INVISIBLE SPLIT-SCREEN TUTORIAL (The David Fincher Technique)

[@TampaTay]

At first glance, I thought I understood this technique, but your video filled in the gaps I was missing. Great job. Hope to see more.

[@BenGillFilms]

Tampa Tay That's fantastic to hear. Thanks man, I have a few more video ideas in the pipeline.

[@jakemaringoni]

Never thought of split-screen like that before watching this video, thanks!

[@BenGillFilms]

Thanks for watching, glad you found it helpful!

[@MichaelELambert]

I discovered this technique in Love American Style's episode with Agnes Moorehead and Stephanie Powers where they were at the dinner table. Agnes on right; Stephanie on left. Suddenly, Agnes brings her hand down and it disappears briefly. I figured that during tv shows or movies that if one actor could not be there for the take, they could come in, do THEIR part, leave, then the next actor could do THEIR part, leave, and the scenes could be spliced together to make the final cut. Brilliant technique! I never new what it was called or if it existed back then but I know it does now! Great work, David Fincher!

[@nickoseven5370]

I'm somewhat new to all of this. Its like I threw a rock into a well and I never realized how far it goes down. So deep, I love it

[@BenGillFilms]

Awesome man, thanks for watching! Check out Part 2 for some additional examples of the technique.

[@CZsWorld]

Very precise. Fincher is the man.

[@IorgaTiberiu]

The thing I admired about animation is that you can control all the aspects in a scene. Although I knew about David Fincher's split screen technique I never thought you could mask so particularly in a scene. Great job, Ben !

[@BenGillFilms]

***** Yes, exactly! This technique adds a new level of control and manipulation, giving the director more control in post. Not quite on the level of an animation, but a bit closer :)

[@MikeMillerEdit]

i think some of the un-clear comments were people wondering "why not just cut-away?" like to a wide shot? you basically are showing POV shots on the last one...a lot of what you didnt like could be answered with a cut away of a wide shot :) i learned a lot from it in anycase..so thanks!

[@JeffintheD]

Very calmly explained, and I thank you for it. They say the film is made in the editing room, and you exercised a lot of discretion and independent judgment to achieve performances the director failed to provide you. Looking forward to seeing more..

[@marcwielage4678]

Terrific tutorial. Note that George Lucas did this in 1999 (!!!) on PHANTOM MENACE to piece together performances with the kid and Natalie Portman in split-frame. As far as I know, this is the first time it was ever done -- plus it had to be tracked because a lot of it was moving camera.

[@BenGillFilms]

That's awesome to know that one of the first digital films used this technique! That's one of the main reasons I was so surprised not to see more resources talking about this technique, it seems like most professional editors have been using this technique for years. Thanks for sharing!

[@obsidensleet]

Great vid man, just goes to show how important it is to have an editor who understands the emotional circumstance of a scene,and can cut together a performance that works better than what was given. Keep it up :)

[@LesHenderson]

Very nice pace for the tutorial. It clarified several aspects that I'm trying to grasp from other tutorials. Most interesting was the aspect of having different speeds for the various masks.

[@zachnfine]

You might be surprised how often this technique is used by filmmakers on handheld shots. It's not as easy to execute as it is on a locked-off shot, but with the kind of tracking and compositing tools available on desktop computers these days, some impressive seamless split-screens in handheld shots can be executed. It's pretty amazing the power available to anyone with a copy of AfterEffects these days. As long as the camera is primarily panning or tilting and doesn't move through space enough to create parallax issues between the sides, it's possible to track both sides of a split-screen, stabilize (lock them down), comp them together, and then reintroduce the camera movement from either of the two sides of the split-screen to the final comp so that it's got the same shaky-cam movement as the original. The version of Mocha that is included with AfterEffects can be very helpful for this as it's a very solid tracker once you get past a small learning curve.

[@watch9604]

Solid tutorial. The potential for this is endless.

[@BenGillFilms]

Xavier Miles Thanks Xavier! And I'm realizing that more and more! People have suggested things in the comments I've never tried or thought of before. Great tool to have.

[@morecarstuff]

the more you know! never thought of this. glad I came across your video!

[@ismajc]

Great explanations ! I didn't know this was as simple as it is

[@PhilpottBruce]

Very well done and well explained & demonstrated. Thanks!

[@BenGillFilms]

Bruce Philpott Thanks for the encouraging words, Bruce! Looking forward to doing more videos in the coming weeks.

[@ryanesta]

Cool technique. I would love to see a video where you start from scratch with those clips - so I can see the entire process from start to finish.

[@BenGillFilms]

ryanesta Hey Ryan! I think I will put together another follow up video walking through a few more examples. I'm not sure how step by step it will be, but I'll try to go in depth in the steps I took to create a final effect!

[@endingalaporte]

Split screen to select the best actor performances, interesting !

[@xcalade]

Very good video, and what an amazing technique. I think it helps a lot to know this before you shoot.

[@BenGillFilms]

Moha Iroy Thanks Moha! Hope you get a chance to try this in your next edit.

[@LeeClontz]

Really, really interesting video, Ben. Great examples. Thanks for sharing!

[@BenGillFilms]

Thanks for the support, Lee!

[@Colebrookproductions]

Very cool. I feel like a lot of shows/movies botch the timing on the "over the shoulder shot". Now there is no excuse!

[@BenGillFilms]

***** Thanks Colebrook! And absolutely, that's my number one use for it, fixing continuity in OTS. I'm constantly seeing movies and TV shows where the person dirty is moving their mouth or hands in the frame and then cut to them and they aren't! With this technique there's no excuse!

[@pumpednation8493]

Thanks for the video. Do you know of any further reading or video's that talk about this? I'm really interested in learning more about the split screen.

[@BenGillFilms]

Hey Pumped Nation! Check the video description for a download of my research for this video. I compiled a bunch of interviews (transcripts and links) about split screening.

[@ErwanCloarec]

Pretty awesome Ben, never heard of this technique before and opens to a lot of possibilities for me, i wish i had heard about it before for recent projects!

[@BenGillFilms]

Erwan Cloarec Thanks Erwan! And I feel the same way, I just started using this technique this year and it's saved my butt so many times with continuity.

[@JoshVal]

This was great! can't wait to move over to premiere and ae...will be going back to this haha that last shot with the girl's hand was genius

[@BenGillFilms]

Joshua Ortiz The hand manipulation just feels like cheating hahaha

[@MrRockleyend]

Love it man, thank you for taking the time to show this. Very instructive.

[@winston44xx]

This is fuckin amazing! Editing is more of an art than i ever imagined

[@muirmustangsmediatv9464]

Love it! Will show my film/video students! Thanks so much!

[@KwasnikPictures]

Thats a great technique, will definately use it in my short films! Thanks, liked, subscribed and ready for more content!

[@BenGillFilms]

KwasnikPictures Thanks for subscribing Kwasnik! I'm working hard to have another video out next week!

[@EazyWorldPeace]

This is very impressive. Great work!

[@BenGillFilms]

Ehab Ismail Thanks Ehab! Hope you keep watching and get a chance to use this technique!

[@christinemarque6499]

Thank you so much for this! I didn't even think to use the split screen like this, thank you! Great explanation!

[@HotelForDads]

Really cool. I'd assume this only works if you shoot very intentionally for it, as actors would have to remain very still in beween performances/takes.

[@BenGillFilms]

HOTEL FOR DADS It's definitely easier if the actors remain still/separated the whole take, but I wouldn't say you'd have to shoot with this in mind. A lot of the time there's naturally the space between actors and, if they cross slightly, a simple rotoscope would fix it!

[@misterdeity]

Thanks. Do you know if Fincher came up with that? It’s freakin’ brilliant. I’m definitely gonna use that in my next feature. 👍🏽

[@SuperFuturama]

This is very interesting! Thanks a lot! I suppose lighting is very important if you want to use this technique. If you have shadows everywhere I imagine it gets a little more complicated.

[@BenGillFilms]

Jimi Vall Peterson Thanks Jimi! You're absolutely right, this simple visual effect can get very complicated very fast. I used it on 35mm footage and had to track all the microshakes inherent in film footage and apply it to clean plates!

[@RamblingGreek]

I'd love to see a step-by-step tutorial for this.

[@BenGillFilms]

Hey Darth Dio! Check out the follow up video for this for some more in-depth examples. Thanks for taking the time to watch!

[@RamblingGreek]

and thank yo for letting me know ;)

[@maurix60]

oh men this open my mind!!!!....this is soooo helpful to me!!!....thanks a lot!!!

[@BenGillFilms]

mauricio bartolo Woo! I'm glad more people are being introduced to this technique :D

[@juandon2451]

Alright this is a cool tutorial, but I'm a bit confused my questions: 1. When you adjusted his performance in the first clip how did you extend his glance to make it creepier. Did you use another take where he stares longer? Or did you just sort of pick a small portion of it and copy it throughout until you decided to cut? 2. FCPX has masking tools can this also be done in FCPX?

[@BenGillFilms]

Hey Juan! For that first one, I just used a different part of his performance where he looks longer, maybe when he was listening to her speak. Makes the moment much creepier with him staring at her instead of breaking eye contact. And you can absolutely do this right within FCPX or Premiere with the built in tools just by duplicating the clips and putting them on the tracks above. I just prefer the tools in After Effects. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[@juandon2451]

Hi Ben I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I want to thank you for clearing that up for me, but I have another question. If I wanted to take a piece of performance and move it elsewhere in the scene I would have to double the clip, layer it over the top of the other clip, (then here's where I get confused) would I draw a mask over the top clip then cut it just to get the little section I want and keep that layered over the bottom? I need help with that. Is there any way you can list the exact steps you take in taking a piece of performance and moving it, that would be much appreciated. I'm probably making this way more complicated then it is, but the more I go over it in my head the more it eludes me. Thanks.

[@AbdelilahDR]

These are some Awesome tips Man...Thanks.

[@BenGillFilms]

Abdelilah Driouch Thanks Abdelilah!

[@mercurious6699]

Wow, learned a lot - thanks so much, great video.

[@polypeptide]

Thanks for this video! Is is possible to do a split on moving dolly shots? I think I saw a very brief shot in a behind the scenes video for Mindhunter that they showed while talking about using split screen. I thought that there might be a way to motion track a shot that's very smooth and then track the split along with the motion of that shot?

[@staticklingon2182]

If you have a motorized dolly or tripod where you can redo the same shot over and over then you can do split screen relatively easily. I was going to say it would be near impossible manually but if filmed in 4K I guess you could track it and it would probably work. It'd have to be super clean tracking but theoretically I think you're right. I never done it without a tripod so I'm guessing.

[@BenGillFilms]

Pretty much agreeing with what G Skub said, if the dolly move was motion control/repeatable across many takes you could do it easily. If not, you'd need some rotoscoping witchcraft to pull it off!

[@greg149_]

Hi Ben, Fantastic tutorial! Just one thing I was unclear about that I would love to know more. When you removed the guy at the end entirely did you just shoot a plate without moving the tripod? then kept the original shot with the smoke and then had a third separate take where you keyed the actor out entirely and blended all three? I was just a bit confused how that was all put together. Thanks!!

[@BenGillFilms]

Greg Accetta Hey Greg! Sorry it was unclear, I've had a few people ask questions about this. This shot I actually got lucky because the actor(s) enter the empty frame at the beginning, so for the clean plate I just freeze framed one of those beginning frames and used that to fill in any gaps! The old advice "shoot your entrances and exits" saved my butt here. It was all the same shot, i just had to hide the normal speed actor underneath the slow mo cut out version of him!

[@greg149_]

Ben Gill Thanks!!

[@seventysevencats]

Thanks a lot for sharing this technique, Ben! (Really good video as well.)

[@BenGillFilms]

Thanks man!

[@DanielCruz-ep6ul]

very nice tutorial. easy to understand and everything

[@BenGillFilms]

Thanks for taking the time to watch, Daniel!

[@OfficialLunarFilms]

Holy shit. This changed my life

[@kabeltelevizio]

They do split comping even people overlap. It's just a bit of extra rotoscoping.

[@fespy3973]

This is mad genius. Thank you for sharing this!

[@BenGillFilms]

Fespy Thanks Fespy! Let me know if you find a chance to use this in a future project :)

[@LondonHomerWambeam]

I've used this technique before in a pinch. Didn't know it was a "thing."

[@azp4793]

Hi Ben! Thank you for a well constructed and thoughtout video! When working with proxies in premiere, is this technique still usable when needing to relink raw footage at the end of the edit (after color grading)? Whats that workflow like in that scenario? Thanks again!

[@BenGillFilms]

+Alex Zingaro Hey Alex! Thanks for the kind words. I haven't tried this with a proxy workflow, but if you manage to perform the split screens in just premiere with two proxies it should link the same! Otherwise, I would suggest doing the split screen of the full res versions then rendering that out and making a proxy of that new shot!

[@gabrielgomez1502]

Great video dude. I understant alot! Thanks for sharing your knowledge :D

[@BenGillFilms]

Gabriel Gomez Thanks Gabriel! Hope you find a chance to use this in future projects.

[@uncletrick1]

Great tip and very informative. You mentioned "last semester" - where are you going to school?

[@BenGillFilms]

Rob LaRosa Thanks Rob! I'm in the Film BFA at UCF.

[@TheBeeOBee]

Wow, awesome technique.

[@joshwrb]

That's sick man. Thanks for the tip.

[@Henbot]

Really interesting bu also rather curious question too-- due to how you are altering their performance they gave independently from them. Sort of removing the actors from the equation. Wont surprise me if the future develops in full blown altering of actors -- so their performance they actually gave is utterly different. Does that mean they still should get an oscar?

[@BenGillFilms]

They absolutely deserve the oscar! Regardless of how the timing of their performance has been altered, it is still their performance. Using different takes is part of the beauty of editing in the first place, why should you be limited to only changing the whole shot rather than just the performance. All of filmmaking is manipulation and trying to emulate a real time and place. It's just another tool in the toolkit. Life of Pi and Gravity both won Oscars for Best Cinematography despite largely computer generated cameras and lighting. The tools are evolving! I think it's a really exciting time to be a filmmaker with all these story-telling options.

[@filmjots7244]

It annoys me how many actors don't thank the editor in their acceptance speech...

[@thambithurai4115]

Great tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@elodielytri5888]

I love your tutorial! thanks man! But how do you communicate the elements to the lab for conforming? Is an invisible split consider tobe a vfx?

[@BenGillFilms]

Elodie ly tri Thanks Elodie! I would just send to conform as usual, as long as you have the full takes to play with, you should be able to manipulate the footage after the fact. I guess technically it's a VFX and you could send it to an artist to do, but I know the Fincher editors talk about doing a lot of them in house to save time/money. The benefit of the editor tweaking it is that they can make creative decisions with the manipulation (i.e. how much space to add/take away).

[@miam4639]

Thank you very much for this, it is a very valued addition to my film making knowledge! Makes accreditation for acting performances questionable, though, doesn't it?

[@coreyhoward4397]

Had to edit almost a whole film like this once. Better the director, you know, directed, but it's good to know in case anything goes wrong

[@lagarconnemusic]

Thx for this! Changes everything!

[@BenGillFilms]

Ranya Dube That's great to hear! Hope you find chances to use this in future projects :D

[@lagarconnemusic]

It will! Thx so much for taking the time to do this. Great vid

[@L2Eproject]

this is great! thanks for this man :) will soon apply this.

[@BenGillFilms]

L2Eproject Thanks man! If you end up using this technique, send it over so I can check it out.

[@L2Eproject]

Ben Gill will definitely let you know :) subscribed,

[@plasmaMultimedia]

Very nice... thanks for sharing !

[@tcbmediavisuals4268]

A bit unclear at times, but pretty good!

[@BenGillFilms]

TCB Mediavisuals Thanks man! Which parts were unclear for you? I'd like to do better in the future!

[@bobbygil13]

Ben Gill Great examples - the 'unclear' is where you know exactly what you're talking about - but as a viewer I'm trying to listen and didn't spot the subtle changes you were discussing. Took a few views and replays of the latter two clips to understand what you were doing. Great work by the way. Could make it clearer with some annotations on the video describing exactly how scene being discussed has been altered (as well as your voice over).

[@BenGillFilms]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback! I'll try to add text in addition to voice next time.

[@MPA188]

I'm new to AE, did you use Crop mask effect like in Premiere to crop the section of the image in AE?

[@BenGillFilms]

Richard Li You can absolutely do this in premiere, they now have masking tools with the pen tool just like AE does. Only for the more complicated ones would you need to go into AE for masking/keyframing. I'm sure you'll find most of them can be accomplished in Premiere.

[@CuriousFilmsbd]

Wow..... Great. New technique for me.

[@BenGillFilms]

Jabed Patwary Awesome, hope you get a chance to use it!

[@niklaskarlssonmedia2225]

how does this work with dialogue scenes? How do i keep them in sync without jumpcutting?

[@BenGillFilms]

Niklas Karlsson The only time you'd run into jump cuts is if you were trying to apply this to a oner. If you're cutting between coverage or over the shoulder shots, you only need to manipulate that couple seconds so you just drag the performance over to where you want it and drag out the end or beginning of the clip to fill the gap.

[@niklaskarlssonmedia2225]

Yes i understand that. But some of those scenes you demonstrated, were scenes where both characters faces was in the frame. Is there a smooth way of using this method then?

[@BenGillFilms]

Oh, that's where masking comes in! So you cut the frame in half and move one half in time while keeping the other the same.

[@niklaskarlssonmedia2225]

Yes. But what if, let's say the actors perform their lines much faster the second time? How do I do then?

[@BenGillFilms]

You'll have to get creative with the cuts to other coverage to hide seams. It will take a bit of trial and error to make the dialogue seem natural, but the effects are worth it!

[@DLNOT]

Is the split comping possible to be done on Adobe Premiere Pro?

[@MarcVilarnau]

wow this is really good, thanks for sharing!

[@BenGillFilms]

Thanks for watching, Marc!

[@StupidMarioBros1Fan]

*How I make my Super Mario 64 videos except in Sony Vegas. Great tutorial, same basic concept in SV, just different interface. :)

[@BenGillFilms]

StupidMarioBros1Fan That's awesome! Good to know. I used Sony Vegas a few years ago, very user friendly.

[@Ewyn33111]

Ben Gill, Oxenfree Design what do you recommend? Vegas or after effects?

[@filipdziegiel]

Thanks for this tutorial!

[@brianjcavanaugh]

A common technique in episodic television.

[@drurybynum9657]

How did you get the clean plate with the smoke but without the male actor? Was that shot intentionally?

[@BenGillFilms]

Drury Bynum Hey Drury, I got lucky with that one because the actors start off frame and enter during the take. I just used a freeze frame before they entered, and put everything else on top. The advice "shoot your entrances and exits" actually helps here haha. If you do not have that luxury, you might have to stitch together, or clone stamp in photoshop to create a clean plate.

[@4rjohny5]

what a Great technique, thank you Ben! Instant Sub ｼ

[@BenGillFilms]

JohnyFive ; Shorts Thanks for subscribing Johny! I'm working on another video that should be out next week :D

[@upstagedbyadog]

Seems to me this technique (a) forces the use of wider shots and less connected performers; and (b) compensates for the directors' inadequacies.

[@BenGillFilms]

It's definitely a lot easier to do a split-screen on a wider/static frame and it can still be done in closer shots. If it's a close up of just one character, you wouldn't need to split-screen. Think of it as another tool to rewrite the film in the edit. It doesn't need to be a bandaid for a mistake, it can transform the pacing of a scene to elicit a different response from the audience.

[@13StopsPocketFilms]

Very helpful! Thank you.

[@bagussskn]

how to make split screen like your intro, btw this is awesome tutorial

[@elilo5867]

Hi Benjamin , I actually still dont really get it on how you achieve such precise comp and mask on the scene with the lady in red. you masked out three portions of the lady's body , and replaced them with other takes during the production phase. This means that the lady or actress must be so precise and accurate to the point where she cannot have an inch difference in her position on the different takes. How is this even possible ?

[@BenGillFilms]

Hey Elias! It can get very tricky. Luckily, in this shot she is almost still. I think you can see where the masks were as I click through them. I'm not sure that I used a different take for the hands, I just found a part earlier in the take where her hands didn't move and dragged the hands cutout in time to be that part of the take. Does that make any more sense?

[@elilo5867]

Oh i see.. so its actually the same take on the same clip but different timings of the clip. thanks bro by the way...

[@Phabyyo]

Thanks for this vídeo.

[@BenGillFilms]

Fabio Acb Thanks Fabio! Hope you get a chance to use it.

[@kaloloxful]

Well, THAT´S a cool tip!

[@baskorojuwono]

Thanks man! very helpful! :)

[@BenGillFilms]

Baskoro Juwono Thanks Baskoro! Means a lot.

[@Spacewey]

Excellent!

[@BenGillFilms]

David Calzada Thanks David! Hope you get a chance to use it.

[@Mediagix]

I think you can get away without AE. Using host-agnostic filters, that work real-time and can be transported to ae.

[@BenGillFilms]

Mediagix Not sure what you mean by host-agnostic filters, but you can absolutely accomplish this in other software such as Premiere or another NLE, assuming they have some sort of masking capabilities.

[@Mediagix]

BCC by Boris FX can be used in many hosts like as, resolve, mc, final cut...

[@BenGillFilms]

Oh, true! I don't have a lot of experience with BCC but as long as you can mask, you can do it!

[@Mediagix]

Wanna test them?

[@BenGillFilms]

I have a few of them! Used them for random things like stars and motion blur.

[@ThomasCrauk]

very good video thanks!

[@TeaPajkic]

what did you shoot your film featured at 2:50?

[@BenGillFilms]

Tea Pajkic I believe Remnants was filmed on the Canon 6D!

[@husseinaliabdulzahraal-dul1575]

Amazing thanks dude

[@cliffdivingmonkeys8430]

well I guess there will be a time when anyone can be an actor, with all the technology that can change or enhance or perfect any scene, there won't be a need for great acting :-)

[@JeremyShaye]

Fix it in post!

[@SteeleRutherford]

You know premiere has masking right? No need to go into AE to do this...

[@BenGillFilms]

You definitely don't need to use AE, I was just showing it in my software of choice to show the concepts :)

[@Aristadoe]

great job!

[@giuseppedebacco9608]

thanks

[@RoraighPrice]

im guessing you could use this technique if you wanted to play something in reverse but didn't want it to visibly look like it was going backwards

[@BenGillFilms]

Roraigh Price Yes! That'd be a perfect time to use this and get away with a little "cheat" like reversing footage. Good shout!

[@philhill2913]

What camera did you use in those videos?

[@BenGillFilms]

Remnants was shot on the Canon 6D and Where Have You Been was shot on the Canon 7D

[@ejmendelson]

+Ben Gill are you editing this on Windows? Do you find that to run better than on Mac?

[@BenGillFilms]

+Eric J I'm editing on Windows but the experience is largely the same as Premiere is the same on both!

[@filmmake0]

I'd rather cut at 5:23 to next shot, and then cut back to the guy just when she turns, and show him with flowers, smiling. (Tough you don't exactly have that shot in this video) And she smiles back. Huh, kinda similar how Fincher likes to show when a character learns a new information, I guess?

[@gc3k]

Digital effects aren't all bad

[@anatolikbelikov]

Thanx!

[@dezfoto7534]

The first director that I became aware of doing this a lot was George Lucas with the Star Wars prequels.

[@akaflk]

Oh I do love to be beside the C side...

[@RocKoNoX]

THANKS A LOT, really.

[@ScorpioDanielNerd]

You didn't explain how to mask

[@LTULOfficial]

why not just filmed it on set like that?

[@BenGillFilms]

In a perfect world, you would! Unfortunately, in the cutting room, a lot of things change, it's your final rewrite of the film. This a technique you can use if you want to quicken the pace or fix continuity. This is great when you're cutting together dialogue that's improvised across several angles because you can make it match with the timing you want. It's not something you NEED to use, just another tool in your directing arsenal.

[@toolkit42]

you probably should put a bit more effort into creating a good video essay. With less pictures and more video as well as using movie techniques for showing what you want. Every frame a painting would be a good example)

[@BenGillFilms]

I love Every Frame A Painting! However, my intention was not to make a video essay but more of a tutorial showing how the technique can be used and then how to use it. Premiere/After Effects walkthroughs have no place in a video essay, but are crucial to the effectiveness of this video. In terms of the pictures vs. videos, ultimately that's down to personal preference, but I'd definitely consider using clips next time. I hope it doesn't seem like I didn't spend time polishing this, because I really did spend several hours trying make this the best it can be! Thanks so much for the feedback, let me know if you think of anything else!

[@MeekAndBackFirE]

awesome. sub done.

[@BenGillFilms]

Red Aquino Thanks for subscribing Red! Should have another video out next week.

[@insanedb]

fix it in post