A true innovator of title sequences: Saul Bass

The title sequence to The Man With the Golden Arm was designed and created by Saul Bass. The sequence has become known as the first to become more than simply a list of big names and producers on a screen, this sequence sets the tone of the film to the viewer. The jagged angular paper shapes Bass produced reflected the mood of the film. At the time this approach had never been exploited in quite the same way.

The title sequence to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World also designed and produced by Saul Bass. This is just another great example of Bass's work. Simple and understated his work was never egotistical. Just great functional design which achieves exactly what it sets out to do; portray the mood of the film, and provide a platform for the film titles to be displayed upon in an interesting and entertaining way.

To see more on Saul Bass, watch Bass on titles, a selection of title sequences created by the great designer. The documentary also offers an insight into design at the time and into Saul Bass as a designer on the front line of film from the 1950s onwards.

Saul Bass: Bio

"Saul Bass (May 8, 1920—April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but he is best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.

During his 40-year career he worked for some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including most notably Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Amongst his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, the text racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of the United Nations building in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that raced together and was pulled apart for Psycho.

Saul Bass designed the 6th AT&T Bell System logo, that at one point achieved a 93 percent recognition rate in the United States. He also designed the AT&T "globe" logo for AT&T after the break up of the Bell System. Bass also designed Continental Airlines' 1968 "jetstream" logo, which became the most recognized airline industry logo of the 1970s." Source: Wikipedia.