What If?

Metropolis
Online Greenlight Review
Danni Foley

Saul Bass
Saul Bass is a graphic designer who is most commonly known through his creation of promotional
posters for films and his typography during the 20th century. Bass is also known for his creation of title
sequences which originally brought him to stardom for films such as The Man with the Golden Arm
1955
Bass and his wife whom he worked closely with throughout his career have created some of the most
iconic movie posters with a style similar to that of german expressionism. During his career Bass
worked for some of hollywoods greatest filmmakers from Alfred Hitchcock to Stanley Kubrick creating

memorable title sequences and kinetic typography. Bass during his career has also created some iconic
corporate logos for companies such as United Airlines.
From the mid 60s to the 80s Bass and his wife moved away from creating work for huge titles but Bass
was later rediscovered and convinced into making work for main titles such as Goodfellas 1990 and
Casino 1995 Basss last sequence. Basss work from poster designs to main title sequences introduced
the mood and theme to the film with just his simple work of creating a title sequence.

Ostwyn
As you're traveling across the expanse of rocky terrain, you set your eyes upon the City of Lights, an expanse of screens
and electricity surrounded by a canvas of bright stars and galaxies. Your sights begin to be illuminated from the sheer
light produced from Ostwyn, the light bouncing from one metallic building to another until it reaches your eyes. From the
distance, the outskirts appear to be broken, illuminated by few lights but as the eye wonders further into the cities
depths the city is illuminated by new bright screens and the buildings appear more sharp and updated. The cities towers
almost within the reach of clouds, almost grasping their magnificent tops.
As you enter Ostwyns city walls -formed from jagged black metal protruding from the ground- you walk among its erratic
inhabitants, venturing out into their city. The outskirts, evidently worn with cables hanging broken, producing the odd
spark above the streets of its inhabitants and old billboards with bland and torn advertisements, abandoned in favour of
flat screens of the same size, which produce extravagant moving images. Few street lamps litter the area, emitting orbs
of light, yet they do not compare to that of the light produced by the screens smothered across the cities great expanse.
A smatter of small shops and bars line the streets, leading further into the city, each lit with their own unique sign to
attract the passer-bys.
As you delve deeper, the city of Ostwyn begins to form and change into different levels as it becomes more populated,
platforms formed from dark shiny metal -which glistens in the bright sunlight and reflects the cities artificial lights of the
night- holds small shops and homes belonging to its inhabitants. Walking further into the cities depths, up and down its
platforms, you begin to hear the sounds of metal scrapping across metal, the cranking of moving platforms and the
thousands of footsteps thumping on the metal and the rock below at the cities ground level from its traveling tourists and
inhabitants. The overwhelming sound of vehicle engines starting and moving around the city streets floods into your ears
as you explore the streets further inside of the denser part of the city. You wander down the cities streets passing brightly
lit tunnels, platform stairs, elevating platforms and shady alleys. Your eyes begin to wonder over the cities walls, eyes
settling on worn and peeling posters smothering every inch giving the streets an artistic and vintage feel, but theres no
mistaking the feeling of it being forgotten increasing with each day of wear within the city, despite the character it freely
gives the city.
Despite the mass amounts of metal within the city, few trees line few streets on the ground floor, forgotten like the cities
abandoned billboards but yet they still flourish with bright green leaves and flowers, looking fresher than their previous
blooms. Running along side the few visible trees amongst the ground level, small canals of clear water run across the city
from outside the walls, supplying a generous amount of water to the city, freely nourishing the cities trees along the way.

Along the walk into the cities centre, you notice how the city changes in its appearance, from the worn outskirts to the
more updated areas within the denser areas of the city. Your eyes taking in more and more as you are engulfed into the
denseness of the city, you eyes being filled with richness in the form of technology and new constructions. Glowing
casinos and brightly lit bars shine at you, full to the brim with tourists and inhabitants, entering full of dreams, although
those who leave, leave with dark empty eyes, lost as they wander away into the dark and dreary outskirts. Theatres glow
brightly with their screens advertising their productions, attracting all classes to their high-rise doors and extravagant
displays inside.
As you reach the cities centre, you become surrounded by its gigantic screens displaying an array of advertisements, its
bright screens illuminating the cities centre and its inhabitants as they travel from place to place whilst immersed in
themselves, not paying attention to their magnificent surroundings. You stand on one of the many platforms in the cities
centre glancing upwards, your neck craning to barely see the tops of the cities tall towers, almost being immersed in the
clouds, almost being engulfed. One tower stands out more than the rest -different from the generic rectangular towersformed from columns of curving metal, twisting and turning around each other, growing closer together as they reach
their furthest point towards the heavens. You study the top of the towers, seeing the moonlight faintly glowing on the
tops of the buildings, its glow slowly fading into artificial light produced by the cities lights as your eyes wander
downwards.
Inhabitants who do not favour the cities nature can be found just outside the cities walls, laying in the dark on mounds of
rocks in the greener areas beyond the wall staring up into the natural light emitted from the vast canvas of smattered
stars and galaxies from its vivid blue sky, no lights hindering its beauty. The irony of the Ostwyn being nicknamed the city
of lights, its bright lights creating light pollution, spoiling the city of lights which belongs within space for the cities
inhabitants.
There is no mistaking that Ostwyn is a long standing city, slowly crumbling at the outskirts from the neglect of not being
upgraded but not to be mistaken as a city which is soon to die like a star slowly dying out as each seconds passes.

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