Saul Bass

Saul Bass was born in New York, America, in 1920, and was a graphic designer and filmmaker. He was best known for designing title sequences of films, film posters and company logos.

During his career, Bass worked for some of Hollywood’s most famous filmmakers, including the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, for which he created the title sequence for ‘Vertigo’, one of his most famous films.

'Vertigo' opening sequence analysis:

The title sequence begins with a sound bridge of non-diegetic instrumental music, made up of primarily strings, over the title screen displaying the production company of the film. The piece of music is stereotypical to the thriller genre, and it creates a sense of suspense for the audience. This allows the audience to infer that the film will be filled with tension, from the very start of the opening sequence.The production company titles fade to black, which reflects danger and darkness, and represents a feeling of the unknown. These are all themes that are typically represented in thriller films. Following the fade to black, comes a close up shot of a woman’s lips. The close up shot is used to portray the emotions of the character, and it shows her to be straight-faced. This allows the audience to infer that the rest of her face is expressionless. The lack of smile reflects the lack of happiness of the character. This shot then pans up to a close up of the woman’s eyes, which shows her looking from side to side. This eye movement is associated with being frightened and in danger, and suggests she might be looking for someone, who might possibly the reason why she is in danger. This shot then zooms into an extreme close up shot of the woman’s eye, which is used to intensify the focus on her emotions. As the close up shot zooms into the extreme close up, a red filter is applied, which signifies blood, danger and death, which are all commonly included in thriller films. As the woman’s eye widens, the title of the film, ‘Vertigo’, enlarges out of her pupil until it is in the centre of the frame. Being in the centre of the frame highlights the importance of the title. As the title moves out of the frame, a swirling pattern is revealed in the woman’s pupil. This swirling pattern represents hypnosis and, of course, vertigo, which directly links to the title of the film. The fact that the swirling pattern emerges from the pupil of the eye puts emphasis on the theme of hypnosis to the audience, as the eyes are the part of the body that are associated with being hypnotised. Saul Bass’ work became famous as he was the first to use imagery which directly linked the narrative, or the title of the film. As the swirl enlarges, and the extreme close up of the eye fades away, the music intensifies, and the pitch increases to its climax. The music intensifying builds tension in the audience. Also, the pitch increasing leads the audience into a false sense that the film will begin when the piece reaches its climax. Different swirling patterns continue to appear throughout the opening sequence, and the music accompanying it becomes gradually more intense, and on the low notes, the volume of the music increases. This increase in volume on the most dramatic part of the music is used as a tool to shock the audience and to make them jump. As the swirling patterns increase to their maximum size, and then begin to fade, they are used to transfer between different title screens. At the end of the sequence of swirling patterns, the extreme close up of the woman’s eye with the red filter applied appears. The re-appearance of this shot reminds the audience of the themes that will either be the centre of the narrative, or will at least contribute to the narrative. The final swirling pattern fades into the pupil of the eye, and reveals the directors name to the audience, which sits in the centre of the frame, much like the title of the film did. As the the directors name and the title of the film are the only titles that sit in the centre of the frame, it reflects that these are the two most important titles, and need to have the audience’s attention brought to them. Also, as Hitchcock’s name is enlarged, a single low note is played, which grabs the attention of the audience, and ensures their focus is on the screen. After the shot of the eye fades to black, the pitch and the pace of the music increases. The increase of the intensity of the music creates a stronger feeling of anxiety in the audience. Additionally, the increase in pace could foreshadow that the film will begin with an action sequence.

The design of Bass’ film posters consisted of very simple, symbolic designs that visually communicated key elements of the film. This was different to other film posters produced in his time period of work, that were typically dominated by depictions of key scenes/characters from the film.

Here are some examples of his work:

"His poster for The Man with the Golden Arm, with a jagged arm and off-kilter typography, starkly communicates the protagonist's struggle with heroin addiction." - Wikipedia

"Bass's iconic Vertigo (1958) poster, with its stylized figures sucked down into the nucleus of a spiral vortex, captures the anxiety and disorientation central to the film" - Wikipedia

"His poster for Anatomy of a Murder (1959), featuring the silhouette of a corpse jarringly dissected into seven pieces, makes both a pun on the film’s title and captures the moral ambiguities within which this court room drama is immersed." - Wikipedia

In terms of filmmaking, Bass made his only feature length film as a director in 1974, creating the little-known sci-fi film named ‘Phase IV’. The moving image collection of Saul Bass is held at the Academy Film Archive and consists of a grand total of 2,700 items.

Bass has designed some of the worlds most recognisable corporate logos such as United Airlines, Quaker Oats and Kleenex. An analysis completed in 2011 found that the most common cause of the end of the use of a corporate logo designed by Bass, was the demise or merge of the company, rather than the company redesigning their corporate logo. It also found that the average time a Bass designed logo would be used by a company for is more than 34 years.

Here are some examples of Bass’ corporate logo designs: