Thomas Edison introduced the title sequence in 1897 to prevent piracy, creating the cinematic tradition of opening titles in 1908 for the film ‘Bronco Billy’. Title sequences were irrelevant to the world of cinema up until the 1950’s, as the opening titles played as the curtain rose and many of them were the same content just slightly adjusted to the theme of the movie. (Miller, 2021).

In 1954, with the release of Carmen Jones, Bass wanted to change the outlook on opening titles and create one that would provide additional content to the films story. Saul Bass worked alongside Carmen Jones producer Preminger to write letters to theatres asking them to help make opening titles a fundamental part of cinema by raising the curtains before playing the titles and allowing the viewers to get a feel of the movie before it even begins. (Crook, 1986) Bass’s work for Carmen Jones was the first example of his exquisite work which ran smoothly as if it had a beginning, middle and end all based around a single symbol or icon that represented each film. His innovation to use the opening seconds of a movie as a prologue to create the mood, set the tone and build an underlying story (Meggs, 1997) has made Bass the admired designer he is seen to be today, having worked on films for Oscar Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock such as North by Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho and The Man with The Golden Arm.

By 1970, such a significant impact had been made with more cast and crew getting credited for their roles in the opening titles, so much so they had to create end credits, so the opening titles were not so long. Although today the main title sequence is found at the end of the movie, normally in an animated form alongside the end credits. The integral opening title sequence of Saul Bass remains in the form of a recap, a backstory or a sequence with the main actor's names.