Editing technique · used in 5 films

Split Screen

Dividing the frame into two or more images shown at once. The panels compare, overlap or accelerate action that single shots could not hold together.

Examples

5 films that use it

  1. Requiem for a Dream (2000) poster

    Requiem for a Dream

    Darren Aronofsky · 2000

    The film uses a 'hip-hop montage', a burst of very fast cuts, whenever its characters use drugs, and it uses split screen extensively. The montages show the same routine again and again: the preparation, the use, the high and the need. By repeating it across the characters, Aronofsky argues that Sara's pill addiction and Harry's heroin addiction work in exactly the same way. Only the substance changes.

    Where to see it: The drug montages. You see the characters' rituals side by side, so you learn the pattern of addiction before the film shows you where it leads.

  2. Adaptation. (2002) poster

    Adaptation.

    Spike Jonze · 2002

    Cage plays both brothers, and the film uses split-screen so the twins can share the frame. The effect works so smoothly that you stop thinking about it. The brothers feel like two separate people.

    Where to see it: The brothers at home. Charlie and Donald talk in the same room, played by Cage in the same shot.

  3. Hulk (2003) poster

    Hulk

    Ang Lee · 2003

    Lee and editor Tim Squyres built multi-image frames, wipes and zip pans that copy how panels sit on a page. Sometimes 4 shots share the screen. The panels run through the whole film, from quiet conversations to big action, and critics were split on whether they work.

    Where to see it: Desert battle: The Hulk breaks out of Desert Base and fights the army in the desert, knocking tanks and helicopters around.

  4. 127 Hours (2010) poster

    127 Hours

    Danny Boyle · 2010

    The film opens by splitting the screen into panels of packed crowds, such as office workers on escalators and runners fleeing bulls. Then it narrows to 1 man heading into the empty desert. The contrast shows what he is leaving behind before the canyon traps him. Split screens return later in the film.

    Where to see it: The opening titles. Panels of crowds fill the screen at high speed, then the film cuts to Aron setting off alone into the Utah desert.

  5. Here (2024) poster

    Here

    Robert Zemeckis · 2024

    Windows open in the frame to show other eras in the same spot. A scene in one decade plays beside a scene from another decade. The overlap keeps reminding you that the room has many histories.

    Where to see it: The panes: The screen is subdivided into panes that show events from different times simultaneously.

Questions

Quick answers

What is split screen in film?
Dividing the frame into two or more images shown at once. The panels compare, overlap or accelerate action that single shots could not hold together.
Which films use split screen?
Requiem for a Dream (2000), Adaptation. (2002), Hulk (2003), 127 Hours (2010), Here (2024).
What kind of technique is split screen?
It is a editing technique. Related editing techniques include others listed on the CineCode techniques page.

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