Saul Bass

In order to understand how the opening of a thriller film can be successfully made and the importance of the opening to a thriller movie; I have decided to carry out some research on Saul Bass.

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and an academy award winning film maker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters and corporate logos. 

A few examples of his work can be seen bellow:

All of his film posters consist of a similar aesthetic ; quite a retro and bright style.

The designs of these film posters appeal to audiences because they are bright and eye catching. There is an obvious colour scheme in each individual poster, for example, the poster for the film 'THE SHINING' uses a main background colour of yellow and then black for the font and imagery. This makes the posters stand out as the colours used are bold and have a good level of contrast.

I was surprised when I found out that Saul Bass designed the film poster for the musical ' WEST SIDE STORY'. I really like this musical and I had no idea that he designed for poster until I researched into Saul Bass and his work.

Here is the opening to the film 'VERTIGO'

The classic opening title sequence of Alfred Hitchcock's vertigo starts with a sound bridge that immediately gives the film a thriller feel and the use of the heavy stringed instruments set the typical suspense and sinister mood that a thriller film consists of meaning, that from the very beginning the audience can recognise that Vertigo is a thriller film. The close up of the ladies lips and eyes is used to portray emotion and anxiety. The shot then zooms in to show an extreme close up of the ladies eye, this further shows the anxiety and emotion along with the terror and worry of the person. As the extreme close up of the eye is on the screen a red filter is applied. This Is used to represent blood and death which again, are two common and stereotypical features of a thriller film. The titles ( 'VERTIGO') then zoom out towards the audience showing clear typography which fades out to reveal a swirling pattern in the ladies eye. This swirling pattern is iconic to the effects of hypnosis and vertigo, therefore, this is what the swirling connotes and is why Saul Bass included it in the opening sequence. The swirling and music intensify and the pitch increases creating tension that is used to entice the audience and keep them watching; this is also stereotypical of a thriller film. The theme of hypnosis with the swirling pattern and stringed music continues throughout the opening titles to clearly establish Hitchcock's vison for the film. The title sequence ends with a close up of the eye again with the red filter displaying the directors name, this grabs the audience attention for one last time before the film starts. There is one chord of music which is a low, deep note to end the opening titles, this adds a feeling of dread and possibly foreshadows that bad things are going to happen in the film. The music that is used throughout the title sequence is an original track which was made when the film was produced.

Saul Bass is also knows for creating some of the worlds most popular logos in North America. His most famous and longest standing logo was the American airline 'United Airlines' logo.