Saul Bass was a graphic designer and filmmaker famous for his innovative title sequences and film posters in the 1950s and 1960s. He wanted title sequences to enhance the viewing experience and convey the film's themes. Bass pioneered the use of basic shapes and kinetic typography to portray a sense of the film. His creative work inspired others and changed the way audiences viewed title sequences. To this day, title sequences that effectively set the mood through graphic style take influence from Bass's legacy.

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Saul Bass
By Nicola Vickery

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Who is Saul Bass?
Saul bass was both a graphic designer and a film maker,
and was particularly famous for his design of film posters
and title sequences due to his new and creative form of
constructing these two features .
Saul Bass worked for some of Hollywood's greatest
filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, who allowed Bass to
design the opening title sequence for the film vertigo. With
some of Bass’s most popular title sequences being the man
with the golden arm and north by northwest.
Bass wanted the opportunity to create a title sequence
which would enhance the experience for the audience and
portray something new to them as their interactions with title
sequences had been based on simplicity and had no
meaningful purpose from the introduction of the films
themes of story.
Bass was also one of the first people to acknowledge the
creative potential for the opening title sequences and how
they could work to portray a sense of the film to an
audience.

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Saul Bass’s work…
Bass uses basic geographic shapes which are artistically
combined to form an image which goes through process
of being a simple shape to a sophisticated object.
However as well as focussing on shapes for a central
image Bass also took into consideration the typography
and invented a new kinetic typography for many films
including the famous psycho.
This style of using basic shapes had never been seen
before for the use of a title thus having a huge impact on
people’s viewing experience in the 1950’s which still
remains consistent to this day.
Saul Bass started out doing print work for film
advertisements, this was when he was recognised by film
maker Otto Preminger who Saul Bass designed a film
poster for, to promote his film Carmen Jones. With the
satisfaction from the film poster Preminger asked Bass to
produce a title sequence as well, this was when Bass’s
mind was opened up to title sequences and the effect they
could have on an audience.

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The impact Saul Bass had on title
sequences…
Saul Bass was responsible for title sequences to be viewed in a
new and exciting way which has changed the way in which we
acknowledge title sequences and their purpose.
Since Bass had the creative talent to match a title sequence to a
films controversial subject it was obvious that his way of working
inspired others thus impacting on the design of title sequences
To this day all title sequences which work to successfully deliver
and introduce the theme or mood of a film can be seen as a legacy
to the work of Saul Bass.
The opening sequences of modern films based around the time era
of the 1960’s often consist the graphic style in which Bass use for
his work to create a deliberate resemblance of Bass’s work to show
just how much of an inspiration he actually was. By doing this it
suggests no 1960’s film is complete without Bass’s significant form
of title sequence.

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How his work has lived on…
This is a print screen from the title sequence of kiss kiss bang
bang. It has clearly been inspired by Saul bass through the use
of geographical shapes forming images and by the colour black
to create the people, which Bass often did which resulted in
silhouette effect.
Bass is also responsible for the creation
of some of the most recognisable logos
such as Kleenex which is still used to this
very day with the original design.

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Analysing anatomy of murder
The use of a dark grey background
creates and eerie atmosphere for the
reader. The colour grey represents
depression which could be a way or
foreshadowing later events linked to
sinister actions which have resulted in
some form of depression for a
character.
This also resembles a pavement
which reveals the film is likely to be set
in a city, and the fact the body is found
on pavement shows a strong disgust
the killer had towards the victim due to
the disrespectful placement of the
body.

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Music
The use of wind instruments throughout the sequence allow the
music to fall into the genre of jazz music, which was extremely
popular in the 1960’s. This reveals to the audience the time era in
which the film is set and produced. The music also creates a film
noire style to the sequence which could suggest that mystery is a
theme running throughout the film. The music has a rather upbeat
tone to it which creates a blissful atmosphere which doesn’t fit with
what is being shown visually, this creates an enigma for the
audience as it is unclear as the whether this death resulted in a form
of happiness. This could also be used to foreshadow upcoming
events as it could reveal that justice will be served in the film or that
the death was for a good purpose.
When the actors name appears the music suddenly heightens, this
has an impact on the audience as it allows shock to be created. I
think this was done to show the shock in which a character felt when
discovering the body thus the audience can connect with the
character through the same emotion of shock.

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Font colour
The colour white has been used for the font which connotes
innocence, this could mean the victim was an innocent man, or
that he himself had done something sinister to an innocent
person.

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Mise-en-scene
 Body parts start to slowly appear which work in sync with a part
of the title, anatomy (which is the bodily structure of an organism)
due to the construction of a body being shown. As a result of this
it reveals a possible theme of the film could be science, as the
body is a scientific object. This could also resemble the
uncovering of a body or the case slowly coming together.

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Typography
The typography used to introduce the title looks extremely distinct due to the
contrast between black and white which reveals the body was easily found.
The typography represents blood due to the liquid effect it portrays. The fact
the scale of the lettering differs with each letter portrays the disarray of the
murder. Again, the font is white and the fact it is placed on the body suggest
the victim is innocent. The fact the word ‘murder’ is placed on his chest could
show his cause of death had something to do with his heart or it could also
represent him dying for love due to the heart being a common association
with romance.

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Camera angles
The body is shown in a long
shot, from a birds eye view
which portrays the audience
are seeing this image from
another characters
perspective, possibly the
killers. The effect this shot has
on the audience is that the
characters perspective we are
seeing this from is fleeing the
scene due to the long range
from the body which could
suggest the cause of death
was by a sniper.

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Mise-en-scene
Certain body parts are then portrayed in a close up
shot to emphasis there significance, starting with the
head. The fact the head is the first thing to be shows
conveys to the audience that the identity of the victim
is of importance ,or was the first thing to discovered,
this creates an enigma for the audience as they
wonder who the victim is and why they are now dead.

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Mise-en-scene
 The arms of the body are then shown, the way they are positioned gives
an impression of the victim dragging there body along which shows the
killing wasn’t a suicide and that the victim longed to live. It also creates
an enigma for the audience as it appears the victim was reaching for
something and they are intrigued to find out what.

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 One arm is then thrust forwards which creates confusion for the
audience as it has a violent undertone since it is shown to be
almost like a punch. This gives a sense of the character having
a violent personality or having committed a violent deed
especially since arms are often associated with punching thus
resulting the audience questioning where this person was
innocent or not.

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Parts of the body then split into sections which could simply
represent broken bones or possibly a shatter in the case due to
the colour black connoting obscurity, thus it is typical for audience
to think the solving of the case isn’t as straight forward as it
appears.

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 The hand of the body is seen once again reaching for
something, this to me looks almost sexual firstly because I
believe the death has something to do with romance and
secondly because it is assumed you will do anything for those
whom you love and his dedication to reach for a part of a body
appears immensely strong. However the fact the hand then
breaks shows he is unsuccessful in reaching it which shows his
death has stopped the victim getting what he wants

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The extreme close of the hand emphasis violence, but also could
show the character is metaphorically holding the fate of the killer
in his hands.
The style of the title sequence is very cartoonish, yet it still
appears sophisticated and suits the theme of the film due to the
colour choice and Mise-en-scene. The fact the body is the only
object to be shown portrays it is was the story hangs upon, and
stresses the importance of it.