Split screen
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- This article concerns the film technique. For the computer text/graphics and video game display scheme, see split screen (computer graphics).
In film, split screen is the combination of two actions filmed separately by copying them onto the same negative-- the usual way, for example, of having an actor talk to himself in a dual role. The actor is filmed as he stands at the left of the frame facing right. Then he's filmed standing at the right and facing the other way. The negative of the first action is placed into a printer and copied onto another negative ("the composite"), but this other negative is masked so that only the left part of the original picture is copied. Then the composite is rewound and the negative of the second action is copied onto the right side of each frame. On this second pass, the left side is masked to prevent double exposure.
Sometimes the technique is used to show actions occurring simultaneously; Time Code is a recent example, where the combination is done electronically. Earlier examples, which used printers, include Le Mans, The Boston Strangler, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Grand Prix, Woodstock, and More American Graffiti. It's also common to use this technique to portray both participants in a telephone conversation simultaneously. Director Norman Jewison claims to have first discovered split screen at Expo 67 in an experimental film. As well, filmmaker Brian De Palma has incorporated split screens into many of his films and they have since become synonymous with his filmmaking style.
Notable films using split screen
- The Andromeda Strain (1971)
- The Parent Trap (1961)
- Pillow Talk (1959)
- Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927)
- Brian De Palma's Carrie, Phantom of the Paradise, "Sisters", Dionysus, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Snake Eyes, Femme Fatale, Bonfire of the Vanities
- Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, Kill Bill
- Lois Weber's Suspense (1913)