Dork Blass on Mark Worthington

Published: Comes to an end., February. 3, 2012, 4:00am PTBy Blass'American Horror Story'Dave Blass on Mark Worthington, production designer, "American Horror Story"The development style of FX's "American Horror Story" hits the perfect notes within the right to produce the foreboding setting for any story that moves from macabre to nasty inside the first fifteen minutes.Picturing a stylish but typically creepy mansion was the task for Mark Worthington and the gifted crew. The archetype from the haunted home is as old as cinema, with as numerous conventions as you will find good examples. But Worthington inhales new existence in to the time-honored genre.Layers of Victorian-era forest and stained glass home windows give ominous hints from the architecture of evil, whilst making the house appear inviting because of its opportunistic new citizens. The heat of the home may be the downfall from the figures, while you won't assist but cringe every time they enter an area so inviting, but where disaster dangles in each and every room as an invisible fog.You will find a lot of shadows, a lot of corners, a lot of dark places where things can lurk. The home informs a haunting backstory with visceral layer upon layer. Coffered roofs loom overhead, walls of cabinets wait to spring open by themselves, and huge shadow-filled attics are poised for any demonic story to experience out.Great production design informs a tale with no word of dialogue -- the atmosphere conveys the storyplot towards the viewer. Within this show each room holds a secret waiting to become told, and suspense is expressed through architecture within an ominous way.There's an immediate eerie sensation whenever a door opens to some lengthy stairwell right into a dark basement, or perhaps a figure stands within an elongated hallway having a door in the finish. It is a fear that is a part of our collective subconscious and something that Worthington uses with deft skill to fresh paint the walls of "American Horror Story."Within an era of reimagining classics, it's refreshing to determine a painter embrace yesteryear instead of attempt to reinvent it.Dork Blass' credits include "Justified" and "Cold Situation"ADG Honours 2012Tightening the definitionDesigners on designProduction designers and art company directors discuss the ADG-nominated work of the peersJohn Muto on Dante Ferretti Greg Grande on Jefferson Sage Norm Newberry on Stuart Craig John Sabato on Patti Podesta Ken Averill on Christopher Glass John Shaffner on Steve Bass Dork Blass on Mark Worthington John Iacovelli on James Yarnell Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com