Saul Bass

The inventor of the modern film title, brought motion in graphics into cinema.  Saul Bass say graphics as a way to create a climate for the story that was about to come to life.  He saw the opening credits as a way to set up the mood and texture of the film.  With his graphics, he could tell the story behind the film, and lure the audience into the film.  He saw everyday things, and wanted to put them into a new light.  With the movie "Walk on the Wild Side" he took an ordinary cat and created a mysterious, dominant, masculine feeling just from the angle of the shot and the way the cat moved.  He also had a way with selecting fonts that went with the theme of the film.  His graphics and his text were designed to emulate the emotions of the film.  in "West Side Story" he didn't show the credits at the beginning.  He waited until the end of the film, because it was a tragedy and wanted to give the movie the respect it deserved.  By holding off on the credits, it allowed the audience to still around after the tragic ending and kinda collect themselves.  Also with "West Side Story" the ending credits were graffiti style, to go along with the motif of the film.  This direction of artistic design, helped portray the importance of the graffiti in the film.  Bass brought the ambiance of the film to the titles, with motion.  Bass helped launch films by also creating the film's posters.  He did poster like, "The Man with the Golden Arm", It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", and "Nine Hours to Roma".  He was the inventor of motion graphics, and the pivotal point of motion pictures.  Motion graphics have changed films and the rest of the world forever.  They started in film and have expanded to computer backgrounds, creation of own typography, and cell phones.  This branch into other areas is all because one guy wanted to make graphics move across the screen.