Saul Bass

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been studying film opening sequences and opening credits, their importance and their effectiveness and one of the main people we have learnt about is Saul Bass.

 Bass was a graphic designer and filmmaker, widely known for his film posters and title sequences. He has worked for the film greats such as Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese. His first major work was creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's 'The Man With The Golden Arm'

He then went on to produce ground breaking opening credits that changed the way cinema saw title sequences, and made their use more important in the set up of the film. He was responsible for the opening creids of Hitchcocks 'Vertigo', 'North by Northwest' and 'Psycho', and other famous films such as 'Cape Fear' and 'Anatomy of a Murder'.

Saul Bass, and other title sequence designers such as David Fincher, demonstrate the importance of opening credits in their work. The function of an opening sequence is, of course, to introduce all the people involved in the making of a film, such as actors, the director, producers etc. However, they serve another purpose. They are also used to draw the audience in and set the tone of the film. If the sequence is fast paced, it is likely the film is also that way etc. Its can also foreshadow the climax or even just a part of the story line of a film.