How does one write a split screen?
Hey guys,
The highlight of 500 Days of Summer for me had to be that great split screen sequence. The protagonist, Tom Hansen (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), goes to a party hosted by Summer Finn (played by one of my favorite little starlets, Zooey Deschanel). On one side of the screen, we view Tom's "Expectations" for the party while on the other side we see the "Reality." I loved it!
Of course, the split screen convention has been a long-standing tradition in cinema going all the way back to silent films, notably Lois Weber's 1913 film, Suspense and Abel Gance's Napoleon from 1927. In the old days, split screens were used mostly for phone conversations, exposition, or comedy as David Bordwell pointed out in his article. Wikipedia actually has a nice breakdown of the history and influences behind the split screen. Brian De Palma uses the split screen so often it's practically synonymous with his filmmaking style. Oliver Stone used it in Wall Street. Tarantino used it in Jackie Brown and Kill Bill. My all-time favorite split screen, though, has to be the hilarious telephone conversation between Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor in Down with Love.
There's a lot of potential with split screens. It is, on the one hand, a way of getting two stars on the screen together who are talking on the phone, a la Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk. I believe, however, that you should have a good reason for a split screen over an INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION.
On the other hand, split screens are all about information. This could be a fun way of showing how two people meet, as Roger Avary did with Sean and Lauren in Rules of Attraction. You could parallel or contrast two characters who are behaving similarly or differently at the same time in separate locations, perhaps showing how two characters are being affected by the same thing. It could also be used to speed up exposition. Say, for example, various members in a team of thieves are completing different objectives at the same time to pull off a heist, especially if the characters are in a time crunch. I've read that this convention is common in the TV show, "24," and the director of the pilot, Stephen Hopkins, was quoted as saying that he was greatly influenced by the use of multiple screens to create tension in the 1968 film The Boston Strangler. Thus, something could be happening in one screen that a character doesn't know about on the other screen. This brings to mind the introduction of Elle Driver in Kill Bill. As the Bride sleeps, Elle strolls through a hospital to her room to poison her.
But that's all just kid's stuff, ya know. Did you ever see Cesc Gay and Daniel Gimelbergs Hotel Room? The film starts by showing two different occupants taking the same room in alternate futures. Within one of those futures, the plot branches out to two possibilities of further action, before moving back to a very early moment in the film and opening a new fork in the story for the finale
So how does one write a split screen in a spec?
I asked fello Script mag columnist (and author of Screenwriter's Bible) David Trottier. Here's what he wrote:
"Just use a special heading:
SPLIT SCREEN
"And then be clear in your description. Good luck!"
I like the simplicity behind Dave's recommendation, that is, handle the SPLIT SCREEN as you would a FLASHBACK or an INSERT or a MONTAGE or a SERIES OF SHOTS. Take your pick. The big point here is absolute clarity about what we're seeing on the screen. I recall Tarantino resorting to dual dialogue in his Kill Bill script in order to have two columns of information on the same page to explain his split screen. John August tried the same thingfor an unused split screen sequence in Charlie's Angels. It's not easy getting the format to look right, but I like this approach only because it would be crystal clear as to what we're seeing when.
To the right are 2 split screen examples I thought might be of interest to you. Above each excerpt is a link to that script.
I liked how Scott Neustadter and Michael Webers listed their shots in their 2006 first draft for 500 Days of Summer. They tried split screens for a variety of scenarios, but the one in the finished film is the best, I think. Their writing is simple and clear. And of course, you can see the dual columns in Kill Bill, which I also liked.
-MM
500 Days of Summer:
SPLITSCREEN - INT. BOTH APARTMENTS - NIGHT
Left: Tom tosses and turns in his sleep.
Right: Summer lies awake, staring at the ceiling.
Left: Tom picks up the phone. Is about to dial when he stops himself and hangs up.
Right: Summer looks at her phone, willing it to ring. It doesn't.
Kill Bill:
WE GO TO SPLIT SCREEN
Left Side Right Side
The Bride's unblinking The back of the yellow
comatose sleep. slicker - walking in
the rain towards the
HOSPITAL's entrance.
CU her yellow galoshes
slapping against the
wet asphalt, and
splashing through
puddles.
CU The Bride in her coma CU the hospital's
electrical doors -
WOOSH - OPEN.
We follow behind the
woman in the raincoat
as she walks from
outside into the
hospital down the hall,
and into the ladies
room door.
CU The BRIDE in her coma EX CU OF A WHITE
WOMAN'S SHAPELY
BAREFOOT ANKLE AND LEG
stepping into a sheer,
white stocking.
INSERT: OF THOSE LONG,
WHITE LEGS STEPPING
INTO A WHITE NURSE'S
UNIFORM.
INSERT: OF THE ZIPPER
IN THE BACK ZIPPING
UPWARDS.
INSERT: OF WHITE, SHEER
STOCKING FEET STEPPING
INTO WHITE NURSE'S
ORTHOPEDIC SHOES.
INSERT: OF A SYRINGE
NEEDLE STUCK IN A VIAL
The liquid is drawn up
into the syringe.
SOME WRITTEN TEXT
APPEARS BELOW IMAGE
THAT READS:
"A lethal cocktail of
Bill's own concoction.
He calls it, 'Goodbye
forever'."
INSERT: THE DEADLY
SYRINGE IS PLACED ON
A NURSE'S TRAY
INSERT: A LITTLE WHITE
NURSE'S CAP IS PLACED
ON TOP of the woman's
blonde head.
INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
The door marked "ladies" is opened, and a beautiful 6-foot blonde in a white nurse's uniform, with a matching white eye patch over her left eye, steps out, carrying the nurse's tray with the "Goodbye forever"-filled syringe on it. She walks down the corridor towards The sleeping Bride's room.
SUBTITLE UNDERNEATH BLONDE NURSE:
"ELLE DRIVER
Member of:
The DEADLY VIPER ASSASSINATION SQUAD
Codename:
CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN SNAKE"
END OF SPLIT SCREEN
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