Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 82, a monthly screening of new finds, old gems and offbeat oddities from the archive. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled his 82nd program of classic, strange, offbeat and unusual films. This month we present Strange Sinema 82: The Wild World of Saul Bass. Films include the Oddball audience favorite Bass on
Titles (1982), a documentary showcasing one of
the 20th century’s legendary graphic designers, filmmakers and title producers
- Saul Bass and featuring some
of the designer’s iconic title sequences and logos and Why Man
Creates (1969), a series of explorations,
episodes and comments on creativity by Saul Bass and winner of the Oscar for
Best Documentary Short in 1969. Other films include highlights from the International Clio Awards
(1966), Madmen style award-winning
commercials like ads for Westinghouse Jet Set appliances, Colt 45 Malt Liquor
and the infamous Noxzema sexy shaving cream “Take it Off” commercial as well as Maurits Escher (MC Escher) (1988), a short doc of M.C.
Escher, noted Dutch surrealist, mathematician, and graphic artist whose work has
had a major influence in the arts worldwide. Plus
trailers for films with Bass-designed titles sequences and more!
Date: Friday, November 21st, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:
Bass on Titles (Color, 1982)
The
work of Academy Award winner Saul Bass (Why
Man Creates) covers the full range of the design spectrum, from feature
film titles, corporate logos and product design to directing his own films
about perception and creativity. In this film Bass talks about the evolution of
the thematic title sequences that open and close many of the great productions
of cinema. The design of these symbols involves the search for an elusive
visual statement that instantaneously communicates the film’s intent while
generating public interest. Title sequences included are the iconic Man With the Golden Arm, West Side Story, Nine Hours to Rama, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, A Walk on the Wild Side and many
more.
Why
Man Creates (Color, 1969)
A series of explorations,
episodes and comments on creativity by Saul Bass, a master of conceptual
design, this film is one of the most highly regarded short films ever produced.
Humor, satire and irony are combined with serious questions about the creative
process and how it comes into play for different individuals. A fascinating
cornucopia of trenchant ideas and important truths it’s transgressive and
insightful, way-out and weird. Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short
in 1969.
The Clio Awards (1966)
Madmen style award-winning commercials like ads for
Westinghouse Jet Set appliances, Colt 45 Malt Liquor, the infamous Noxzema sexy
shaving cream “Take it Off” commercial, Simmons Matresses “Love Birds” and much
more!
Maurits
Escher (MC Escher) (Color, 1988)
Documentary of M.C. Escher, noted
Dutch surrealist, mathematician, and artist who produced puzzle like morph
images, graphic artist whose work combines fact, fantasy, mirror images, and
symmetrical shapes.
About Saul Bass
One
of the greatest graphic designers of the 20th century, Saul Bass was born on
May 8, 1920 in Bronx, New York. He became known for designing brilliant
animated sequences for motion pictures. In his 40+ year career he did work for
the best Hollywood movie makers including Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock,
Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and many more.
Bass
designed title sequences for over 50 feature films, including classics such as The Man With the Golden Arm, Psycho, Casino, West Side Story,
Anatomy of a Murder and dozens
of others. He won numerous awards, including an Oscar in 1969 for best
documentary for Why Man Creates.
In 1965 won Lion of San Marco award for Best Film about Adolescence for the
film The Searching Eye.
Bass was also well known in the publishing/advertising industry, having
designed the corporate identity of United Airlines, AT+T, the poster for the
1984 Los Angeles Olympic games and dozens of iconographic logos still used
today. He died on April 25, 1996 in Los Angeles.
Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design
Be on the lookout later
this year for our friend Jan-Christopher Horak's book Saul Bass: Anatomy of
Film Design, available in November.
Horak is a film historian and the director of the UCLA Film + Television
Archive. Click here for more information
on the book click here:
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=3865#.VGauEVfF_CY
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About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.