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The Saul Bass Google Doodle Tribute And All The Actual Title Sequences.

I have long been a fan of late graphic designer Saul Bass and was thrilled to see today's Google Doodle tribute to him on what would be his 93rd birthday. Google took many of his most famous opening title sequences and closing credits for movies directed by Alfred Hitcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder and Stanley Kubrick amongst others and created their own versions of them.

above: Saul Bass on titles

I wanted to share the Goggle Doodle with you (for those who have yet to see it) and then follow it up with videos of all the actual title sequences so you can see the inspiration. Enjoy.

The Google Doodle Celebrating Saul Bass' 93rd Birthday:

Google a la Psycho:

Saul Bass title sequence - Psycho (1960)

Google a la Man With the Golden Arm:

Saul Bass title sequence - The Man With The Golden Arm (1955)

Google a la Spartacus:

Saul Bass title sequence - Spartacus (1960)

Google a la West Side Story:

Saul Bass title sequence - West Side Story (1961)

Google a la Vertigo:

Saul Bass title sequence Vertigo - (1958)

Google a la North by Northwest:

Saul Bass title sequence - North by Northwest (1959)

Google a la Anatomy Of A Murder:

Saul Bass title sequence - Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)

Google a la Oceans Eleven:

Saul Bass title sequence - Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Google a la Around the World in Eighty Days:

Saul Bass closing credits - Around The World in 80 Days (1956)
(The closing credits Saul Bass created for Around the world in eighty days were the longest and most expensive credits ever made, at the time. They cost $65,000.)
This video is not available on You Tube, but can be seen in its entirety here.

Art of the Title has a wonderful collection of many of his title sequences and closing credits.

And be sure to see my previous post on how Saul Bass inspires others here.

Django Unchained: The Official Teaser Poster, 20 Great Fan Posters and a look at the 1966 Django Movie Posters.

The official teaser movie artwork and poster designed by BLT Communications for Quentin Tarantino's "Southern" (don't call it a Western), Django Unchained, has been released.

The stylized graphic poster resembles those by the magnificent Saul Bass (whose West Side Story, Anatomy of A Murder and Vertigo movie posters are shown below) with its minimal color ink and flat two dimensional imagery.

The movie has inspired many designers and artists to create some of their own. I have compiled a large gallery of fan posters by scouring some of the best-known artist portfolio sites on the web, such as Society6, Deviant Art and Behance and other individual sites to share them with you. I've even included credits and links to purchase them as art prints, where available, for you.

by Joel Amat Guell:

by Deep Search (Society6):

by Luis Fernando Cruz (Society6):

By John Houzer Smith:

Three beautiful versions by Italian graphic designer Federico Mancuso:

by John Patten:

by Dcomp (Deviant Art):

by Fluidzen (DeviantArt):

by Shokxone-Stdios (DeviantArt):

by DazTibbles(DeviantArt):

by Crusty Dog (DeviantArt):

by BaoThao (DeviantArt):

by Ninjaiworks (DeviantArt) and on Behance:

by herbertroy (DeviantArt):

by N8MA (DeviantArt):

by Daniel of the UK's Screenhopping site:

by Jamie:

Here was an older poster design by an unknown artist made prior to actor Joseph Gordon Levitt having to pull out of the film:

While Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (scheduled for release on December 25, 2012) isn't a remake of the 1966 Django Western starring Franco Nero, it is in the "shoot-em-up" genre of Spaghetti Westerns and comparing the new posters to the 1966 movie posters is very interesting - especially given the 'retro' Saul Bass-like design of the official 2012 movie poster.

1966 International Movie Posters for Django and some subsequent sequels:
German:

French:

Japanese:

Italian (left) and Yugoslavian (right):

Spanish:

German DVD version:

A special thanks to all posters and the movie poster shop for the vintage poster images

Since the movie isn't scheduled for release until about six months from now, I'm sure we'll be seeing many more fabulous non-official posters for Django Unchained - and I intend to keep you updated.

The Official Django Unchained Movie Site

See all Int'l versions of the official teaser poster here.

UPDATED: Saul Bass Inspires YouTubers, Designers and More.

above: Designer Saul Bass (1920-1996) and some of his famous work

For those of you who are unfamiliar with designer Saul Bass (and shame on you!), let me start by introducing you to some of his most famous title sequences:

Anatomy of A Murder:

Ocean's 11:

Bunny Lake IS Missing:

The site Not Coming To A Theater Near You has a wonderful feature on all of Saul Bass' title design sequences.

Saul Bass has always been heralded as an amazing designer. He worked with directors like Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock repeatedly and was and is highly regarded as one of the best graphic designers of all time. Now, some very clever and creative folks have been making their own versions of Saul Bass' famous graphics and sharing them on youtube.

"If Star Wars was filmed two decades earlier and Saul Bass did the opening title sequence, it "might" look like this...

This was part of a school project. The song is "Machine" by the Buddy Rich Band off the album Big Swing Face (1967). Note: I'm aware of the errors in the video (spelling, Max Rebo), but I chose to leave them because the video is still enjoyable. This was just for fun and NOT a serious artistic endeavor! Oh, and you MUST watch the video response by brooksy362436. Brilliant!"

--YouTuber Bhilmers, age 36, USA

So, of course, I then had to see the video response by You Tuber Brooksy362436 (Daniel, age 33, UK):

"The original video is utterly fantastic, but since it has been made there have been huge technical advancements. Now the video can be remade exactly how the author intended it all those weeks ago. "

And here are some other wonderful youtube homages to Saul Bass' style:

Titanic Vs. Saul Bass

Dark Knight Vs. Saul Bass:

Jurassic Park Title Saul Bass Style:

So, now that I got the Saul Bass bug, I did a little more surfing and found some fun posts and items. The blog, Focus Pull, has a great post on 10 contemporary movie posters that were inspired by Saul Bass. See them here.

Above: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead movie poster clearly influenced by Saul Bass' movie posters for Anatomy Of A Murder and Man With The Golden Arm

There are many wonderful contemporary illustratos who have been inspired by Saul Bass.
Two of my favorites are:
Olly Moss
Hexagonall

Feeling inspired? Try creating some Saul bass work of your own, especially now that you can download the "Hitchcock" font in Mac postscript or Windows designed by Matt Terich and available from Typographica here.