Saul Bass Flashcards
Name of Saul Bass’s poster?
Rear window
When was rear window originally created?
1954
What’s the function?
To advertise the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery film.
It lets the public released and who is starring. This encourages them to buy tickets.
Is it fit for purpose?
Yes
It draws attention to the famous director and lead actor by showing names in white. This makes the names stand out to public and encourage them to buy tickets.
Saul bass has created mystery and intrigue through the chosen imagery of binoculars and the use of limited, dark, sinister colour palette. This attracts people who like these types of films.
What materials and techniques did Saul Bass use?
The original design was created using hand cut collaged paper. This created a bold, simple design that was very fashionable in the 50s.
It was then mass produced using the screen printing method.
What does the screen printing technique involve?
It involves printing one colour at a time through stencils on a mesh screen. This was the traditional method for mass production of posters in the 50s. It was time consuming and required lots of skill.
Target audience?
Fans of Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart.
Also Saul bass fans and collectors
Any visual impact?
Lots of visual impact as it has a striking, modern style, even though it was created in the 1954.
Due to the simple paper cut technique. Limited colour palette creates sinister mood. Sticks in your mind as it is not overly complex.
Style?
Modern simplified style, due to the cut paper method. This creates a cartoon style.
Influences.
Influenced by the Bauhaus style. This can be seen in the simple and straightforward images without any little details.
Also influenced by the Swiss design style which started in Switzerland in the 1940s. These posters wee very simple clear and direct. Recognised for using grids and asymmetric layouts.
Also influenced by German expressionist films of the 1920s. They involved straight edged capital letters and often involved high up spinning angles.
