Schizophrenic Synchrinicity

December 7, 2007 10:37 AM

Schizophrenic Leanings - Split Films :) Are there any films that were made to be watched at the same time, say, on a second TV, as other, related / opposing / complimentary films? Separate soundtrack visuals or somesuch perhaps?

Recently reading this thread about two WWII films, the thought crossed my mind about watching them at the same time - were any films created to be viewed in such a fashion?

Alternatively, is anyone aware of other 'opposing perspective' films or soundtrack separation ones perhaps?

There is the old notion of watching almost any war movie whilst listening to Pink Floyds 'The Wall' I think it was - but I'm after intentional synchronicity, as opposed to accidental, preferably, but if you've got a great 'accidental' one, please do mention it.

posted by DrtyBlvd to Media & Arts (32 answers total)

Timecode kind of explores this idea by splitting up the one screen into 4 smaller ones.
posted by jrishel at 10:44 AM on December 7, 2007

Timecode
posted by designbot at 10:45 AM on December 7, 2007

Clearly, our comments are meant to be read simultaneously. :)
posted by designbot at 10:46 AM on December 7, 2007

Napoleon was shot before Panavision, and to get the wide-screen effect the director wanted, he shot with three cameras simultaneously. The movie's intended to be projected on three screens at once.

On the mismatched-soundtrack tip, you've probably heard of Dark Side of the Rainbow: playing Dark Side of the Moon to Wizard of Oz.
posted by adamrice at 10:49 AM on December 7, 2007

In 1927, Abel Gance made a biopic about Napolean. The battle scenes were shot using three cameras. In the cinema, the footage was projected onto three screens at once, using three different projectors. The site I linked to claims the extra footage was lost, yet I saw the three-screen version in the 80s. It was really cool.

When I was a kid, in the 70s, some network filmed a tennis match by training the camera on just one player. Another station showed the opponent. You were supposed to put two TVs next to each other to see the whole game.

You'd probably enjoy "The Boston Strangler," which uses split screen in very clever ways.
posted by grumblebee at 10:50 AM on December 7, 2007

You got there first, adamrice, but if you click on my "Napolean" link, you'll see an image of the three-screen effect.
posted by grumblebee at 10:51 AM on December 7, 2007

Alternatively, is anyone aware of other 'opposing perspective' films or soundtrack separation ones perhaps?

I think parts of Run Lola Run fall into this category. Several times the screen splits into 3 parts. One is a close up of a clock approaching the deadline; a second angle shows Lola's actions, and the third shows her boyfriend Manni's actions. At times, the POVs look at each other; you see Manni a block away over Lola's shoulder, and see Lola from over Manni's shoulder. It's a great technique to build tension.
posted by The Deej at 10:52 AM on December 7, 2007

Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey's CHELSEA GIRLS
posted by cinemafiend at 10:53 AM on December 7, 2007

At a conference, I heard the lead editor talk about the split-screen effect on "24." He claimed that the directors liked it and the editors hated it, and there were arguments about how much of it to use. Directors like it, because it allows them to get more of their footage in the final show. Which is why editors don't like it. They want to prune the footage down to the best shots.
posted by grumblebee at 10:54 AM on December 7, 2007

Oh, and Woodstock uses tons of split screens. Sometimes showing the same action from different perspectives, but other times showing what's going on elsewhere during a performance.
posted by The Deej at 10:54 AM on December 7, 2007

Ang Lee's Hulk movie uses split screens. But I think "The Boston Strangler" is more innovative.
posted by grumblebee at 10:55 AM on December 7, 2007

Split Screen is a weblog dedicated to the art of the split screen and multi-layered visuals, as seen in movies, music videos, commercials and other media based on moving images.
posted by The Deej at 10:57 AM on December 7, 2007

This isn't a film, but the Flaming Lips' album Zaireeka comes on four separate CDs meant to be played simultaneously.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:00 AM on December 7, 2007

I know you asked about films, but Zaireeka is a 4-CD Flaming Lips album that is meant to be played on four stereo systems at the same time.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:01 AM on December 7, 2007

This question made me think of the distractor studies that CTW would use to measure how compelling any given segment of Sesame Street was. (This was back in the early days of the program; I'm not sure how long this technique was used.) They would essentially have two TVs running in a room, one with the Sesame Street program playing, and the other with static image slides flashing every 8 seconds. They would measure how often kids would glance away from the Sesame Street Segment to look at the slides and would then tweak the Sesame Street programming to minimize viewers' distractability. Not quite what you're asking for, but an example of the way that synchronous viewing has been used for Science!(?).
posted by yarrow at 11:21 AM on December 7, 2007

I was wondering about "Run Lola Run". I heard that there were parts of the film which were split screen and which showed alternate paths at the same time. But I could be wrong about that.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:47 AM on December 7, 2007

Iranian artist Shirin Neshat has created some really gorgeous video installations made to be projected on opposite walls. I saw some of them both as they were meant to be seen, and adapted to be shown on a single split screen. Either way, they're beautiful and thought-provoking.

It's been a while since I sawy them, but the two that I remember most clearly are Fervor, which shows the parallel progress of two lovers in and outside of a mosque, and Turbulent, which shows a man and a woman singing different songs to very different audiences. Part of the reason she uses the parallel-screens technique is to highlight the differences between men's and women's experiences. I don't know where you'd be able to see these installations, but they're quite powerful.
posted by ourobouros at 11:48 AM on December 7, 2007

I'm not sure where you're located, but Phil Collins has an exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art called The World Won't Listen. You can follow the link for in-depth details, but it's basically a three-screen installation. Each screen is separated from the others by a wall, but it is easy to walk back and forth between them, or stand at the end of one wall in order to see two screens at once. Collins filmed random volunteers in Colombia, Turkey, and Indonesia singing karaoke versions of songs from the Smiths' album that the exhibition takes its name from. The same song plays on all three screen at the same time, but each screen shows a different singer(s).

It's really intriguing, and sometimes funny, too. The wife and I are actually going back to see it again tomorrow, as we didn't get to spend as much time with it as we would have liked last time we were there.
posted by owtytrof at 12:12 PM on December 7, 2007

Conversations With Other Women has exactly the effect you're looking for. It's filmed in split screen and shows simultaneous activity of two people who spend most of the movie in the same room, interacting primarily with each other. The split is used as a clever and effective device to express perspective -- the probable and the possible literally collide against each other down the middle of the screen.

In an interview, the director mentions that each viewer gets to edit the film themselves, as they select which screen to follow. Of course, Helena Bonham Carter wipes the floor with Aaron Eckhart, so it's hard to stop watching her side of the story.
posted by mochapickle at 12:12 PM on December 7, 2007

My understanding is that in contemporary video art, using multiple screens is more the rule than the exception. There's even a term- "single-channel" - to describe those works that have the unusual trait if only using one screen and one soundtrack.

Here's the wikipedia page for "video installation" - Try surfing around from there.
posted by ManInSuit at 12:37 PM on December 7, 2007

Lola Rennt does use splits very creatively. It also blends this with one of my favorite techniques, which is showing the same scene more than once, with differences.

(Whether these differences come from time-space-continuum changes, different character perspectives or context-changing information doesn't matter to me, I'm always looking for more like this... annnnd I think I just found my next three AskMes.)
posted by rokusan at 2:28 PM on December 7, 2007

Not the same thing but I've about Dark Side of the Rainbow. Which reminds me: I haven't tried that out yet.
posted by trinity8-director at 3:26 PM on December 7, 2007

There are quite a few experimental filmmakers who do this, Nathaniel Dorsky's 17 Reasons Why is one.

Because Regular 8mm motion picture film is really just 16mm film before it's split in half by the film lab, some folks would shoot one side, then take the film out of the camera, flip it in a darkroom, and put it back in for another go on the other sides of the film - then get the film processed as regular 16mm film - voila, split screen!

I'll try and think of more, but Dorsky's the only one that comes to mind at the moment...
posted by ethel at 6:40 PM on December 7, 2007

On the 2000 DVD to Almost Famous there's a special feature on the theatrical version disc with a deleted scene that is meant to show William playing Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven to convince his mother that Rock and Roll has merit. Apparently the filmmakers couldn't get the rights, so the scene plays in silence while the characters "listen" to the song in its entirety, drumming along to the music. There are on-screen instructions for the home viewer to cue up their own copy of the song to play along with the scene, including a countdown for precisely when to start the record.

Also, I always thought Dark Side of the Moon was supposed to sync with The Wizard of Oz, not war movies, though neither rumor are apparently true.
posted by Jeff Howard at 6:42 PM on December 7, 2007

There's a music video that's split screen (and I'll be damned if I can remember it's name) where the story is told from two views simultaneously that cross over (guy meets a girl?)

The other one, is an episode of coupling (and they played a couple of tricks like this), where they show the same event (or similar events, simultaneously.)
posted by filmgeek at 6:47 PM on December 7, 2007

filmgeek is thinking of Sugar Water by Cibo Matto, directed by Michel Gondry

I can also confirm that the split screen in Napolean is amazing. I'm sure there are other good examples, but they escape me at the moment...
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:46 AM on December 8, 2007

What about watching memento on one screen and watching it in 1X rewind on the other screen?
posted by Mr. Gunn at 1:35 PM on December 8, 2007

Actually, I'm not thinking of sugar water. It's defintely a guy/girl meeting. Dammit. I'll be trying to think about this for awhile.
posted by filmgeek at 10:03 AM on December 11, 2007

Filmgeek: Perhaps you're thinking of Sliding Doors? It's a near-miss as a response to the question, but a worthwhile movie.
posted by adamrice at 10:09 AM on December 11, 2007

filmgeek - Closing Time by Semisonic? More of a "guy goes to meet girl but misses her".
posted by shortfuse at 7:53 AM on December 12, 2007

shortfuse that's it! ASKMEFI ROCKS.
posted by filmgeek at 9:53 AM on December 12, 2007

Oh cool, I was wondering. Apologies for the presumption filmgeek. AskMe does indeed rock.
posted by MetaMonkey at 1:05 PM on December 12, 2007