Opening Sequence: Graphic Design

Saul Bass

Saul Bass born on May the 8th 1920 and died in April 5, 1996. He was an American graphic designer and Academy Award winning filmmaker, his design of motion picture title sequences, corporate logos and film posters were best known. Bass was one of the most famous filmmakers of Hollywood. His most prominent title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm. Th credits racing up and down and eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock's North by Northwest and the distorted text that moves together and apart in Psycho.

Saul Bass started the modern sensibility taking him to the next decade, the credits themselves tells the story and woke everyone up with "The Man with the Golden Arm" credit. Before Saul bass credit sequence that was perfunctory, nothing to do with the story did not progress the psychological emotional state of the character of the film. Literature based film which opens literally like a book, however does not help tell the story, but a identification text.

Kyle Cooper believes that "Vertigo" opening scene is impressive is because the ideas of title in that era is that the credit will turn into smoke, however in Vertigo, has a pair of eye, goes into the eye with spiralling effect and at the end goes back out of the eye again. It has a beginning middle and end which is makes it more interesting.

The three things that Saul Bass kept in mind while creating the opening sequences. The title designs were not only be inventive and impressive they were thematically link to what follows. Saul Bass understood what the movie is about and made designs appropriately for example "Psycho" where the writings were distorted which shows that something is not quite right which is exactly the storyline of the movie. Audience involvement should begin with the first frame.

Saul Bass's advice to graphic designers;

"Learn to draw! If you don't you're going to live your life to compensate that"