Analysis of opening title sequences 1

This is the original Opening title sequence of the series 4 of American Horror Story. I chose these opening titles as it is similar to those used in Film Noir. For example, the use of shadow and lighting displays the sense of danger that is typically displayed within Noir films. It also includes the use of camera and composition with techniques such as canted angles that is associated with disorientation. Again this is commonly used in Noir films, mainly by the use of mirrors. Therefore I found this Title to be appropriate to analyse and deconstruct. This knowledge will later relate to my future Noir opening titles and will apply to conventions that are used in title sequences similar to my genre.

      

TV title: American Horror Story Freak show

Date of Release: October 8th 2014

Production Companies:
Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision
Ryan Murphy Productions
20th Century Fox Television

Distributioners: 

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

The opening sequences are 1 minute 5 seconds long in length, made up of disjointed shots of characters and location. It also features white font type of actors such as Sarah Paulson over the top of stop motion animation and CGI (Computer Generated Imagery . However, the first queued titles of the opening 'American Horror Story' is written in black. This could be used to emphasise the name of the series or to make the title stand out against the background. The most important companies such as FX are presented first before the actors again showing the importance of it and who it was brought to you by.

As mentioned, the way that the opening flows is very disjointed. This could symbolise the theme of freak show as it gives the effect of being viewed by a kinetoscope typically found in shows and performances such as circuses and freak shows. This opening also involves a lot of symbolic iconography which relates to both the theme of freak show and the genre such as clowns displaying fear and horror and the use of broken toys like the dolls. The music in the title remains intact albeit with an added carnival-like soundscape created by a metallic rhythmic instrument. This is very horror based giving the audiance a foreboding effect and drawing them into the title sequence

Throughout the title sequences vague hints of important plot elements and events that compose the season. However it does not include the characters used but gives hint as to who is in the series. For example two bodies skeleton relates to the characters that are in the series (Dot and Betty the two headed girls). It does not reveal much of series but includes features that are related to the theme of the program such as the characters and props - spinning wheel foreshadowing the future episode involving this prop