wonder what she could be screaming at. She could also come across as mentally disturbed, which conforms to common conventions of the genre.
The next shot is a fast shot of a brick wall, as if the camera is moving away from the first location to a new one, and then switches to what looks like a room with a barred window and a wet, dirty floor, with 4 bathtubs with sheets over them. This is very sinister and unsettling, as it is unclear what these would need to be used for in an asylum.
There is then a fast, moving shot of a woman in one of these tubs. She is sitting up straight and looks haunted, which conforms to the conventions of the genre of someone being possessed. The fact most of the shots are moving as well keep the audience on edge and as if they are never quite 'comfortable'.
Next there is a flash again of a brick wall signifying how we are still moving and exploring the asylum, followed by a split second flash of a window with a silhouette of a head, then another flash of the brick wall followed by another split second shot of the same window with no silhouette. This is disconcerting for the audience as the character who was clearly just appearing to be watching in the window has quickly disappeared, causing tension to build for the audience. Also by having these split second shots broken up by fast moving shots of the wall causes unease for the audience as it seems they are being taken round the whole of the disturbing asylum whether they like it or not.
After yet another fast moving shot of the brick wall, there is a shot of a keyhole followed by a disturbing close up image of a girl who looks possessed, with blood coming out of her nose. This conforms to the genre as it shows elements of possession and horror, as the image is a flash but grabs your attention. The keyhole could also suggest spying on people, like looking behind the closed doors of the asylum to what really happens to the patients. This pulls the audience in to spying on them, which could be uncomfortable and not something they want to do, but are forced to do.
The next shot is of what seems to be a young girl standing on the stairs. The low angle allows all of the stairs to be shown, and also makes the girl seem dominating which conforms to common conventions of the genre as the possessed characters are usually dominant and powerful, but subverts the idea of little girls being vulnerable and weak.
Then it switches to a tracking POV shot of what seems to be two dead bodies being rolled in a cart. This builds tension for the audience as something is clearly happening which shouldn't be but the audience don't know what it is. The canted angle used also shows that something is wrong but the audience aren't quite sure what. There is a dark silhouette figure in the background at the end of the corridor, which is sinister and foreboding.
This is followed by an extreme close up of someone's eye. Their head is wrapped up in bandages and their eyes are bleeding. This is an extremely sinister and horrifying image, and the way it is flashed for just long enough to see what is happening but not long enough to dwell on it creates a chilling atmosphere for the audience. This also conforms to the genre as disturbing things like this can happen to people who get possessed or abducted.
There is then a medium shot of a figure wearing a hat and holding something to his mouth. He is standing in front of a brick wall and the hat casts his face in shadow, making him seem mysterious and foreboding to the audience. This is followed by multiple long shots of a girl, and a man in a wheelchair in a room with the lights flicking on and off and switching from different positions, getting closer to and further away from the camera randomly and spinning around. Neither of the characters are highlighted and made clear, which again adds an element of mystery and seems sinister. This also conforms to the genre as it gives the impression of possession, and unable to control your actions as well as being a danger to other people.
The next shot is of someone looking through a hole in the door covered with crossed wires. It then flashes to a close up of their eyes. This gives the impression of entrapment, and being unable to escape. This creates tension for the audience, as the character give the impression they shouldn't be let out due to their mental instability, conforming to the genre.
There is then a shot of someone holding and pulling up a big red thing. This shot is blurry, which is mysterious and disturbing for the audience as its not made clear what it is but it looks creepy and disgusting. There is then an extreme close up flash of someone's mouth open, which the audience assume to be screaming through the same wires as before, adding to this creepy and uneasy feeling they have.
Next is a medium slightly low angle shot of silhouettes, a woman going to grab a man by the throat. This then switches to a close up of their faces with them holding hands. This adds to the idea that they are mentally unhinged, therefore conforming to the genre.
This is followed by four fast shots: the first one a close up of a woman laughing with an effect on it to make it look confusing and warped, indicating the patient's mentality. The second is a fast pan of a table with what looks like bloody bodies on it, adding to the creepy and sinister atmosphere. The third is a fast zoom in on a character though the wiring who is completely wrapped up in bandages, and the fourth is a trolley shot moving past a door with someone behind the wiring, who then runs up to it towards the camera and grabs it. These four fast paced shots make the audience jumpy, as each one is creepy and foreboding. This adds to the chilling atmosphere.
There are then some more close ups of patients through the wiring and of patients wrapped up in bandages, as well as short close ups of people pulling gloves off and walking down stairs fast with the camera constantly moving to keep the audience on edge. A medium shot of a white religious statue of what seems to be the Virgin Mary with indistinguishable shadows moving quickly across it is used to add a calm image for the audience to then be scared again by shots of someone struggling and being tied down with buckles and surrounded by doctors to seem like they're being operated on. This conforms to representations of possession, as they usually have to be tied down and 'operated' on.
There is then a lot of repeated images of nuns/religion to show possession and how religion can be used to try and get rid of 'demons', of patients being wrapped up in bandages, of silhouettes changing position, of bloody indistinguishable things being handled, of eyes, of stairs, of bodies being rolled down corridors and of patients fidgeting in bed and all these images get faster and more intense as it goes on until it reaches the end where the title is shown.
Sound
In the opening credits there is no diegetic sound expect for screaming underneath the music. The majority of the sound comes from the non-diegetic soundtrack, most of which has been made synthetically. They are crackling, buzzing, creaking sounds, which unexpectedly play and then stop which creates tension and a sense of not knowing what's next for the audience. The other constantly playing soundtrack uses a quiet and steadily paced guitar and drums, allowing the shots to be parallel to the music but still can focus on the disconcerting synthetic sounds., and whether they are going to unexpectedly play.
Typography
The typography used throughout the credits is consistent, glowing orange against a blank black screen. This puts the focus on the disturbing shots and images in the credits, rather than the text. A few of them have a ripping effect on them, but this is random and not on all of them. This adds mystery and adrenaline to the effect of them too.
Mise-En-Scene
The very first shot is of a woman screaming. This is chilling as it is the first thing the audience sees and it looks like she is screaming at something, making the audience wonder what she could be screaming at. She could also come across as mentally disturbed, which conforms to common conventions of the genre.
The next shot is a fast shot of a brick wall, as if the camera is moving away from the first location to a new one, and then switches to what looks like a room with a barred window and a wet, dirty floor, with 4 bathtubs with sheets over them. This is very sinister and unsettling, as it is unclear what these would need to be used for in an asylum.
There is then a fast, moving shot of a woman in one of these tubs. She is sitting up straight and looks haunted, which conforms to the conventions of the genre of someone being possessed. The fact most of the shots are moving as well keep the audience on edge and as if they are never quite 'comfortable'.
Next there is a flash again of a brick wall signifying how we are still moving and exploring the asylum, followed by a split second flash of a window with a silhouette of a head, then another flash of the brick wall followed by another split second shot of the same window with no silhouette. This is disconcerting for the audience as the character who was clearly just appearing to be watching in the window has quickly disappeared, causing tension to build for the audience. Also by having these split second shots broken up by fast moving shots of the wall causes unease for the audience as it seems they are being taken round the whole of the disturbing asylum whether they like it or not.
After yet another fast moving shot of the brick wall, there is a shot of a keyhole followed by a disturbing close up image of a girl who looks possessed, with blood coming out of her nose. This conforms to the genre as it shows elements of possession and horror, as the image is a flash but grabs your attention. The keyhole could also suggest spying on people, like looking behind the closed doors of the asylum to what really happens to the patients. This pulls the audience in to spying on them, which could be uncomfortable and not something they want to do, but are forced to do.
The next shot is of what seems to be a young girl standing on the stairs. The low angle allows all of the stairs to be shown, and also makes the girl seem dominating which conforms to common conventions of the genre as the possessed characters are usually dominant and powerful, but subverts the idea of little girls being vulnerable and weak.
Then it switches to a tracking POV shot of what seems to be two dead bodies being rolled in a cart. This builds tension for the audience as something is clearly happening which shouldn't be but the audience don't know what it is. The canted angle used also shows that something is wrong but the audience aren't quite sure what. There is a dark silhouette figure in the background at the end of the corridor, which is sinister and foreboding.
This is followed by an extreme close up of someone's eye. Their head is wrapped up in bandages and their eyes are bleeding. This is an extremely sinister and horrifying image, and the way it is flashed for just long enough to see what is happening but not long enough to dwell on it creates a chilling atmosphere for the audience. This also conforms to the genre as disturbing things like this can happen to people who get possessed or abducted.
There is then a medium shot of a figure wearing a hat and holding something to his mouth. He is standing in front of a brick wall and the hat casts his face in shadow, making him seem mysterious and foreboding to the audience. This is followed by multiple long shots of a girl, and a man in a wheelchair in a room with the lights flicking on and off and switching from different positions, getting closer to and further away from the camera randomly and spinning around. Neither of the characters are highlighted and made clear, which again adds an element of mystery and seems sinister. This also conforms to the genre as it gives the impression of possession, and unable to control your actions as well as being a danger to other people.
The next shot is of someone looking through a hole in the door covered with crossed wires. It then flashes to a close up of their eyes. This gives the impression of entrapment, and being unable to escape. This creates tension for the audience, as the character give the impression they shouldn't be let out due to their mental instability, conforming to the genre.
There is then a shot of someone holding and pulling up a big red thing. This shot is blurry, which is mysterious and disturbing for the audience as its not made clear what it is but it looks creepy and disgusting. There is then an extreme close up flash of someone's mouth open, which the audience assume to be screaming through the same wires as before, adding to this creepy and uneasy feeling they have.
Next is a medium slightly low angle shot of silhouettes, a woman going to grab a man by the throat. This then switches to a close up of their faces with them holding hands. This adds to the idea that they are mentally unhinged, therefore conforming to the genre.
This is followed by four fast shots: the first one a close up of a woman laughing with an effect on it to make it look confusing and warped, indicating the patient's mentality. The second is a fast pan of a table with what looks like bloody bodies on it, adding to the creepy and sinister atmosphere. The third is a fast zoom in on a character though the wiring who is completely wrapped up in bandages, and the fourth is a trolley shot moving past a door with someone behind the wiring, who then runs up to it towards the camera and grabs it. These four fast paced shots make the audience jumpy, as each one is creepy and foreboding. This adds to the chilling atmosphere.
There are then some more close ups of patients through the wiring and of patients wrapped up in bandages, as well as short close ups of people pulling gloves off and walking down stairs fast with the camera constantly moving to keep the audience on edge. A medium shot of a white religious statue of what seems to be the Virgin Mary with indistinguishable shadows moving quickly across it is used to add a calm image for the audience to then be scared again by shots of someone struggling and being tied down with buckles and surrounded by doctors to seem like they're being operated on. This conforms to representations of possession, as they usually have to be tied down and 'operated' on.
There is then a lot of repeated images of nuns/religion to show possession and how religion can be used to try and get rid of 'demons', of patients being wrapped up in bandages, of silhouettes changing position, of bloody indistinguishable things being handled, of eyes, of stairs, of bodies being rolled down corridors and of patients fidgeting in bed and all these images get faster and more intense as it goes on until it reaches the end where the title is shown.
Sound
In the opening credits there is no diegetic sound expect for screaming underneath the music. The majority of the sound comes from the non-diegetic soundtrack, most of which has been made synthetically. They are crackling, buzzing, creaking sounds, which unexpectedly play and then stop which creates tension and a sense of not knowing what's next for the audience. The other constantly playing soundtrack uses a quiet and steadily paced guitar and drums, allowing the shots to be parallel to the music but still can focus on the disconcerting synthetic sounds., and whether they are going to unexpectedly play.
Typography
The typography used throughout the credits is consistent, glowing orange against a blank black screen. This puts the focus on the disturbing shots and images in the credits, rather than the text. A few of them have a ripping effect on them, but this is random and not on all of them. This adds mystery and adrenaline to the effect of them too.
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