Filmmakers have used split screen effects since the early years of cinema. In the 1913 film “Suspense,” the effect of split screen shows two people having a telephone conversation on screen at the same time. George Sidney revived the format in the sixties with “Bye Bye Birdie” while Brian De Palma used it to create suspense in his 1973 thriller “Sisters.” (see: reference 1, page 209) In recent years, filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino use split screen to display the various perspectives of numerous characters within a single scene. (see: reference 2, pages 188-198)
Filmmakers use split screen video effects for a variety of reasons. When two individuals are having a telephone conversation, the director films the two actors separately in each shot of the conversation. Then the director shows the two individuals on the screen at the same time, usually with the line splitting them down the center of the screen. This allows the viewer to see each of the individuals as they carry out the conversation without cutting back and forth to each different shot.
In Brian De Palma’s “Sisters” and “Carrie,” the director uses split screen to show two images juxtaposed next to each other. Both images show the action happening at the same time but from different perspectives. The director shot the scene with two cameras, filming at the same time, from different locations on the set. He then edited the two shots into the one single shot, side-by-side, for the final product. (see: reference 3, page 56) In later films such as “Scarface” and “Dressed to Kill,” De Palma altered his format by having televisions in the shot showing other actions taking place at that moment, still technically a split screen method, but in a more realistic way. (see: reference 3, page 82)