titles designer - Saul bass

Saul Bass

Saul Bass graduated from James Monroe high school in the Bronx and studied part-time at the Art students league in Manhattan until attending night classes with Gyorgy Kepes at Brooklyn College. He began his career in Hollywood in the 1940's making print advertisements for films directed by Otto Preminger. his next step was to start designing film posters for the company. They became so impressed he was asked to design a title sequence. this is when he first saw the potential in a title sequence and closing credits to relate to the themes and key messages in relation to the film.

here are a few title sequences he created.

Bass became widely recognised in the film industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's 'The man with the golden arm'.




The man with the golden arm focuses on a man with a heroin addiction. The narrative depicts  a jazz musician addicted to  heroin the non diegetic sound used in this opening title sequence shows this jazz music and helps to develop the representation without the visual of the man actually on the screen.

Saul Bass was the first person to decide to pull back the curtains  in 'The man with the golden arm' before the opening credits of a movie. This allowed the fusion of pop art to be introduced into title sequences.

The titles open with white lines crossing the screen this could be significant to injections or needles.when the title of the film is revealed the 'needles' surround the title. The fact the title has arm it could show the main character will be addicted to heroin. This could link to a key message that will be presented later in the film. The strong contrast between black and white makes the titles more dramatic and  entice the audience to want to carry on watching. When the white beams turn vertically it makes them look pointy representing a needle. When these needles go in to the shape of a deformed arm reinforces that representation of a heroin addict as it is meant to'destroy' veins in your arms. The music at the end of the scene has increased in depth and dynamics which allows the context of the 1950's to be heard through the instrumental used for the soundtrack in this opening.

Another film that he designed the titles to was Alfred Hitchcock's  Vertigo


As the opening starts the music signals the genre of thriller through the use off low pitch notes the loops in the score of the music can signal repetition and psychological struggles in the narrative of the film. When we see the side of Madeleine face  played by Kim Novak we are introduced to the theme of beauty as it focuses on the appearance of her as the James Stewarts character in the movie becomes obsessive of the image of her.

Although the title sequence played a central role in establishing the visual style of Vertigo its use in the marketing of Hitchcock's film was limited and the appearance of the hollywood stars was favoured throughout the opening title sequence. The face of Kim Novak can also introduce the theme of anxiety as we see a close up of her lips as they twich showing her to be unsettled. This helps to construct the personnel