Split screen research

The titles in the initial draft of my film were listed at the end of the film which is not very proffesional. I know this because after looking at a variety of titles in existing films I found that in almost of them the titles appear on screen one after another throughout the opening sequence. It was pointed out, by my target audience, that it may be a good idea to use a split screen to introduce some of the characters using a split screen where I use a mug shot of the criminals in one half and a description of their criminal activity in the other.

In film production, split screen is an editing technique used to divide the screen, traditionally in half, however also in multiple simultaneous images. It can be done on final cut pro by adding two peices of media at the same point on the timeline and crop both images to halfway so they are equally on the screen . I will look at some examples of media products where this technique is used so I can see if they are useful.

In this mean girls clip the four girls have a group phone call and the split screen demonstrates this really well as it shows that all the girls' actions simultaneously to the others. The audience are very clear with what is happening in the scene because the split shows which characters are talking to which. The split sceen is a good technique to use to show events occuring at the same period of time.




In this clip, the split screen has a different purpose. It juxtaposes the male and female character because it shows them both giving completely different responses to the same questions, for example, when asked, "Do you know what this is about?" the female character responded with "Duh, I'm not an idiot," whereas the boy replied with a shake of a head. The split screen establishes that they are going through the same things because they are being told the same sort of things but their opposing responses connote their different personalities.

Overall I think that I am going to use a split screen as it allows the audience to consume the text in the most appealing way to them. The uses and graftification model will be a large part of my opening scene meaning the power lies in the hands of the audience, thus the split screen effect will allow them to take more controll when watching the film as it makes it easier to understand.