Saul Bass

By Rebecca Collins

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer.He created many different title sequences, including North by Northwest, The Man With The Golden Arm, Vertigo and Psycho.

Bass was famous for using horizontal and vertical lines in his work, and he often tried to create visual metaphors in his work.

As well as creating title sequences Bass also created many logos in north America. He designed the logo for Continental airlines’ and United airlines’.

The man with The golden arm

This title sequence is not narrative based and gives the audience no idea on what direction the film will be heading in.This title sequence is typical of Saul Bass as he uses his iconic vertical and horizontal lines. In the context of this title sequence the white lines could symbolise a line of cocaine and the lines are not completely straight. The audience may think this as a crooked white arm is shown which could suggest drug use.

The man with the golden arm

The music in this film is ‘jazzy’ and fast paced. This could suggest that the film will also be quick, in terms of possible hallucinations if there is some for of drug use.

The use of the wonky lines could also suggest that there will be hurdles to overcome and that things aren’t as easy as they may seem.

Even the title of the film is not in a neat order, which could suggest to the audience that the film could be quite unusual and ‘messed up.’

The man with the golden arm

Throughout the whole of the title sequence, the background is purely black, and the titles and lines are shown in white. The colours Black and white have binary oppositions or death and life, Pure and evil and heaven and hell. This could show that the main character may have two sides to them or they may have to overcome some form of battle which could be a visible battle or a battle deep within themselves.