Saul Bass, similar to Lotte Reiniger, was one of the early pioneers of the worldwide animation scene. He was most famous for his work on title sequences, film posters and also corporate logos. Not only did he win an Academy Award, but he was also credited with working with Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese.
In his early years, he designed print advertising posters for films like Champion and The Moon Is Blue, directed by Otto Preminger. Things changed for Bass when Preminger, so impressed with a poster he had designed for a different film called Carmen Jones, asked him to create the title sequence for the same film. This was when Bass realised just how important the title and closing sequences for films were. He saw the opening sequence as an opportunity to captivate the audience within the earliest moments of the film.
His main use of cut-out animation was for the title sequence for Anatomy of Murder, and also for a fully animated short sequence as an epilogue for Around the World in 80 Days. Many TV shows and movies use his ideas and even pay homage to his work, particularly those set in the 1960s which is when Bass rose to prominence. Two films that use animated title sequences like Bass’ are Catch Me If You Can and X-Men: First Class. One major TV series that also uses a similar title sequence is that of the AMC series Man Men. However, in theory any opening sequence of a movie, animated or not, could be said to pay tribute to Bass due to his excessive work in this field.