ONE OF MY FAVORITE FILMMAKERS ONLY MADE ONE FEATURE – YET HIS INNOVATIVE WORK ACROSS
NUMEROUS FILMS GENUINELY HELPED REDEFINE MOTION PICTURES.
I’M TALKING, OF COURSE, ABOUT SAUL BASS AND HIS LEGENDARY TITLES WORK.
IN THE BEGINNING, MOVIES TITLES LOOKED ALMOST UNIVERSALLY LIKE THIS: AN OFFICIAL PRESENTATION
OF LEGAL AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION,
THAT GRADUALLY EVOLVED INTO HANDSOME, STATIC SLATES
DUTIFULLY PRESENTING CAST AND CREW.
BASS WAS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER, CREATING SYMBOLS FOR MOVIE AD CAMPAIGNS.
BUT IN THE MID-1950S, ON TWO PROJECTS FOR DIRECTOR OTTO PREMINGER, HERE’S HOW BASS
HIMSELF DESCRIBED WHAT HAPPENED:
“DURING THAT PERIOD, I HAPPENED TO BE WORKING ON THE SYMBOLS FOR 'CARMEN JONES' AND 'MAN WITH
THE GOLDEN ARM'. AND AT ONE POINT IN OUR WORK, OTTO AND I JUST LOOKED AT EACH OTHER AND SAID,
‘WHY NOT MAKE IT MOVE?’
AND IT WAS REALLY AS SIMPLE AS THAT.”
INSTEAD OF GENERIC TITLES THAT EASED AUDIENCES INTO THEIR SEATS, OR THEIR POPCORN, BASS WANTED
THE MOVIE EXPERIENCE TO TAKE SHAPE FROM THE VERY FIRST FRAME OF FILM.
AGAIN, AS HE PUTS IT:
“TO ACTUALLY CREATE A CLIMATE FOR THE STORY THAT WAS ABOUT TO UNFOLD.”
AND IN TERMS OF CREATING CLIMATES, BASS, NOW OFTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH HIS WIFE ELAINE,
QUCKLY BECAME HOLLYWOOD’S SUPREME WEATHERMAN.
HIS TITLES WERE MINI-MASTERPIECES, ESTABLISHING MOOD, TONE AND TEXTURE FOR THE FILMS TO COME.
WHETHER USING SIMPLE GRAPHICS OR LINES…
TEXT OR PHOTOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS…
OR DELVING INTO INVENTIVE ANIMATION…
BASS UNERRINGLY COULD SYMBOLIZE AND SUMMARISE A FILM’S ESSENCE.
'WEST SIDE STORY’S' GRAFFITI END TITLES VISUALISE ITS STREET VITALITY AND SENSE OF LOCATION…
'VERTIGO’S' SWIRLING VORTEXES AND 'PSYCHO’S' FRACTURED TYPEFACE MIRROR THE TWISTED DESIRES
AND SPLINTERED PERSONALITIES WITHIN HITCHCOCK’S STORIES OF DARK DESIRE…
'SECONDS' DISTURBING AND DISTORTED FACIAL CLOSE-UPS EMBODY ITS SINISTER TALE OF BODY
TRANSFORMATION.
THESE ARE ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS THAT REFLECT AND ENHANCE THE FILMS THEMSELVES
WITH ECONOMY AND INGENUITY.
BASS CONTINUED TO EXPERIMENT WITH AND EXTEND THE POSSIBILITIES FOR HIS TITLE SEQUENCES.
NEW ORLEANS BORDELLO MELODRAMA ‘WALK ON THE SIDE’ EFFECTIVELY GETS ITS OWN SHORT
FILM FEATURING A BLACK CAT – AND ONE FAR MORE POTENT IN TEASING ILLICIT ENCOUNTERS
THAN THE FEATURE THAT FOLLOWS.
RACING DRAMA 'GRAND PRIX' TURNS MECHANIZED MOVEMENT INTO ITS OWN DYNAMIC, ABSTRACT ART.
IT ALSO CLEVERLY USES THE SEQUENCE AS PROLOGUE,
GIVING BACKSTORY TO ITS PROTAGONISTS AND SETTING
UP THE FILM’S STAKES BEFORE THE TITLES END.
IN THE WAKE OF BASS’S WORK, OTHER GREAT TITLE DESIGNERS APPEARED SUCH AS
DEPATIE-FRELENG ENTERPRISES, MAURICE BINDER, PABLO FERRO,
AND MANY MORE.
AND SEVERAL OF TODAY’S IMPRESSIVE MODERN MOVIE TITLE SEQUENCES STILL OWE MUCH TO
BASS’S INSPIRATION.
BASS HIMSELF MOVED INTO SHORT FILMS, INCLUDING THE OSCAR-WINNING ‘WHY MAN CREATES’ AND
HIS SOLE FEATURE, THE SCI-FI CURIO ‘PHASE IV’.
THE BASSES ALSO HAD A LATE CAREER TITLES RENAISSANCE, PARTICULARLY WORKING WITH MARTIN SCORSESE.
ULTIMATELY SAUL BASS’S LASTING FILMMAKING LEGACY IS, AGAIN, BEST DESCRIBED BY THE MAN
HIMSELF:
“WITH THESE TITLES I CAME TO GRIPS WITH WHAT I THINK IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT
OF ANY CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR: AND THAT IS, TO DEAL WITH ORDINARY THINGS, THINGS THAT WE
KNOW SO WELL, THAT WE CEASE TO SEE THEM.
DEAL WITH THEM IN A WAY THAT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND THEM AGAIN.
IN A SENSE IT’S MAKING THE ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARY.”