SPLIT SCREEN NARRATIVE IN OUR MUSIC VIDEO

"The split-screen form had a renaissance in the late 60's and 70's, with such examples as The Thomas Crown Affair, Woodstock, The Boston Strangler, The Longest Yard, More American Graffiti, and Sisters and many others not shown such as Carrie, The Twilight's Last Gleaming, and The Andromeda Strain - all of which can be characterized as having an aggressive stance towards the use of split-screens as an integral part of the film's dramatic and visual structure."


"However, in the context of the 60's and 70's, an aggressive commitment to the splitscreen was a cinematic attraction that was capable of "blowing the minds" and capturing the attention of a youth culture comfortable with expanded consciousness and oriented towards the visceral pleasures of the sensorium."

(http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit6/papers/Bizzocchi.pdf)

Jim Bizzocchi's piece on 'The Fragmented Frame' comments on the re-appearance in the use of split screen in the late 60s and 70s, and comments that in the 60s this may have been the result of the 'threat of television' being that cinema needed something that TV couldn't offer.

The interesting part of this article for me however was the mention of the use of split screen in the film 'Woodstock' (1970) the split screen in this film/documentary style piece was used possibly to show both the acts playing and he audience at the same time. The film was an initial inspiration for the use of split screen in our music video (due to the links with James Edge and 70s folk/rock artists) and although the purpose of split screen is different in the film to our video, the basic idea of the dramatic and visual structure of the videos still remains.
The article also mentions the youth culture's focus on music rather than cinema and the success therefore of the Woodstock film amongst teenagers/young adults.   







The comment about the attraction of split screen within youth culture is also something that may be also be referenced in our music video and links to our audience demographic, being primarily teenagers. The use of split screen 'capturing the attention of a youth culture comfortable with expanded consciousness and oriented towards the visceral pleasures of the sensorium', this could reference the elements of the zietgeist in the use of split screen in the 60s and 70s, and may be something we can reference in our video.  

The split screen in our video was used for both simply aesthetic reasons, and also to reflect the length of time our character spends alone. The use of split screen (shots of our main character against the red,blue,yellow and green background placed next to one another) challenge the conventional use of framing to present something aesthetically pleasing and to quickly and simply represent the different locations our character visits and the amount of time she spends on her own. 

"……Willis notes that contemporary filmmakers such as Greenaway and Figgis use digital capabilities to break what Greenaway calls "the tyranny of the frame" and make expressive use of a multi-windowed cinematic environment ”. 

Our music video therefore challenges the 'tyranny of the frame' in order to present these ideas and to ultimately appeal to our demographic.