She is one of the main designers who helped to elevate the short film and the title sequence to an art form.
At the age of twelve, she was admitted to the New York High School of Music and Art but withdrew in order to pursue her professional singing.
She was the lead singer and soloist, and recordings made when she was fourteen to eighteen reveal a surprisingly mature voice singing swing with touches of Billie Holiday.
The following year, the couple married and after the birth of their children, Jennifer in 1964 and Jeffrey in 1967, Elaine Bass concentrated on motherhood, film directing, and title sequences.
Elaine Bass co-designed title sequences with Saul Bass, and employed diverse filmmaking techniques from Bunraku-style maneuvers in Spartacus (1960), live action sequences in Walk on the Wild Side (1962), Nine Hours to Rama (1963), The Victors (1963), Seconds (1966), Grand Prix (1966) to time-lapse photography in The Age of Innocence (1993), and even chopped liver in Mr. Saturday Night (1992).
Remarking on this time, Saul said: "Elaine and I feel we are there to serve the film and to approach the task with a sense of responsibility.
The simple, speeding graphic of the Goodfellas (1990) titles synced to the sound of speeding cars on an expressway … the ominous, wavering reflections in water of phantom images that began Cape Fear (1991) … the endlessly blooming flowers, like love renewing itself again and again, under layers of lace for The Age of Innocence (1993) … the form of a man falling through a neon hell in Casino (1995).
These title sequences didn’t just complement my pictures, they gave them another layer, embodying the themes and the emotions in a way that led viewers into the mystery of the film without giving it all away.
The Basses' first joint venture into short filmmaking was with promotional films for pavilions at the 1964 New York World's Fair, co-produced with Sy Wexler, entitled From Here to There for United Airlines and The Searching Eye for Eastman Kodak.
In fact, Elaine often directed individual sequences and participated as equal partner in the tasks of producing, writing, cinematography, and editing, and always played a leading role in choosing the music and working with the composer, but is still often ignored or seen as an addendum by filmmakers and journalists.