Name: EXP TV presents: The Short Films of Saul & Elaine Bass
Start: 2023-09-23T19:00:00-07:00
End: 2023-09-23
Location: Philosophical Research Society

EXP TV presents: The Short Films of Saul & Elaine Bass

The Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles is a nonprofit cultural and educational organization which presents concerts, film screenings, lectures, performance art and theatre events, gallery exhibits and more on the intersection between the creative arts and mythology, mysticism and metaphysics.

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EXP TV  & The Philosophical Research Society proudly co-present the stunning and groundbreaking short films of Saul and Elaine Bass!

Philosophical Research Society

EXP TV at PRS

EXP TV is…a 24/7 live TV channel broadcasting an endless stream of obscure media and video ephemera at exptv.org. EXP stands for… experimental, expanded, experiential, expert, exploration, expressive, expounded, exposed, explained, expeditionary, unexpect

EXP TV and The Philosophical Research Society proudly co-present the stunning and groundbreaking short films of legendary creative power couple Saul and Elaine Bass!“I believe in a long, prolonged derangement of the senses in order to obtain the unknown.” - Jim MorrisonEXP TV is…a 24/7 live TV channel broadcasting an endless stream of obscure media and video ephemera at <a href="https://www.exptv.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">exptv.org</a>. EXP stands for… experimental, expanded, experiential, expert, exploration, expressive, expounded, exposed, explained, expeditionary, unexpected, exponents, expatriot, expedited, expectorant, exposure, expelled, expendable, expensive, express, exploded, expired…EXP TV!“It’s a barrage of strange imagery and is really quite an inspired—not to say elaborate and work intensive—art project.” - Dangerous Minds7:00 ➌ THE SHORT FILMS OF SAUL &amp; ELAINE BASS––Arts	 Feat. Why Man Creates, Notes on the Popular Arts, The Solar Film, and Quest“Saul Bass wasn’t just an artist who contributed to the first several minutes of some of the greatest movies in history -- in my opinion his body of work qualifies him as one of the best filmmakers of one of this, or any other time.” - Steven SpielbergEven if you don’t know his name, you know and love the art of Saul Bass. Ubiquitous and distinctive, Bass’s groundbreaking work as an artist and filmmaker left an immeasurable impact on the realm of the popular arts. From seminal Mad Men era advertisements and TV commercials to classic, enduring logos (AT&amp;T, The Girl Scouts, United Way, Kleenex and United Airlines, to name but a handful). From vibrant, and oft-copied, movie posters (including Vertigo, The Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, and The Shining) to striking album covers for artists as diverse as Sinatra to Stomu Yamashta. But he is most renowned for the unparalleled artistry of his revolutionary title sequences for the likes of Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese, and, most famously, Alfred Hitchcock – among a multitude of others. A consummate auteur, a Bass title sequence is often better than many feature films! As if that was not enough, Bass’s work as a visual consultant for films resulted in some of the most memorable moments in film history, including the climactic battle in Kubrick’s Spartacus, West Side Story’s explosive opening scenes, and the moment most think of when they think “Hitchcock” – the shocking shower sequence in Psycho – which he envisioned, storyboarded and co-directed. In total, Saul Bass can be considered one of the most influential artists of the latter 20th Century.However, it’s a criminal misnomer to simply refer to “his artistry” and “his impact” when Saul was half of one of the arts’ greatest power couples, with his wife and collaborator Elaine Bass. Elaine and Saul worked side by side, and few personal/professional creative partnerships’ processes were as reciprocal, egalitarian, and intertwined. “Elaine is the only person whose artistic judgments and sense of appropriateness I completely trust,” said Saul. “She is an ideas person who also comes up with imaginative ways of making those ideas happen...Our interactions are always very lively, very probing. It’s as though we’re climbing a mountain together.” She co-created the bulk of the most legendary title sequences (and single handedly produced/directed the amazing opening credits for Spartacus). Throughout his career, Bass always used “our” and “we” when referring to their work, and yet history, as it so often does, has largely erased the legacy of her titanic talents.Nowhere was their enmeshed creativity more evident than in their collection of extraordinary short films, which they co-conceived, co-directed and co-produced. After creating prologues, epilogues, and internal sequences, the Basses were ready to make films of their own with beginnings, middles, and ends. Inspired by the inventive vitality of experimental filmmakers like Jean Cocteau, Maya Deren, and Kenneth Anger – while the Basses shorts were ostensibly linear (and far more effervescent than those aforementioned), their experimental approach “often used nonsequential structures that relied on an accumulation of images, mood ideas, and narratives.” After decades of honing their keen eyes, “they were adept at fashioning an impressionistic whole out of individual sequences that added up to more than the sum of their parts”*. Commissioned by corporations who (what a different time) actually offered more creative freedom than they’d find in Hollywood, the Basses transcended the potential trappings of their assignments (by having nothing to do with the particulars of their commissioners – their names are never even mentioned) to create visually stunning, award-winning shorts that brim with wonder, whimsy, and deep meaning. To call these films “industrial” or “educational” films would be wholly inaccurate. These are films that stand on their own as truly great works of art which employ a wide range of cinematic techniques, including special effects, animation, live action, fast cutting, split screen, wide screen, zoom photography and underwater photography to create shorts that, despite their running times, exude a playfulness and exuberance unmatched by most feature films. EXP TV and the Philosophical Research Society are proud to co-present a selection of these now-underseen landmark short films!Pat Kirkham, co-author of Saul Bass: A Life in Design, will join via Zoom to introduce this very special screening! Featuring:Why Man Creates (1968, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Co., 29 mins) - Who else but the Basses could take a commission from an aluminum company and turn it into an Oscar winning film that celebrates creativity? Saul Bass told Kaiser, who wanted to promote their company’s creativity and ingenuity, “The best thing you could do is deal with the subject of creativity directly, in an exciting way.” What resulted is a humorous film brimming with (you guessed it!) creativity, using a mixture of offbeat animation and live action sequences. Why Man Creates went on to screen at film festivals and air on TV and became one of the most successful short films ever made (in terms of awards won and number of film prints sold), later inducted into the National Film Registry of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films.”Preserved by The Academy Film ArchiveNotes on the Popular Arts (1977, Warner Communications, 20 mins) - Commissioned by Warner Communications, who initially conceived of the project as a kind of annual report, the Basses instead conceived of a brilliant commentary on “the notion that we create fantasy worlds through television, music, comics, books, and movies to compensate for the difficulties of real life.” Through a series of imaginative vignettes which explore each of these arts, what resulted was a hilariously witty, subversive, and (as always) visually impressive film that incorporates a host of innovative cinematic techniques and nabbed them another Oscar nomination. Restored by The Academy Film ArchiveThe Solar Film (1980, Consumer Action Now, 28 mins) - Commissioned by environmental organization Consumer Action Now, executive produced by Robert Redford, and perhaps more relevant now than ever, the Oscar-nominated The Solar Film is a remarkably gorgeous paean to the awesome power of the sun. Examining humanity’s worship of and reliance on sunlight throughout history, and the urgent ecological need to harness solar energy, the Basses’s mastery of images succeed at making the familiar feel almost alien, evoking a miraculous sense of wonder and awe for the simple beauty of sunlight. Perhaps no other Bass film embodies their ethos of transforming the simple into the extraordinary. “We see the challenge in getting things down to something totally simple, and yet doing something with it, which provokes; to achieve a simplicity, which also has a certain ambiguity and a certain metaphysical implication that makes simplicity vital,” said Saul. “What we do is reach for some way to make people sit up and pay attention to what we want to say.”Courtesy of Pyramid MediaQuest (1983, Mokichi Okada Association, 30 mins) – Simply put, Quest is one of the most visually incredible sci-fi films of all time. Commissioned by a mysterious Japanese cultural institution which espoused physical and spiritual holistic regeneration via the principles of “Truth, Beauty, Organic Processes and Light,” the Basses were given total creative freedom to realize their vision for this unbelievably striking otherworldly fantasy. Co-written by master of speculative fiction Ray Bradbury, the film tells the story of a society descended from a crashed spaceship crew, who dwell in their desolate planet’s caves, hidden from bitterly cold nights and sweltering days. Through its storyline in which these inhabitants live and die within an eight-day span, Bradbury and the Basses deliver a fascinating meditation on the relative nature of time. In the titular quest, a young boy (played by Noah Hathaway, best known as Atreyu in The Neverending Story) must embark on a perilous voyage through the planet’s strange landscapes in search of the crashed ship in the hopes of escape and a longer lifespan for its inhabitants. Among Quest’s most ardent admirers was George Lucas, who was so impressed by its special effects that he screened it for his staff at Industrial Light and Magic. Atmospheric, transportive, and now considered a science fiction cult classic by those in the know, do not miss this rare opportunity to see Quest on the big screen! Courtesy of Pyramid MediaSpecial thanks to The Academy Film Archives, Jennifer Bass, and Pat Kirkham*Quotations taken from Bass and Kirkham’s Saul Bass: A Life in DesignTickets: $15 (In-Person Only Event)Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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EXP TV presents: The Short Films of Saul & Elaine Bass

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EXP TV presents: The Short Films of Saul & Elaine Bass

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