Saul Bass Title Opening Sequence Research

Saul Bass
May 8th 1920 - April 25th 1996

The video below shows the title opening sequence of the 1960's Ocean's Eleven which was created by a man who was well-known for his designs on animated motion picture title sequences.






The title opening sequence above shows the abilities of Saul Bass for what he is well-known for by creating an animated opening to this particular film with the appearing and dissapearing names and numbers. 


Plot


A band of soldier friends from the 82nd airborne regroup 15 years later to rob millions of dollars from five Las Vegas casinos. When one of the eleven's future step-father learns who pulled the job, the crew must find a way to smuggle the loot out of town before their payoff is cut in half.


Genre


The title opening sequence that I have shown on this blog suggests that this film is a Comical Crime based film which will therefore appear more interesting as a film to a broader audience. Such things as the mans coat right at the end of this video clip suggest elements of crime will occur throughout the entirety of the film. This is because this coat has familiarities to that of a Agent of the force such as Crime Investigative Agent.





Also you could link this title opening sequence to that of a Action film because by the usage of either Casino lights or bullet holes for the numbers at the start means that somewhere within the film there will be moments/elements of Action.

Casino Lights

Camerawork

Throughout this title sequence we as an audience aren't shown any characters who feature within the film until the end of this short clip when we are shown a long shot of a middle classed man walk into a shop through the front door. Therefore the camerawork of this title opening sequence isn't the main concentration around the title opening sequence due to the fact that the animated numbers and names take up most of the time period given for this particular title opening sequence. 

Mise-en-scene 

The tiltle opening sequence I have managed to show on my blog shows the same font throughout in order to count the numbers and to show the name of the actors/actresses until, they finally reach the number 11 when we finally have a different type of font for the actually wording used in order to show the people who are invovled within the film.

The start of the title sequence shows a dark background whilst having the bright numbers and text being disolved between each other through transactions. This has been done in order to make sure that the numbers and text stand out to the audience whilst they are watching this title opening sequence. Also these colour are used because the film is based around Las Vegas and this area is well-known for its bright lights through the city. 

At the start of this video link we as the audience are presented with the original soundtrack from the Warner Bros. Pictures company so that we can relate to who has managed to produce this film. After this we are then given a high pitch up beat piece of music which goes along with the quick moving title in order to keep the flow of this video going whilst suggesting moments of action because of this high paced music. Towards the end of this video we are then introduced to some jazz music once we finally reach the name of the film.

This particular title opening sequence has used a vast amount of editing in order to create the movements for the numbers and names of people invovled throughout. Such editing techniques as dissolve are used throughout the video transition in order to create the effect of somebody counting up from one to eleven.  Also these video transitions are used to make sure that this title opening seuqence flows smooth for the audience in order to add interest for the viewers.

(The images below show the video transition I have described above)