Saul Bass was an American graphic designer best known for his pioneering motion picture title sequences over four decades working with directors like Hitchcock, Preminger, Kubrick, and Scorsese. He began his career doing print work for films but realized the importance of titles when asked to design the sequence for Otto Preminger's 1954 film Carmen Jones. Bass aimed to set the mood and convey the film's story metaphorically to give audiences an emotional connection before the film began. He became popular for his controversial title sequence for The Man with the Golden Arm featuring an animated paper cut-out arm representing heroin addiction. Through visual storytelling, Bass turned pictures and words into memorable experiences for audiences.

1. Saul bass

2. Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996)Bass was a American graphic designer who is best known for his motion picture title sequences.His career spanned over four decades working alongside Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick & Martin Scorsese.Who was Saul Bass?

3. "Design is thinking made visual."Bass begin his career as a Hollywood doing print work for film ads until he met Otto Preminger to design the film poster for his 1954 film Carmen Jones. Bass’s work was so impressive that Otto asked him to design the title sequence for the film . It was at this point that Bass realized the importance of the closing and opening credits of a film so he created something inspiring. Bass has said "My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime underlying core of the film's story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it."

4. Bass became popular after her designed the title sequence for The Man with the Golden Arm(1955). The plot of the film was about a jazz musician‘s finding it very difficult to quit heroin and dealing with his personal addiction, this was a taboo subject in the 1950’s. Bass decided to create a controversial title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to drug addiction. The titles featured an animated, black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he expected, it was well received.

5. Saul Bass has turned pictures and words into stories for audiences to understand and remember he was truly a pioneer and well ahead of his time.