Saul Bass Title Design





Seconds, John Frankenheimer, 1966

“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr Bass.” Cecil B. DeMille has nothing on Saul Bass during the title sequence for Seconds, in which Mr. Bass uses the camera lens like an operating tool - an appropriate choice, as John Frankenheimer’s tale is one of identity alteration via experimental surgery - poking, prodding, stretching, and generally warping the poor head of his lone male subject.
Bass’ extreme close-ups of orifices - mouths, ears, eyes, nostrils - reveal the inherent horrors contained in the human face, while simultaneously pointing out the hollowness at the center of the film’s experiment.
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via the favs of one year by Martin Klasch