Saul Bass Vs. Star Wars

Saul Bass (1920 - 1996) was a talented designer whose fame came from many of the opening title sequences featured on Alfred Hitcock's films. I saw the Star Wars version inspired Saul Bass version and was hooked. Below are title sequences for Hitcock's "Anatomy of a Murder".

In both examples, look at how the shapes create interesting compositions. Its interesting in the Star Wars piece how the main elements and characters of the film were stripped down to simple graphic icons. Also, pay close attention to how the transitions occur and how they move into the next composition. It works well on a simple and pure level and as you'll see, the style was even used for the fun rhythmic opening title sequence of Pixar's Monster's Inc.