AHS is an anthology created by Ryan Murphy (my spirit animal) and Brad Falchuk. I am drawn to this show because of the coo-coo crazy, but mostly because of the innovative cinematography work by Michael Goi. Every episode, every scene, even the opening credits, takes me on a visual journey into the world of the gruesome and sometimes erotic. I especially love the way the camera always finds a way to pull me in as if I were a part of the story, not watching it. For example, the scene in AHS: Coven where Fiona Goode, the supreme witch, conjures Papa Legba, a demon. Instead of using a talking head shot, for maximum freak out, Goi flipped the camera to circle Fiona and land on Papa Legba (:47-1:30). The slow movement and the shadows cast on the wall sort of foretold me someone or something was being summoned from an entirely different dimension. We as human beings move left to right and front to back. Papa Legba was introduced using a full circle, and the circle movement indicated he was a spirit.
There is another scene from AHS: Freak Show where Twisty the Clown has just killed a man out on a date, and turns to run and ultimately kill the woman. Twisty turns around and the camera moves showing her point of view of him chasing after her (2:45-2:56). It makes me feel so uncomfortable every time I watch it, because in that moment, I felt the unanswered question. Was she going to survive? I held my hands over my face halfway wanting to believe she would, but knowing she wasn’t going to escape her fate. AHS inspires me to be a better storyteller, to take risks, and to find better ways to make my story more visually appealing.