Research: Art of the title 'American horror story: Asylum'
For my research I have chosen to write about the TV show ‘American horror story: Asylum’. I researched into this to gain a sense of an evocation of insanity. The series I chose from American horror story was the second series. This is called Asylum. This season begins in 1964 at the fictional mental institution, Briarcliff Manor, it is about a young man who had a life-changing experience causing him to be admitted into a notorious insane asylum, while a local reporter is determined to get the full story. An exorcist is summoned to Briarcliff to help save a trouble farm boy. Although this is a TV series and not a movie it gave me some ideas of what I would like to achieve, such as the editing skills and different types of angles produced in the opening sequence.
The opening sequence to this series is effective as it conveys the experience of disorientation bordering on insanity about what is going on in the asylum. Throughout the sequence there is flashing, this is the exposure of the film to steady light prior to exposing it to the scene. It is used as a method of contrast control to bring out detail in darker areas. After each flash there is short clip of things such as people in wheel chairs, people in hospital beds and corpse. This conveys a sense of horror.
The setting in the opening sequence is set in a notorious insane asylum, it is eerie, just like how you would imagine an insane asylum to be like. The lighting is very dark, there is flashing between each image which gives the sequence a small amount of light.
There are multiple extreme close ups of people’s eyes, this is used for a specific reason and is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes. The shots are in black and white with a grainy texture. This gives the effect of an old film reel. As the shorts are all in black and white it recreates the audience’s interpretation of a dated setting. The shots within the title sequence consist of little snippets on the different people in the insane asylum. The font used for the credits are gothic and anamorphic. They divide up the quick shots of the images.
The actors are wearing old fashioned clothing. They are wearing white night gowns, this conveys a sense ofdeath as this is what many people would imagine a ghost to wear. Whereas the people that care for them are wearing nuns' habits, this contradicts them as they treat the patients badly and nuns are meant follow God’s words.
The editing is rapid and urgent, mostly received by jarring transitions and quick images of people in the insane asylum. The pace is abrupt, the music builds the pace up as it is also swift. Throughout the sequence there is flashing, this is the exposure of the film to steady light prior to exposing it to the scene. It is used as a method of contrast to bring out detail in darker areas. After each flash there is a jarring image and then a short video of things such as people in wheel chairs, people in hospital beds and a corpse. This conveys a sense of horror.
The music is the one they use in all opening sequences of the American horror story seasons. It is a piece of music written by Cesar Davila Irizarry and Charlie Clouser. It gives the opening sequence a dramatic effect. After watching this opening sequence it gave me ideas of how I could edit my project.
