Saul Bass Title Opening Sequence:

Information – Theme, Character, Location, Narrative


Bright colours used to possibly indicate that the film maybe happy or upbeat. Towards the end of the sequence we see a male character with a suite on, possibly a city worker going to work o Christmas day. The design throughout the title opening sequence was graphically designed on a computer so no precise     location was identified. However towards the end of the scene we see the character uptown.

From the get go, with Saul bass use of bright colours and upbeat music, the audience are straight away informed that the film being watched is likely to be fast paced end to end stuff. With all the different colours that Saul bass expresses it indicates that it may possibly have a Christmas happy environment or a Vegas out going environments. For example The Hangover. There’s no mention of a character until the film starts but from what we saw it shows that it’s a male, possibly a city worker working uptown. Genre - Crime comedy A hybrid of crime and comedy films. Mafia comedies look at organized crime from a comical standpoint. Humor often comes from the incompetence of the criminals or dark comedy. Examples include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, In Bruges, Fargo and Mafia Camera Work  No camera work used but it was a graphic animated sequence.The use of animated sequence was effective. Saul bass used pixelated number and very bright lighting on the numbers that were appearing. This is very similar to the lights in Las Vegas. Saul bass cleverly did this to show and emphasize that the film was going to be about gambling or Las Vegas somehow. Mise-en-scene – Lighting, movement, figure, props, costume, colour, cinematography, Font, Type Colour – back background and various other bright colours Font - Animated and pixelated Props – no props where used but they were shown within the animated design. For example cards and fruit machine. With the black background, when the bright colours are expressed it stands out and makes the audience aware that it’s likely to be a fun and fast paced movie.Animated and pixelated font that Saul Bass uses in the title opening sequence is very similar to the lighting of Las Vegas streets. For example the casino’s. This informs the audience that the film is going to have reference to gambling. This is further emphasized when Saul bass shows props within the design such as the cards and the fruit machine. This shows the audience that the film is going to have reference to gambling and casino’s. Sound The music that was used was an in time with the 60’s. It was very upbeat and fast paced.With the music being in time with the 60’s it helps the audience to get a rough idea of what the time period is.  The pace of it indicates that the film is going to be fast paced and possibly funny has some of the music has humour. For example when the credits mention a female actress, the music changes to a more erotic sexy sound, which some audience members may find it funny. Editing Crossover Dissolve - This is used by Saul bass to make the sequence flow smoother. For example instead of changed in the number from 1 to 2, it will look rather tacky and wont flow but the use of dissolve makes it look polished and much more smoother.