comparison of Saul Bass

 comparison of Saul Bass's work alongside a modern-day example. 

Catch Me If You Can and Anatomy Of A Murder 

Scene 1:We are shown to be in an airport in the opening sequence, it is not as abstract as Saul Bass's work, It is made a lot clearer the location of the figure, the character is also half presented whereas in Saul Bass's work the character is never truly represented. There is no high colour contrast between the opening credits and what is going on behind them, they are just in black and capitalized. The non-diegetic post-production music follows Saul Bass's style however is more modern as it does not in-tale the same amount of dramatic sound as a usual opening title sequence of Saul Bass. We are shown an airport scene which reflects part of the film itself and we are shown that the character is in and out of different locations. The foreshadowing in Catch Me If You Can is much more predominant than Saul Bass's work as he is much more abstract with his foreshadowing whereas Catch Me If You Can is much clearer and tells the story in a much smaller time frame. In the airport we are also shown a detective-like character chasing the main character this is made obvious with a suit and pandora hat on the detective character these props are often associated with an old-fashioned detective, therefore, expressing this image. Each scene is very busy and there is a lot of movement which is also a major difference between Saul Bass's work as there is a lot more to look at with Catch Me If You Can. 

Scene 2:We are shown a road with four cars two of which are in colour being a taxi and a police car, due to the colour of the taxi we can see that one part of the film is based in America as it is yellow, there are only two cars in colour this is done so that our focus is drawn on these two cars, again this much more different to Saul Bass's opening title sequence as he usually keeps his colours to a minimum being black, grey and white. In Anatomy of a murder, the colours are kept to a minimum and the contrasting colour is white against the black, the post-production music is carried with a dramatic rhythm throughout the opening sequence. In Anatomy of a Murder, the story is not fully told it is done in a very abstract manner showing different shapes forming a body which is dismembered, Saul Bass's style leaves more to the imagination rather than Catch Me If You Can. Catch Me If You Can fully tell the story in a smaller time with animations that are quite obvious. 

Scene 3: In scene three we are shown different contrast in colours where our character goes through different places, changing what he is wearing while running away from the detective. Again unlike Saul Bass's work Catch Me If You Can use a lot more colours to express different locations and different events that are happing, such as the character imposing as a doctor and as a guest in a luxury resort, Catch Me If You Can relay the story exactly how it is from the opening sequence we know that the character imposes as different people, we know that it is taking place in different locations globally as well as we know he is being chased, whereas in Saul Bass's opening sequence of Anatomy of a murder it is much more simplistic and open to the imagination as the shapes are much more abstract to convey the setting and tone of the film, with Catch Me If You Can you feel much less like the tone is set and rather that the story has already been pre told. We can see that the lines from Psycho have been used as the credits in Catch Me If You Can are continuously attached to a line, which is a huge connection to Saul Bass's work. 

In conclusion, a lot can clearly be linked between Saul Bass's work and the work done in the opening title sequence of Catch Me If You Can, however, there are major differences that are shown between them such as colour contrast and use of colour as well as the non-diegetic post-production music which is shown to have a different tone to it compared to Anatomy Of Murder. Anatomy of murder is much more simplistic and gives away a lot less of the story compared to Catch Me If You Can, a lot less colour has been used in Anatomy Of a murder dictating a huge impact in the difference between the two opening sequences. In conclusion, however, I personally prefer the opening sequence of Catch Me If You Can as it lures the viewer in more than the opening title sequence of Anatomy of  A Murder, due to its use of colour compared. Both opening title sequences match the tone of the film itself, which is key to a successful opening title sequence. 

Honorable mentions that reflect Saul Bass's work: 'Mad Men', 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' etc.