Saul Bass Research

Saul Bass was a very famous American graphic designer, title designer and film director. He is best known for his special style of his opening title sequence and film posters. Saul Bass worked with many famous filmmakers in Hollywood, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder. He became famous for ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’’s title sequence in 1955. Then he meet Elaine Bass who is his wife in 1955. She was also a very talented title designer and filmmaker. They got married in 1961. Since then, they have worked closely together. She helped to present the opening tittle sequence in an art form, rather than jousting showing the names in the film. They both are very influential and famous film designer because of the memorable and creative title sequences and film posters. Their title sequence always have hidden hints to the content of the movie so the audience can feel the  genre and guess some storyline without giving it all away. 

Here are some examples of their title sequences:

I choose two of their title sequence to research and analysis - ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ (1959) and ‘The facts of life’ (1960).

 

This is a opening title sequence of Anatomy of a Murder. It is a American film that released in 1959. The director is Otto Preminger, and the top casts are James Stewart, Lee Remick and Ben Gazzara. It has a budget of $2 million.

 

The opening sequence is in black and grey tone, the form is very concise and clear. The elements are the black paper cuts of a body on the grey background. The paper cuts a of the body parts are together when showing the name of the film, but they become separate and fragmented when presenting the production crew and cast. These suggest that the film might be a crime theme, and from the information in the name, it can be speculated that it is probably about killing a person and dismembering the body. Furthermore, the non-diegetic sound track is really attractive too. The jazz music beats appear with titles, and turn to more rapid pacing. The music build up the tension and give a nervous impact. I think this title sequence is very effective. Because even thought there wasn’t any dialogue and any characters, it can still tell the audience some hints from the film. It is not only presenting the names and credits. Saul Bass made a vivid and memorable opening in the simplest way. 

This is the film poster

This is the newspaper adverting poster

 

This is the opening sequence from ‘The facts of life’. It is also one of Saul Bass’s work, but this one has a different style. It is a romantic comedy film that released in 1960. It is directed by Melvin Frank, and the top casts are Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Ruth Hussey. 

The whole title sequence is presenting in animation. It is in black and white tone, which gives people a sense of age. The production crew titles appear in different object. Their various forms of appearance increase the sense of playfulness and makes the opening more interesting. For example, the title sequence appears as the necklace, or the ice cubes in the drink, or on the cigarette, or in the music symbols from the telephone. The way they have been presented are in many different ways, and it is really clever that the audience will pay attention to the opening sequence.

From the animation, we can tell that the film is about the love story between a male and female. The flower, the candy box and all the elements are showing they are dating. The non-diegetic soundtrack is the 80^th jazz music which is facile and quite relax. The ‘boy-girl’ relationship has been presented, the male and female voice in the soundtrack also emphasise that. So base on these, the film’s genre might be romance and comedy. I think this title sequence is really attractive, it hints the different stages of two person’s relationship and the way it presents the sequences is very novel and won’t make people bored.

This is the film poster

Here are two examples that are influenced or similar from these style:

They are in a mainly black and white tone, and also they use the animation to present it. Their transitions and expressions are very vivid and memorable. There are hints and the main elements from the movie in the opening sequence which can tell the audience the genre and the informations in an art and visual way.