(.....Saul Bass.....)

Early career

Saul Bass was born in May 8, 1920, in New York City. He studied at the Art Student's League in Manhattan until attending classes with Gyorgy Kepes at Brooklyn College. He began his time in Hollywood doing print work for film ads, until he collaborated with filmmaker Otto Preminger to design the movie poster for his 1954 film Carmen Jones. Preminger was so impressed with Bass’s work that he asked him to produce the title sequence as well. This was when Bass first saw the opportunity to create something more than a title sequence, but to create something which would ultimately enhance the experience of the audience and contribute to the mood and the theme of the movie within the opening moments. Bass was one of the first to realize the creative potential of the opening and closing credits of a movie.

[edit]Film title sequences

Bass became notorious in the industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's struggle to overcome his heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid-'50s. Bass decided to create a controversial title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to drug addiction. The titles featured an animated, black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he expected, it caused quite a sensation.

For Alfred Hitchcock, Bass provided effective, memorable title sequences, employing kinetic typography, for North by Northwest, Vertigo, working with John Whitney, and Psycho. It was this kind of innovative, revolutionary work that made Bass a revered graphic designer. His later work with Martin Scorsese saw him move away from the optical techniques that he had pioneered and move into computerized titles, from which he produced the title sequence for Casino.

He designed title sequences for 40 years, for films as diverse as Spartacus (1960), The Victors (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Casino (1995). He also designed title sequences for films such as Goodfellas (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Cape Fear (1991) and The Age of Innocence (1993), all of which feature new and innovative methods of production and startling graphic design.

[edit]Selected film title sequences and respective dates:

• Carmen Jones (1954)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
• Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1958)
• The Big Country (1958)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Psycho (1960)
• Spartacus (1960)
• Exodus (1960)
• Advise and Consent (1960)
• Ocean's Eleven (1960)
• West Side Story (1961)
• Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
• The Victors (1963)
• Nine Hours to Rama (1963)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• The Cardinal (1963)
• In Harm's Way (1965)
• Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
• Grand Prix (1966)
• Seconds (1966)
• Broadcast News (1987)
• Big (1988)
• The War of the Roses (1989)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• Doc Hollywood (1991)
• Age of Innocence (1993)
• Casino (1995)