Unless you start every film at chapter 2 you have no doubt seen the work of Saul Bass, graphic designer and master of film titles.
Saul Bass was one of the first to seize on the potential storytelling power of the opening and closing credits of a film. He used a number of styles (animation, live action, type treatments) to create credits for films as diverse as Casino (1995) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

What he created were opening credit sequences that did not simply announce the credits and open the movie, they were instead a logical extension of the film.

Each sequence was in it’s self a short film that prepared the viewer for what was to come. In his closing credit sequences, he worked to give the story a ’semi-prologue’, to give the viewer a chance to continue the experience of the film while bringing it to a close.

More about Bass can be found at digital media fx.

North by Northwest is by far my favorite title sequence of all time. Here is some of his work in no specific order.

North by Northwest

The Man With The Golden Arm

Casino

Vertigo

Anatomy of a Murder

Why Man Creates

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Grand Prix

Seconds

End Credits for West Side Story

Psycho