In film, split screen is the visible division of the screen, traditionally in half, but also in several simultaneous images, rupturing the illusion that the screen's frame is a seamless view of reality, similar to that of the human eye. Until the arrival of digital technology in the early 1990s, this was accomplished by using an optical printer to combine two or more actions filmed separately by copying them onto the same negative, called the composite. A digital system uses discrete (discontinuous values usually but not always Symbolized Numerically (hence called "digital" to represent information for An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film Projectors mechanically linked to a Movie camera. Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene
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Naming history
Several studio-made films in the Sixties popularized the use of split screen. They include John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966), Richard Fleischer's The Boston Strangler (1968), Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Airport (1970), Woodstock (1972), the little-known horror film, Wicked, Wicked (1972), and More American Graffiti (1979). John Michael Frankenheimer ( February 19, 1930 &ndash July 6, 2002) was an American Film director. Grand Prix is an action film released in 1966. It was directed by John Frankenheimer with music by Maurice Jarre. Richard O Fleischer ( December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American Film director. The Boston Strangler is a 1968 film based on the true story of the Boston Strangler. Norman Frederick Jewison CC, BA, LLD (born July 21, 1926) is an Academy Award -winning Canadian Film The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1968 movie by Norman Jewison starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Airport is a 1970 film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. ---- Woodstock (subtitled "3 Days of Peace & Music" is a 1970 documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 More American Graffiti is the 1979 Sequel film to George Lucas 's hit film American Graffiti.
Influences
An influential arena for the great split screen movies of the 1960s were two world's fairs - the 1964 New York World's Fair, where Ray and Charles Eames had a 17-screen film they created for IBM's "Think" Pavilion (it included sections with race car driving) and the 6-division film To Be Alive, by Francis Thompson, which won the Academy Award that year for Best Short. Expo (short for "exposition" and also known as World Fair and World's Fair) is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major World's Fair to be held in New York City Charles (1907-1978 and Ray (1912–1988 Eames (ˈiːmz were American designers married in 1941 who worked and made major contributions in many fields of design Francis Thompson ( December 18, 1859 – November 13, 1907) was an English poet and Ascetic. John Frankenheimer made Grand Prix after his visit to the 1964 New York World's Fair. John Michael Frankenheimer ( February 19, 1930 &ndash July 6, 2002) was an American Film director. The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major World's Fair to be held in New York City The success of these pavilions further influenced the 1967 Universal exhibition in Montreal, commonly referred to as Expo 67, where multi-screen highlights included In the Labyrinth, hailed by Time magazine as a "stunning visual display," their review concluding: "such visual delights as Labyrinth . Expo (short for "exposition" and also known as World Fair and World's Fair) is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known was the World's Fair held in Montreal, Canada from April 27 to October In the Labyrinth was a groundbreaking multi-screen presentation at Expo 67. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and . . suggest that cinema—the most typical of 20th century arts—has just begun to explore its boundaries and possibilities. " [1] Directors Norman Jewison and Richard Fleischer conceived their ambitious split-screen films of 1968 after visiting Expo '67. Norman Frederick Jewison CC, BA, LLD (born July 21, 1926) is an Academy Award -winning Canadian Film Richard O Fleischer ( December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American Film director.
It's also common to use this technique to simultaneously portray both participants in a telephone conversation, a long-standing convention which dates back to early silents, as in Lois Weber's triangular frames in her 1913 Suspense, and culminating in Pillow Talk, 1959 where Doris Day and Rock Hudson share a party line. Lois Weber ( June 13 1881 - November 13 1939) was an American Silent film Actor, producer and director Pillow talk is the relaxed intimate conversation that often occurs between two Sexual partners after the act of lovemaking, usually accompanied by cuddling caresses Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American Singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Rock Hudson (November 17 1925 &ndash October 2 1985 was an American Film and Television Actor, recognised as a romantic leading man during So linked to this convention are the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies that Down With Love, the only slightly tongue-in-cheek homage, used split screen in several phone calls, explicitly parodying this use. Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American Singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Rock Hudson (November 17 1925 &ndash October 2 1985 was an American Film and Television Actor, recognised as a romantic leading man during Down with Love ( 2003) is a Romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Eve Ahlert, and starring Renée Zellweger The BBC series Coupling made extensive use of split screen as one of several techniques that are unconventional for TV series, often to a humorous effect. Coupling is a British television Sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004 One episode, 'Split', was even named after the use of the effect. The acclaimed Fox TV series 24 used split-screen extensively to depict the many simultaneous events, enhancing the show's real-time element as well as connecting its multiple storylines. 24 is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American action Drama Television series. The director of the pilot, Stephen Hopkins, was greatly influenced by The Boston Strangler's use of multiple screens to create tension. Stephen Hopkins (born in 1958 is a Film director and producer.
An unusual and revolutionary use of split screen as an extension to the cinematic vocabulary was invented by film director Roger Avary in The Rules of Attraction (2002) where two separate halves of a split screen are folded together into one seamless shot through the use of motion control. Roger Roberts Avary (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian -born motion picture director, producer and Oscar -winning Screenwriter The Rules of Attraction ( 2002) is a dark satirical film directed by Roger Avary, based on the novel of the same name by Motion control is a sub-field of Automation, in which the position and/or velocity of machines are controlled using some type of device such as a hydraulic pump linear actuator The much acclaimed shot was examined and detailed in Bravo Television's Anatomy of a Scene.
Digital technology
The arrival of digital video technology has made dividing the screen much easier to accomplish, and recent digital films and music videos have explored this possibility in depth. Sometimes the technique is used to show actions occurring simultaneously; Timecode (2000), by Mike Figgis, is a recent example where the combination is of four realtime digital video cameras shown continuously for the duration of the film. Timecode is a 2000 experimental Drama film directed by Mike Figgis. The extensive use of split-screen as part of the narrative structure of a film, as in The Boston Strangler.
Usage
In films
This technique has been used in films like The Parent Trap (1961) in order to show having an actress talk to herself in a dual role. The Parent Trap (1961 is a Walt Disney Productions Feature film starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith The actress was filmed as she stood at the left of the frame facing right. Then she was filmed standing at the right and facing the other way. The negative of the first action was placed into a printer and copied onto another negative, the composite, but this other negative was masked so that only the right part of the original picture is copied. Then the composite was rewound and the negative of the second action was copied onto the right side of each frame. On this second pass, the left side was masked to prevent double exposure. This technique is then carefully hidden by background lines, such as windows, doors, etc. to disguise the split.
Perhaps the most extensive use of split screen was in Hans Canosa's 2005 film Conversations with Other Women. Conversation(s with Other Women is a 2005 film directed by Hans Canosa written by Gabrielle Zevin and starring Aaron Eckhart and Conversation(s with Other Women is a 2005 film directed by Hans Canosa written by Gabrielle Zevin and starring Aaron Eckhart and Conversations juxtaposed shot and reverse shot of two actors in the same take, captured with two cameras, for the entire movie. The film was designed to enlist the audience as perceptual editors, as they can choose to watch either character act and react in real time. While the shot/reverse shot function of split screen comprises most of the running time of the film, the filmmakers also used split screen for other spatial, temporal and emotional effects. Conversations' split screen sometimes showed flashbacks of the recent or distant past juxtaposed with the present; moments imagined or hoped by the characters juxtaposed with present reality; present experience fractured into more than one emotion for a given line or action, showing an actor performing the same moment in different ways; and present and near future actions juxtaposed to accelerate the narrative in temporal overlap.
By filmmakers
The visionary French director, Abel Gance, used the term "Polyvision" to describe his three-camera, three-projector technique for both widening and dividing the screen in his 1927 silent epic, Napoléon. Abel Gance (25 October 1889 - 10 November 1981 was a French Film director, producer, Writer, Actor and editor best Polyvision was the name given to a specialized Widescreen Film format devised exclusively for the filming and projection of Abel Gance 's Napoléon ( 1927) is an epic silent French Film directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of the rise of Napoleon
The filmmaker Brian De Palma has incorporated split screens into many of his films, most notably in Sisters (1972) and they have since become synonymous with his filmmaking style. Brian De Palma (born Brian Russell DePalma on September 11 1940 in Newark New Jersey) is an American Film director. For the 2005 Argentine film see Hermanas. Sisters is a 1973 Independent film directed by Brian de Palma
In technology
The "Interactive Olaf" bonus feature from the DVD release of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events shows Jim Carrey's makeup tests from the movie in a four-way split-screen. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 Academy Award winning Film, directed by Brad Silberling James Eugene Redmond "Jim" Carrey (born January 17 1962 is a Canadian-American Film actor and Comedian. Viewers can split the audio by selecting which one to listen to, then pressing "ENTER" on their DVD remote.
The split screen has also been simulated in video games. Most notably Fahrenheit where it is used to allow a player to keep track of multiple simultaneous elements relevant to the gameplay. Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the United States and Canada) is a Video game that was released in September
List of other notable films using split screen
- Edwin S. Porter's Life of an American Fireman (1903)
- Lois Weber's Suspense (1913)
- Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927)
- Pillow Talk (1959)
- Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
- Richard Fleischer's The Boston Strangler (1968)
- Woodstock (1970)
- Sid Lavarents's Multiple SIDosis (1970)
- The Andromeda Strain (1971)
- Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (film) (1987)
- Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987)
- Multiplicity (1996)
- Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997) and Kill Bill (2003)
- Guy Ritchie's Snatch (2000)
- Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Mike Figgis' Timecode (2000)
- Big Fat Liar (2002)
- Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction (2002)
- Julie Talen's Pretend (2003)
- Brian De Palma's Carrie, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, Dionysus, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Snake Eyes, Femme Fatale and Bonfire of the Vanities
- Sophia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides (1999)
- 24 (2001 to present)
- Alexander Payne's Sideways
- Hans Canosa's Conversations with Other Women (2005)
- Interactive Olaf DVD bonus feature from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2005)
- Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments (2007)
See also
External links
- Split Screen: weblog dedicated to the art of the split screen and multi-layered visuals
- Hofer, Urs. Split Screen: Ein Prolegomena zu einer Analyse des Geteilten Filmbildes. LULU Books, 2007 (Master Thesis, German)
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