Saul Bass and the Creative Impulse

Description

Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Saul Bass and the Creative Impulse, an intimate look at the work and processes of several seminal American artists, among them Saul Bass, the Titan of Title Sequences. While not unacknowledged, one might contend that Saul Bass, a master of credits, hasn’t been duly credited himself. So, we’ll begin the evening with an unusual, vaguely educational sort of short film, Why Man Creates (1968), directed by Bass. This film, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 1969, is a manically digressive, madcap essay that alternates between animation and live action (as did Bass’s title sequences), inquiring into that broad and most fascinating of topics, the creative impulse. And, since this program is partially a tribute to Bass, Why Man Creates will serve the foundational function to it that Bass’s title sequences did for their films, announcing the theme. Appropriately, our first case study is Bass himself, in Bass on Titles (1977), wherein he discusses his indelible contributions to such films as Man with a Golden Arm, It’s a Mad Mad Mad World, Seconds, West Side Story, Grand Prix, and Walk on the Wild Side. This titillating talk is interspersed with the complete corresponding title sequences, a rare privilege to see grouped together and in isolation from the films. The next creative workshop we’ll peak into will be that of Woody Allen, in Woody Allen: An American Comedy (1977). If you missed Woody in town shooting on location for his next film, or simply didn’t get your fill, you needn’t despair. See him up close in this film in which he discusses his creative process in delectable detail. His comic influences, entry into film, writing style, and interest in jazz are all at play here, as are clips of such early classics as Bananas, Sleepers, Annie Hall, and Love and Death. We’ll conclude our creative examination with USA Artists: Jasper Johns (1966), a meditative meeting with the gentle Johns, whose searing eyes and subdued demeanor slightly hypnotize as the painter muses on specific works, art in general, and remote existence in his sleepy South Carolina home. In sum, slough off your holiday hangover and come get inspired at Oddball in preparation for a new year!

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http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2012/12/saul-bass-and-creat...

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