Staff Blog / Weekend Project: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Split Screen!

Heyo Vimeo,

As you may know, the 2012 Vimeo Awards Grand Prize went to Everynone for "Symmetry" — a tour de force of juxtaposition that made our inner auteurs yelp with delight. Check out the awesomeness:

The word "juxtaposition" has a lot of syllables, but the concept behind them is actually quite simple: It means placing things side by side in order to compare them, contrast them, or set up some other kind of relationship. In the video realm, one way to juxtapose things is with the split-screen effect, which often entails dividing the screen into left/right or top/bottom halves.

For this Weekend Project, we challenge you to shoot a variety of footage and edit your clips together in split-screen fashion. When editing, try comparing and contrasting both physical properties (color, texture, or shape) as well as symbolic ones (cultural, emotional, or philosophical ideas). We hope this technique will help your shots take on new meaning! Here are two more split-screen videos to inspire you:

James W. Griffiths made "Splitscreen: A Love Story," which exhibits a particularly playful use of the technique.

"Euphoria II," a video for Casey Veggies by Clement & Co., is a spectacular example of the ol' top/bottom approach.

If you're not sure how to achieve the split-screen effect with your editing software, don't scream. There are plenty of tutorials on the web. Try searching for the name of your software and the words "split-screen" or "masking."

Here are the rules for this Weekend Project:
+ Your video must be split into at least 2 screens at all times.
+ Your video must be no more than 3 minutes long.
+ You must upload and post your video to the Weekend Project Group by Tuesday, June 26th at 11:59 PM (EST).

Please remember that only videos made specifically for this Weekend Project will be considered. All videos must be approved by the Vimeo Staff before appearing in the Group, so don't worry if your video doesn't show up at first. We'll get to it!

The winner of this Weekend Project will receive a free Vimeo Plus account for one year! If you win and you're already a Plus member, you can gift the Plus account to whomever you choose, and we'll give you an extra 5GB of upload space for your account. The runner-up will receive an extra 3GB of upload space, Plus account or not.

We can't wait to see what you put together!

***UPDATE***
Our winner this week is Frank N, with his video Time is slipping away.
The runner-up is Josh Becker! with Riders.
You can view the other submissions here.

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53 Comments

Perez

Perez

Triple LOL

Mark

Mark Staff

Side-splitting comedy, Tommy.

allen

allen

L | O | L Split LOL !

Benoît Guillot

Benoît Guillot Plus

I'm addicted to split-screen effect, still try it in a sketchy way, so let's go !

Kees Plattel

Kees Plattel

Love the half empty, half full glass. Great collection of opposing things! :)

Yasmin Knowles

Yasmin Knowles

Might give it a go :) anyone else going to? x

Richard J Moir

Richard J Moir

This is a great idea. I made a split-screen short film last year which, if anyone is interested, can be viewed here: vimeo.com/22843223

L.A. PICTURES

L.A. PICTURES

I just uploaded my split screen video to the vimeo weekend project, I hope you'll like it and that you don't get me wrong....;)

Rachael O'Brien

Rachael O'Brien

How can i tell if my video has been posted? I'Ve pressed the "Add" button but is there any way of knowing if it worked?

PORT

PORT Plus

Lovely film by Everynone

sal

sal

hi guys wat sap

femster

femster Plus

How do I upload my video to vimeo weekend project?

Haley Barbieri

Haley Barbieri

I just saw this with 8 minutes left!!! I won't have time to do it for the Project, but I might just do it for some fun (:

Josh Becker!

Josh Becker! Plus

Oops. I forgot about the fact that EST time is an hour ahead of me... so I'm an hour late. Oh well, it was still fun making something.

John Schroter

John Schroter Plus

I uploaded and added to the group at 11:50 PM, June 26th, but the video is not converting. Will the upload time still count if it doesn't convert for a while? What should I do if it doesn't convert at all and still want it to count for the project? Thanks!

Tracer Ital

Tracer Ital Plus

Can't believe I missed out on this one... :( Excited to see what everyone has done though.

John Schroter

John Schroter Plus

Congratulations to the winners. My video is up and the group shows a link, ( vimeo.com/groups/weekendproject/videos/44780277 ) but it's giving the good old 'vimeUhOh' dead link screen. It would be nice if people could see it here in the group. Anything that can be done to fix it, I'd appreciate.

Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors PRO

We scream for split screen too! Take a look at the recent 'Inside Tesla' series we produced showcasing the Model S production process. The video below is one of four, this one on paint:

vimeo.com/43505225

Bernard McWilliams

Bernard McWilliams

Stunning. Strangely moving. A reverse James Bond martini... stirred, not shaken.

Addy

Addy

Isn't there a confusion these days about what "split screen" is? These are "multi screen" videos. "Split screen" is an illusion created by dividing a screen in half and then joining two - usually different - parts together in the the attempt to make it look as if it is one screen.

Tori Bonin

Tori Bonin

Aw the last part almost made me cry.

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