Split screen (computer graphics)

Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into non-movable adjacent parts, typically two or four rectangular areas. This is done in order to allow the simultaneous presentation of (usually) related graphical and textual information on a computer display. Split screen differs from windowing systems in that the latter allows overlapping and freely movable parts of the screen (the "windows") to present related as well as unrelated application data to the user, while the former conforms more strictly to the description given in the paragraph above.

The split screen technique can also be used to run two instances of an application, possibly with another user interacting with the other instance.

In video games

The split screen feature is commonly used in non-networked video games with multiplayer options.

In its most easily understood form, a split screen for a two-player video game is an audiovisual output device (usually a standard television for video game consoles) where the display has been divided into two equally sized areas so that the players can explore different areas simultaneously without being close to each other. This has historically been remarkably popular on consoles, which until the 2000s did not have access to the Internet or any other network.

Split screen

Split screen can refer to:

Split screen (filmmaking)

In film and video production, split screen is the visible division of the screen, traditionally in half, but also in several simultaneous images, rupturing the illusion that the screen's frame is a seamless view of reality, similar to that of the human eye. There may or may not be an explicit borderline. Until the arrival of digital technology in the early 1990s, a split screen was accomplished by using an optical printer to combine two or more actions filmed separately by copying them onto the same negative, called the composite.

In filmmaking split screen is also a technique that allows one actor to appear twice in a scene. The simplest technique is to lock down the camera and shoot the scene twice, with one "version" of the actor appearing on the left side, and the other on the right side. The seam between the two splits is intended to be invisible, making the duplication seem realistic.

Popularisation

Several studio-made films in the 1960s popularized the use of split screen. They include Indiscreet (1958), John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966), Richard Fleischer's The Boston Strangler (1968), Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Airport (1970), Woodstock (1970), The Andromeda Strain (1971), Carrie (1976) and More American Graffiti (1979).

Split Screen (TV series)

Split Screen was a television series that originally aired from 1997 to 2001 on IFC. The series focused on independent filmmaking in America and was hosted by John Pierson.Split Screen featured segments from many notable filmmakers, actors, and actresses including: Kevin Smith, Spike Lee, Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Buck Henry, Wes Anderson, Steve Buscemi, John Waters, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Richard Linklater, Errol Morris, Miranda July, and William H. Macy.

The Blair Witch Project first received notoriety as a segment on Split Screen.

References