Bass became widely known in the film industry after creating the title sequence for
Otto Preminger's
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's struggle to overcome his
heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid-1950s. Bass decided to create an innovative
title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as it is a strong image relating to heroin addiction. The titles featured an animated, white on black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he hoped, it caused a sensation. For Alfred Hitchcock, Bass provided effective, memorable title sequences, inventing a new type of
kinetic typography, for
North by Northwest (1959),
Vertigo (1958), working with
John Whitney, and
Psycho (1960). It was this kind of innovative, revolutionary work that made Bass a revered
graphic designer. Before the advent of Bass's title sequences in the 1950s, titles were generally static, separate from the movie, and it was common for them to be projected onto the cinema curtains, the curtains only being raised right before the first scene of the movie. In 1960, Bass wrote an article for
Graphis magazine called "Film Titles – a New Field for the Graphic Designer," which has been revered as a milestone for "the consecration of the movie credit sequence as a design object." One of the most studied film credit designers, Bass is known for integrating a stylistic coherence between the designs and the films in which they appear. Another philosophy that Bass described as influencing his title sequences was the goal of getting the audience to see familiar parts of their world in an unfamiliar way. Examples of this or what he described as "making the ordinary extraordinary" can be seen in
Walk on the Wild Side (1962) where an ordinary cat becomes a mysterious prowling predator, and in
Nine Hours to Rama (1963) where the interior workings of a clock become an expansive new landscape. In the 1950s, Saul Bass used a variety of techniques, from cut-out animation for
Anatomy of a Murder (1958), to fully animated mini-movies such as the epilogue for the
Best Picture Oscar winner
Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and live-action sequences. On occasion, Bass' title sequences were said to outshine the films they introduced. In reviewing
A Walk on the Wild Side (1962), more than half of New York Critics claimed that Bass' titles were better than the film itself. In 1962, Variety even suggested that Bass might no longer find work in the title field since there has been too frequent the use of the line: "The best thing about the film is the Saul Bass credits." In 1955,
Elaine Makatura came to work with Bass in his Los Angeles office. With the opening to
Spartacus (1960), she was directing and producing title sequences, and in 1961 the couple married, beginning more than 30 years of close collaboration. After the birth of their children, Jennifer in 1964 and Jeffrey in 1967, they concentrated on their family, film directing, and title sequences. Saul and Elaine designed title sequences for more than 30 years, continuously experimenting with a variety of innovative techniques and effects, from
Bunraku-style maneuvers in
Spartacus (1960), live-action sequences in
Walk on the Wild Side (1962), to time-lapse photography in
The Age of Innocence (1993), and even chopped liver in
Mr. Saturday Night (1992). Their live-action opening title sequences often served as prologues to their films and transitioned seamlessly into their opening scenes. These "time before" title sequences either compress or expand time with startling results. The title sequence to
Grand Prix (1966) portrays the moments before the opening race in Monte Carlo, the title sequence to
The Big Country (1958) depicts the days it takes a stage coach to travel to a remote Western town, and the opening montage title sequence to
The Victors (1963) chronicles the twenty-seven years between World War I and the middle of World War II, where the film begins. From the mid-1960s to the late '80s, Saul and Elaine moved away from main titles to focus on filmmaking and their children. About this time away from title design, Saul said: In the 1980s, Saul and Elaine were rediscovered by
James L. Brooks and
Martin Scorsese, who had grown up admiring their film work. For Scorsese, Saul and Elaine Bass created title sequences for
Goodfellas (1990),
Cape Fear (1991),
The Age of Innocence (1993), and
Casino (1995), their last title sequence. This later work with
Martin Scorsese saw the Basses move away from the optical techniques that Saul had pioneered and move into the use of computerized effects. The Basses' title sequences featured new and innovative methods of production and startling
graphic design. Screenwriter
Nicholas Pileggi said of Saul and Elaine Bass, "You write a book of 300 to 400 pages and then you boil it down to a script of maybe 100 to 150 pages. Eventually you have the pleasure of seeing that the Basses have knocked you right out of the ballpark. They have boiled it down to four minutes flat." In a sense, all modern opening title sequences that introduce the mood or theme of a film can be seen as a legacy of the Basses' innovative work. In particular, title sequences for some recent movies and television series, especially those whose setting is during the 1960s, have purposely emulated the graphic style of Saul Bass's animated sequences from the 1950s. Some examples of title sequences that pay homage to Bass's graphics and animated title sequences are
Catch Me If You Can (2002),
X-Men: First Class (2011), and the openings to the AMC series
Mad Men and TBS's
Conan. ==Selected film title sequences==