Despite the horrors of third
year starting to become real, such as our final year project and a
dissertation, university offered a practice run in a form of a module called
Creative Media Practice. This module requires a certain level of creativity and
a taste of experimenting. For the duration of this module we were to create
different media artifacts that are either interactive or experimental.
The first task was to create a
Triptych, which was a video that showed three screens within one video frame.
Split Screen is rarely seen in major film productions, but is used more for a
practical sense rather. As Malte Hagener (2008) suggests, split-screen in
Hollywood was mostly used to show two characters on screen while talking on the
phone, which could be used to show chemistry between two characters, such as in
Pillow Talk. (Michael Gorden, 1959) Sometimes films can use Split-Screen can
show an parallel perspective from multiple characters, such as in 24. It can also be used to simply make a
scene look nice, such as in Heavy Rain.
We were split into groups of
four to three to create this video. When brainstorming ideas within my group, I
wanted to create a video that was not only told through more than one screen,
but can only be told through multiple screens.
Our video told a story of a
man reading a book within one screen, but other characters appeared within the
video, not only to distract, but also leave him in an uncomfortable state.
Before I talk about the creation of the video, give it a watch and enjoy.
The greatest challenge of the
video was timing. We needed every action from all of the characters to interact
with each other and flow together as one time space. We filmed a few takes of
each video, mostly of the middleman and the lady on the phone, as they had the most
interaction with each other. Editing the
video through after effects proved quite simple, which was a surprise, as not
only did our screens appeared in different parts of the video, but also
increased or decreased in size. Strangely enough the worst part of the
production was uploading the video unto YouTube, university’s Internet proved
most troublesome.
I really enjoyed creating this
video. I had a great team who worked very well and the concept was a joy to
plan and create. However the narrative possibilities that can be achieved with
Split-screen really has captured my imagination. Not only could they show two
characters interaction despite distance, but represent parallel moments through
time. Imagine a triptych romance that showed the beginning, middle and end of a
relationship at the same time.
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