Saul and Elaine Bass Psycho

 Psycho: 

Scene 1: Non-diegetic music starts to play; it is a highly dramatic post-production sound, that is carried throughout the whole of the opening title sequence. Lines are seen to cross the screen carrying the opening credits. This abstract art form follows Saul Bass's usual style, this means the lines could be doing this to present the story as unstable. The colors are light and dark(black and grey) the contrasting colour used to present the credits is white it is bold and eyecatching, the credits are capitalized, most likely done to present the drama of the film. 

Scene 2: As the opening title appears, Psyco it splits into three sections and starts splitting and going back together to create a glitching effect. At this point, the non-diegetic music builds up expressing the drama of the tile. This is most likely done by Saul Bass to show the unstable personality of a psychopath which therefore foreshadows the character we will, later on, be presented with. 

 

Scene 3: The non-diegetic music continues and the lines continue to come from every direction carrying the opening credits, onto the screen. The lines continue like this for the majority of the opening title sequence. As it gets to the end of the scene the lines end up in the center of the screen conveying a sound wave following the music as it fades out, with a crossfade to the location the film is set in. 

 

Scene 4:We are shown an establishing shot of the location the film is set in, we are shown a pan from left to right of the city the opening is set in. We are shown credits of the location it is set in as well as the time and date, this indicates that it is important information to the film. The scene ends with a zoom into a window of a building. All together this opening title sequence is successful as it gives some context to the location it is set in as well as portrays the unstable characteristics of a psychopath, however, I do not believe this is Saul Bass's most successful opening title sequence as it is not very engaging in my personal opinion. 

   

Tone: 

The opening title sequence matches the tone of the play as the film itself is a dramatized murder, which is committed by a man who is shown to be clearly unstable, the owner of the motel is shown to be continuously disconnected with his emotions a clear example is when he explains his passion for taxidermy as more than a passion and a hobby as he spends more time on it than anything else, the character leaves the conversation by saying he studded more than just birds. This thereby reflects the tone of a psycho in the opening title sequence as it is broken just like the mentality of the killer.