Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design (Screen Classics)
Language: English
Pages: 512
ISBN: 0813147182
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Iconic graphic designer and Academy Award–winning filmmaker Saul Bass (1920–1996) defined an innovative era in cinema. His title sequences for films such as Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959), and Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955) introduced the idea that opening credits could tell a story, setting the mood for the movie to follow. Bass's stylistic influence can be seen in popular Hollywood franchises from the Pink Panther to James Bond, as well as in more contemporary works such as Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002) and television's Mad Men.
The first book to examine the life and work of this fascinating figure, Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design explores the designer's revolutionary career and his lasting impact on the entertainment and advertising industries. Jan-Christopher Horak traces Bass from his humble beginnings as a self-taught artist to his professional peak, when auteur directors like Stanley Kubrick, Robert Aldrich, and Martin Scorsese sought him as a collaborator. He also discusses how Bass incorporated aesthetic concepts borrowed from modern art in his work, presenting them in a new way that made them easily recognizable to the public.
This long-overdue book sheds light on the creative process of the undisputed master of film title design―a man whose multidimensional talents and unique ability to blend high art and commercial imperatives profoundly influenced generations of filmmakers, designers, and advertisers.
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point-of-sales displays, exhibitions, direct mail pieces, and company stationery.”43 His commercial clients included Brett Lithographing Company, Glide windows, General Pharmaceutical Corporation, Frank Holmes Laboratories, Flo-Ball pens, Madre Selva cosmetics, Pabco paint, Carson-Roberts Company, and John W. Westley Associates.44 It is no accident that Bass went independent at this time, expanding his base and design services beyond the movie advertising business. According to designer and Bass
could be that of Art Goodman or a number of other designers, but the intellectual process of selecting, editing, and creating the Bass look was Saul’s alone. Moholy-Nagy and Kepes: Point, Line, Circle Bass’s incredible success as a designer was due in no small part to his ability to take the Bauhaus philosophy and its design conceptions and trans- 50 Designer and Filmmaker late them into a working method that yielded a consistent brand and look while communicating simple, direct messages for
the image. There is something primeval about the circle, given that it was probably one of the first shapes perceived by primitive humans looking up at the moon and the sun, which are typically associated with deities. Those first humans would have been able to take a stick and draw a circle in the sand to communicate the notion of a cosmic force or unity greater than mortal man. For millennia, the Native American hoop or medicine wheel has signified the universe and nature—the Wakan Tanka, in
Bass had approached Pyramid about financing such a film, arguing that, given the number of invitations he received to lecture on titles, there was an educational market for a film on that subject. Discussions about a title reel started in the Bass office as early as October 1968, but research began in earnest in March 1973, when Morrie Marsh, Bass’s office manager, approached Bob Bouchet at Pyramid. At first, both film and television credits were going to be included. As Marsh noted in an
corporate identity and packaging campaigns and developed many of the logos that Bass became famous for; he also drew movie and event posters. Because Bass’s hand was apparently unsteady, Goodman prepared many of the final storyboards for Bass’s animated titles and films. According to designer Mamoru Shimokochi, “Art’s drawings were unique and extraordinary, always characterized by humor and a strong simple message.”24 When he first moved to Los Angeles after World War II, Goodman worked for Hal