Personal analysis: Saul Bass- Walk on the wild side.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/walk-on-the-wild-side/
The first thing we see in the title sequence for walk on the wild side is the production company names. However the first thing we notice is the music. The music has a sense of mystery to it making the audience wonder what the film will be about and if there is a big mystery and what it could possibly be, this makes the audience intrigued and want to watch on. The production company name then fades in and a pair of cat eyes appear, this is quickly joined by the rest of the body. The camera then begins to zoom in on the cat, this could suggest that the cat is of some importance to the film and is something we could expect to see fairly often. The title then fades into the screen and fades out to an aerial shot of the same black cat walking down a street, the names of who is starring then appear. This then fades out to a side view of the cat walking down a street, this could suggest change within the main characters life or a change within in the film. It then fades to a shot of the cats body walking towards the camera, this could suggest that any problems in the film may be faced head-on. A little later there is a side shot of the cat in front of a fence, it when switches to behind the fence, this could suggest that something bad happens in the film  and the main character/a character ends up either in prison or in stuck somewhere/somehow. Sometimes the cat cannot be seen as it is being blocked by something, this suggests that, again, there is a sense of mystery to the film, as we want to know why the cat is walking behind things that obstruct our view of it.
There is then a scene of a fight with another cat. This suggests drama within the film, so there may be a dramatic fight where someone gets injured but the main character comes out find, just like the black cat does. It could also suggest a fight between 2 races as one cat is black and the other white. This scene is very fast paced which suggests that the film is calm and peaceful until something very bad happens. This then fades out to the black cat walking alone again. The fact that the cat is walking alone and fights with the only other cat along his journey suggests that one of the characters likes to be alone and doesn't make friends particularly easy. This then fades out to a man standing alone near a road in the middle of nowhere. This relates to the cat because like the man, he was always alone. This tells us this character is often alone and does not have many friends, a car then drives down the road and the man tries to hitchhike but they drive straight past him, this again, like the cat, suggests he does not make friends easily and people would rather leave this man alone.  The screen then blacks out and the sequence ends at 03:03 minutes long.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was born on the 8^th of May 1920 on died on the 25^th of April 1996 at the age of 75. He was an American graphic designer who was best known for his designs of motion picture title sequences, film posters and logo designs, he is also known as one of the greatest graphic designers of the 20^th century. He became well known in the film industry in 1955 after creating the title sequence for ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’.  The film is about a man called Frankie Machine, he is a skilled card dealer and a one-time heroin addict, and he spends 6 months in jail and rehab to help him. When he is released his old drug dealer gets in touch with him to restart his old habit but Frankie doesn’t want any of it, His drug dealer Louie is then killed and the police suspect his old buyer Frankie. Bass chose an arm as the central image of the title sequence, he chose it because it’s strong image relating to the central characters heroin addiction. 

 Bass is famous for his use of simple, geometric shapes and their symbolism. He uses these shapes to create abstract images. Often in his work the images he creates delivers powerful messages to the audiences. These shapes were hand drawn by Bass himself. He had a talent of creating images with powerful meanings and could easily capture the mood of a film with the simple shapes 
and designs he came up with.Even though Bass is most famous for his work in film he started off creating film posters, He was first hired by director and producer Otto Preminger. He then moved onto creating title sequences, creating ‘Carmen Jones’ (1954) as his first one. After working hard to become one of the most well-known graphic designers he was rewarded with an Oscar in 1968 for his short film Why Man 
Creates. 

Bass once described his main goal for his title sequences as being to ‘’try to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story”.