Spatial Montage and Split Screen:

Spatial montage is the use of one screen to contrast another screen. It consists of more than one single image in different shapes and sizes on the screen at the same time for an intended effect desired by the film maker. 

Spatial Montage in film dates back to the early 20th century. However, it has been used further back in history in depiction of art and paintings. They were known as triptychs. Triptychs are panelled paintings, divided into three sections. It was used in Christian Europe in the middle ages to portray a religious story. 

Triptych inspired film makers to use this technique, but with moving images rather than the still painting images. The most famous use of the split screen/spatial montage technique is from the film - Pillow Talk. In this scene we see a man and a woman having a conversation on the telephone in the bath. However, it creates some contrast in the frame as they're in two different locations. The use of this split screen technique allows the viewers to see the closeness of their relationship, as they share the same shot in different locations. Despite their distance in the narrative, in the shot it is as if they are right next to each other. This helps display the closeness of their relationship.

It is used in other medias too. Music videos consist of them too. An example would be Radiohead's All I Need. Throughout the whole music video a split screen is used to showcase the narrative of juxtaposition between the life of a western child and an Asian child. Dissimilarity is indicated as their days are completely different. The western boy's life consists of him waking up from his bed, having breakfast, going to school and playing with his football. On the other hand, the Asian boy's life show him waking up from the floor and heading straight to a sweat shop to work for the day. On the right-hand side of the screen, where the Asian boy is, the footage is just him working all day. However, there is a similarity when the Asian boy puts the shoe down after working on it, it turns out the western boy has the same shoe too. Contrastingly, the Asian boy the manufacturer of the shoe whereas the western boy is the consumer of them. This uses the split screen feature well as it shows heavy contrast in a young boy's life and culture despite being of similar age to each other.

Video games use split screen but in an alternate manner. It does still display contrast, but there isn't a big narrative behind it. The feature's purpose is to allow two players to play the same game at once but as different characters. This is seen on multiplayer games like Call of Duty in which they split the screen in two to allow two players to play on the same screen. 

In addition, it is evident in social media too. Video call apps such as FaceTime, Zoom and Skype use split screen to display different people in the call. This allows everyone in the call to be seen in one screen through the spatial montage technique.

Task:

We were assigned the task of creating a short video using split screen and spatial montage techniques.

Idea:

The idea we came up with was to show contrast and difference in split screen before COVID-19 and during COVID-19.

Final:

Reflection:

Overall, I already knew of split screening in many media platforms but i learnt the effect and meaning behind why the technique is used. Such as in moving image to show direct contrast in shots as seen in Radiohead's music video, as well as in Pillow talk to display difference on locations but closeness in relationship. I would consider using spatial montage and split screen as my final artefact. However, I am very limited on ideas as it isn't a unique artefact unlike the others we have already learnt about.