They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but a successful movie always starts
by fully grabbing the attention of its audience and effectively saying, "Watch me.
I am the most interesting thing you have seen all day".
I was only commenting last month in this forum about the wonderful opening title
sequence created by graphic designer
Saul Bass for the 1966 John Frankeheimer
movie, Grand Prix. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RILdsjeL_4
Today Google celebrates what would have been the 93rd birthday of Saul Bass,
if he had still been alive today.
Saul Bass was a master of creating an opening title sequence that would grab the
attention of the audience once the ads and trailers were finished and
the main feature started.
Bass created many iconic opening title sequences, including for Hitchcock's
Vertigo,
Psycho and
North by Northwest.
Then there was that fabulous opening sequence in one of my favourite movies,
Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1A7bJD3atk
And the disturbing opening to another of my favorite films, Seconds,
unfortunately rarely shown today -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDgIGRuLdPk
And the "do I have your full attention" opening to Scorsese's Casino -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMva00IO0zA
Bass also created the logos for some of the world's biggest corporations.
Click on today's Google title for the montage homage to Saul Bass.
http://www.google.com.au/ 