Monday 18 January 2010

The Man With The Golden Arm title sequence by Saul Bass

The Man With The Golden Arm - Otto Preminger
Title sequence - Saul Bass



The title sequence is simple, made entirely of a plan black background, with white lines across the frame creating a cut out effect. The white against black makes a dramatic impact, perhaps giving the impression of a dramatic film.
It creates an eerie effect, giving the sequence a tense mood from the beginning. Also, at first the lines appear to be random, with no sense or pattern to them, creating a confusing design that may confuse the audience and hints that the rest of the film may be strange and confusing.
Right at the end of the sequence the lines blend to make an arm, showing that the lines are actually symbolising veins within someones arm, giving hints towards a character in the film whose arm is involved, generally connotated with the idea of injecting drugs into the veins.
This instantly creates a darker mood and gives the impression that the whole film will have a slightly darker atmosphere.
The soundscore for this sequence is highly contrasted to the images as it is quite an up beat jazzy piece. However, this could be quite ironic as it shows the way that a heroin addict feels as though they are happy and feels great when they are on the drugs, when in reality it is ruining them.

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