Saul and Elaine Bass

Saul Bass was an American filmmaker and graphic designer who was born in 1920 and died in 1966.

Elaine Bass is Saul Bass's wife who is also an American title designer and filmmaker. She worked with Saul Bass for over 40 years where they created opening sequences for directors such as for directors such Martin Scorsese and Danny DeVito Some of his famous works include The Man with the Golden Arm, North by Northwest and Psycho which he created the title sequences for as this was his speciality. He is famous for using posters and logos in his title

sequences with motion pictures. The designs that Saul Bass used portrayed meaning which he did though using ideas from the whole film and placed them in the opening sequence. Saul Bass was a major pioneer of modern title sequence designing. This is one of the many successful opening title sequences that Saul Bass and Elaine Bass created together.

Big opening title sequence - Saul and Elaine Bass

Another famous opening title sequence created by Saul Bass is Vertigo (1958). Through this opening title sequence, he engages the audience through his creative visuals when displaying the credits. He uses kinetic typography which is an animation technique which combines motion and text within a video whilst portraying different concepts and ideas. Kinetic typography only began to be used in the 1960's with Saul Bass's opening title sequence for North by Northwest (1959) to start this trend where it is now commonly

used. Bass had the intention of portraying the mood and atmosphere of the film through this opening where he used non-diegetic sound of fast-paced music which creates an unsettling mood for the audience. This portrays the thriller genre as the soundtrack begins to crescendo whilst the sudden noises of brass instruments portrays an intense, eerie mood and creates suspense. This opening title sequence also hints at the narrative as it reveals the theme of crime which hints to the main character who is a detective. This is done through the use of the company cards which are in black and white conveying a dark neo-noir style. The colour then changes to technicolour combined with a sepia tint, dark background and low

lighting portraying an element of mystery hinting at this thriller genre of the film. This is also emphasised by the change in volume of the music as it goes from loud to quiet and is slower which builds suspense. Saul Bass also introduces a character through a close up shot of the woman's face then pans to an extreme close up of of the woman's nose and lips which are trembling. This suggests romance which links to the narrative of the rest of the film as the main character has a strange obsession with the woman and portrays her fear. In thriller films, it is very common for the female character to be portrayed a vulnerable which is displayed in this opening title sequence through her nervous looking facial expressions. Her eyes are looking side to side which emphasises the fact she is being watched linking to the narrative of the film of

having an obsession with her. The camera then zooms into an extreme close up shot of one of her eyes. Whilst this is happening, the colour used changes to a red hinting at a sense of danger portraying the thriller genre. The title of 'Vertigo' then gets bigger along with her eyes portraying a sense of anxiety. Saul Bass uses graphics to show spirograph images which come out from the female's eye perhaps linking to her state of mind. The pace of the music then begins to get slower and the viewer continues to see a range of spirographs which are colours such as blue, purple, orange and red. This links to vertigo and the paranoia of the females character. Saul Bass then uses the image of the red eye which then fades as the film is about to begin. Through this opening title sequence, Saul Bass introduces the audience to parts of the narrative, the female character and portrays the genre through mainly suspense.