Saul and Elaine Bass - Research

Elaine Bass - Biography

Born - 1927

An American title designer and Film maker 

She was originally at the New York high school of music and art but dropped out in order to pursue a professional career in singing. from the ages of fourteen to eighteen she was releasing records as the leading singer.

She then went to work in the fashion industry, after singing with her sisters, at the age of eighteen. She found a job in the department of Capitol Records. It was there that she heard about Saul Bass hiring an assistant. She got the job and worked there from 1955 to 1959, and it was then that she co-designed the sequence to the movie Spartacus in 1960 uncredited. 

Elaine and Saul then got married the following year., where they then created film title sequences together for the next forty years.

The couple were not only asked to design big film sequences, but also short films for various companies and certain events, some of which even being Oscar nominated, such as "Notes on the popular arts" and "The solar film".  

Saul Bass - Biography 

Born in 1920

An American graphic designer and Oscar winning film maker 

He has worked with many big film directors and designers, such as Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and has designed some massive film opening sequences, such as "Psycho". 

He studied part time in the art students league. In the early 1940s he started designing for advertisements for films, most of which designed by Otto Preminger. He then designed the film poster for Carmen Jones, and was then asked to design the opening sequence as well. 

He became widely known, however, after designing the opening sequence to Preminger's "The man with the golden arm", and all the work after that is what made Bass a graphic designer. Once him and Elaine got married and had children, they decided to focus on their family, designing title sequences and directing, this was from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1980s they were rediscovered however by James L. Brooks and Martin Scorsese, and they created the sequences for Goodfellas and other notable works. Bass' work has then inspired many other famous works, and is used in later films, such as "Catch me if you can" and "X-men: first class". 

List of films he has designed (chronological order):

- Carmen Jones (1954)

- The Big knife (1955)

- The man with the golden arm (1955)

- The racers (1955)

- The seven year itch (1955)

- The shrike (1955)

- Around the world in eighty days (1956)

- Storm centre (1956)

- Attack (1956)

- Johnny Concho (1956)

- Edge of the city (1957)

- Saint Joan (1957)

- The pride and the passion (1957)

- The young stranger (1957)

- Bonjour Tristesse (1958) 

- Cowboy (1958)

- Vertigo (1958)

- The big country (1958)

- Anatomy of a murder (1959)

- North by Northwest (1959)

- Psycho (1960)

- The facts of life (1960)

- Exodus (1960)

- Ocean's 11 (1960)

- Something wild (1961)

- Advice and Consent (1962)

- Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world (1963)

- The cardinal (1963)

- In Harm's way (1965)

- Bunny lake is missing (1965)

- Not with my wife, you don't! (1966)

- Such good friends (1971)

- That's entertainment part II (1976)

- Tonkō (1988)

- A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies (1995)

List of film credits they have designed together (chronological order):

- Spartacus (1960)

- West side story (1961)

- Walk on the wild side (1962)

- Nine hours to rama (1963)

- The victors (1963)

- Films for the "New York world's fair" (1964):

---- From here to there 

---- The searching eye 

- Seconds (1966)

- Grand Prix (1966)

- Why man creates (1968)

- Notes on the popular arts (1977)

- The solar film (1979)

- Quest (1984)

- Broadcast news (1987)

- Big (1988)

- The war of the roses (1989)

- Goodfellas (1990)

- Cape fear (1991)

- Doc hollywood (1991)

- Mr Saturday night (1992)

- The age of innocence (1993)

- Higher learning (1995)

- Casino (1995)

One sequence they designed that catches my eye...

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/west-side-story/

West side story. This is mainly because it is a musical and I love musical theatre, but also because it depicts the time this film was made and set in and the theme of conflict of the film extremely well. The sequence has the prologue playing through the opening credits, with an abstract image of grey lines, and the background changing colour, starting at the colours red and orange, and goes through the colour wheel until it lands on dark blue, where the title "West side story" comes up underneath the abstract picture. The image then fades into the picture of the buildings of New York City, of which we are then taken over the city with an aerial view, which apparently Saul was responsible for, and then slowly cuts into the streets of New York and the characters known as "the Jets" are sitting in a basketball court. The prologue is playing the whole time in the background while this sequence is happening. 

Saul and Elaine Bass - Research

Elaine Bass - Biography

Born - 1927

An American title designer and Film maker 

She was originally at the New York high school of music and art but dropped out in order to pursue a professional career in singing. from the ages of fourteen to eighteen she was releasing records as the leading singer.

She then went to work in the fashion industry, after singing with her sisters, at the age of eighteen. She found a job in the department of Capitol Records. It was there that she heard about Saul Bass hiring an assistant. She got the job and worked there from 1955 to 1959, and it was then that she co-designed the sequence to the movie Spartacus in 1960 uncredited. 

Elaine and Saul then got married the following year., where they then created film title sequences together for the next forty years.

The couple were not only asked to design big film sequences, but also short films for various companies and certain events, some of which even being Oscar nominated, such as "Notes on the popular arts" and "The solar film".  

Saul Bass - Biography 

Born in 1920

An American graphic designer and Oscar winning film maker 

He has worked with many big film directors and designers, such as Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and has designed some massive film opening sequences, such as "Psycho". 

He studied part time in the art students league. In the early 1940s he started designing for advertisements for films, most of which designed by Otto Preminger. He then designed the film poster for Carmen Jones, and was then asked to design the opening sequence as well. 

He became widely known, however, after designing the opening sequence to Preminger's "The man with the golden arm", and all the work after that is what made Bass a graphic designer. Once him and Elaine got married and had children, they decided to focus on their family, designing title sequences and directing, this was from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1980s they were rediscovered however by James L. Brooks and Martin Scorsese, and they created the sequences for Goodfellas and other notable works. Bass' work has then inspired many other famous works, and is used in later films, such as "Catch me if you can" and "X-men: first class". 

List of films he has designed (chronological order):

- Carmen Jones (1954)

- The Big knife (1955)

- The man with the golden arm (1955)

- The racers (1955)

- The seven year itch (1955)

- The shrike (1955)

- Around the world in eighty days (1956)

- Storm centre (1956)

- Attack (1956)

- Johnny Concho (1956)

- Edge of the city (1957)

- Saint Joan (1957)

- The pride and the passion (1957)

- The young stranger (1957)

- Bonjour Tristesse (1958) 

- Cowboy (1958)

- Vertigo (1958)

- The big country (1958)

- Anatomy of a murder (1959)

- North by Northwest (1959)

- Psycho (1960)

- The facts of life (1960)

- Exodus (1960)

- Ocean's 11 (1960)

- Something wild (1961)

- Advice and Consent (1962)

- Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world (1963)

- The cardinal (1963)

- In Harm's way (1965)

- Bunny lake is missing (1965)

- Not with my wife, you don't! (1966)

- Such good friends (1971)

- That's entertainment part II (1976)

- Tonkō (1988)

- A personal journey with Martin Scorsese through American movies (1995)

List of film credits they have designed together (chronological order):

- Spartacus (1960)

- West side story (1961)

- Walk on the wild side (1962)

- Nine hours to rama (1963)

- The victors (1963)

- Films for the "New York world's fair" (1964):

---- From here to there 

---- The searching eye 

- Seconds (1966)

- Grand Prix (1966)

- Why man creates (1968)

- Notes on the popular arts (1977)

- The solar film (1979)

- Quest (1984)

- Broadcast news (1987)

- Big (1988)

- The war of the roses (1989)

- Goodfellas (1990)

- Cape fear (1991)

- Doc hollywood (1991)

- Mr Saturday night (1992)

- The age of innocence (1993)

- Higher learning (1995)

- Casino (1995)

One sequence they designed that catches my eye...

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/west-side-story/

West side story. This is mainly because it is a musical and I love musical theatre, but also because it depicts the time this film was made and set in and the theme of conflict of the film extremely well. The sequence has the prologue playing through the opening credits, with an abstract image of grey lines, and the background changing colour, starting at the colours red and orange, and goes through the colour wheel until it lands on dark blue, where the title "West side story" comes up underneath the abstract picture. The image then fades into the picture of the buildings of New York City, of which we are then taken over the city with an aerial view, which apparently Saul was responsible for, and then slowly cuts into the streets of New York and the characters known as "the Jets" are sitting in a basketball court. The prologue is playing the whole time in the background while this sequence is happening. 

Second Editing Day

We cleaned up all the videos and added a few close ups to make the video look more tidy, but we didn’t need to do much as we were quite happy with how we left things after last editing session.

We then unlinked all the audio from most of the cuts and got rid of it so we could only hear cut one for the most part.

We then edited this one part in the static audio at the end of the sequence as there was the sound of someone’s voice, so we cut it and carried on the static sound so we only hear that

We then changed the exposure of the shots of Hugo when watching the tv so we could see the image better and so it looked more realistic as it matched the colour of the tv show. As well as this we changed the shade of green so it was brighter and looked more amateur as that was our aim for the tv show to look. 

We then changed the volume of the individual clips that needed the audio so we could hear Hugo speaking over cut 1 of the TV show and over the sound of the static on the tv, and faded the sound of the static of the end. 

Second Editing Day

We cleaned up all the videos and added a few close ups to make the video look more tidy, but we didn’t need to do much as we were quite happy with how we left things after last editing session.

We then unlinked all the audio from most of the cuts and got rid of it so we could only hear cut one for the most part.

We then edited this one part in the static audio at the end of the sequence as there was the sound of someone’s voice, so we cut it and carried on the static sound so we only hear that

We then changed the exposure of the shots of Hugo when watching the tv so we could see the image better and so it looked more realistic as it matched the colour of the tv show. As well as this we changed the shade of green so it was brighter and looked more amateur as that was our aim for the tv show to look. 

We then changed the volume of the individual clips that needed the audio so we could hear Hugo speaking over cut 1 of the TV show and over the sound of the static on the tv, and faded the sound of the static of the end. 

First Editing Day of Sequence

The first filming footage has already been edited, so now it cannot be changed, so we put that first cut in the second cut bin and put the videos of Hugo in places around the footage and keep the original sound from the TV show in. 

We started by editing the footage we took on the second shoot day by putting it around the original footage. we had reaction shots, over the shoulder shots and shots from behind the TV to get a cooler reaction shot angle and so the lighting looked good on his face. 

Whenever you have something in sync put it in its own channel, the idea of 1 shot 2 shot then back to the TV show. 

First Editing Day of Sequence

The first filming footage has already been edited, so now it cannot be changed, so we put that first cut in the second cut bin and put the videos of Hugo in places around the footage and keep the original sound from the TV show in. 

We started by editing the footage we took on the second shoot day by putting it around the original footage. we had reaction shots, over the shoulder shots and shots from behind the TV to get a cooler reaction shot angle and so the lighting looked good on his face. 

Whenever you have something in sync put it in its own channel, the idea of 1 shot 2 shot then back to the TV show. 

History of Opening Titles/Credits Research

Horror opening title fonts that are usually used and examples of them plus why they were effective to use: 

- Halloween - 

ITC Serif Gothic 

The colour matched the pumpkin and therefore the atmosphere of halloween. It also created a false sense of security and juxtaposition of the light colour and elegance of the font to the picture of the angry looking pumpkin holding a knife. The small pointy spikes at the corners of the letters also looks quite sharp and intimidating. 

- Scream - 

Futura

The capital letters create boldness and match the word it is being used on "scream" as well as animates the poster and draws your attention to the title. This is also done by having be the only the coloured on the poster as the rest is black and white. By having the font be quite simple, the small dagger looking symbol on the letter "M" is emphasised, showing a sense of slasher and horror. 

- Nosferatu - 

A modern serif typeface 

This font has small flicks on the end of the letters which makes it look quite elegant, like calligraphy, however the boldness of the font and the colour black makes it look quite gothic and dark, matching the vampire aesthetic of the film and indicating the horror effect. 

Which was the first film to use text in the opening title sequences?

Of course films originally started with subtitles within the film as films used to only be silent, and usually with the cast coming up before the film started, however there was a time when the opening credits were played during an opening scene to help set the atmosphere in the movie as well as shortening the length of the movie itself, therefore allowing for more scenes and longer dialogue. Films originally has opening credits before the film started that usually lasted 15 minutes, in order to prevent piracy and to credit the actors and production/creative team, but in 1954, the film "The man with the Golden Arm" was released and Otto Preminger brought on graphic designer Saul Bass to design the opening for the film. This was the first film to have the title sequence be important and essential to the film, with animation and movement in the background of the titles to help set the atmosphere of the film.