Horizontal "split screen" effect- can this be done?

[like2edit]

With Premiere 6.5 is there any way to get a "split screen" effect? I want to show one clip in the top half of the screen and a different clip in the bottom half. thanks.

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Sure!

Put one of your clips in Video 2 and another in Video 3

In Video 1, just put some color matte or if you like, some sort of miscellaneous framing footage.

Then, for each of the clips on Vide 2 and Video 3, go into Clip >> Video >> Motion. For each one, move it to where you want it on the little screen. You can either squash it, or maintain the ratio (which means your background will be visible).

This is useful for doing picture-in-a-picture, or if you want to do that two-people-talking-over-a-telephone split shot, or any other story element that requires the viewer to perceive simultaneity.

FYI: All video tracks above 1 are designed for doing just this sort of superimposition. Quite handy stuff!

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[like2edit]

Thanks for the info.

Before I give this a try I was wondering- do I have to put something in Video 1 or can I leave it empty?

In any case, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "color matte" and "framing footage"- could you explain this?
thanks.

 

[Bytemaster34]

You shouldn't need to put anything in Video 1 if you don't want.

I don't have premiere in front of me, but it seems to me that if you right click your video in track 3, there is a video transparency option.

You can key out a color (what EdwardMartinIII spoke of) but you just want a hard line down the middle, correct? I think that in the top right of the transparency window, there's a little preview. Click and drag to move the dots around inside it, which will move the rubberband. Move them until there's a line down the center. You should see your track#3 video on the left (or right) and some of the video below it in track 2 showing through.

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Okay, Like2Edit, you can put nothing into Layer 1, if you like. In that case, it'll be black. Or you can put a color matte there. A color matte (and I'm trying to retrieve this data from memory, so I might be a bit off) is at Project >> New >> Color Matte and it lets you just make a solid color and place on the timeline. Basically, if you want a purple background, you can do that.

A motion background would be, like, you making just some groovy miasmic moving pattern. Something that loops smoothly. Then you put it on the background (Video 1). That way, if you squash your video in a certain way, it's bordered by the background image (which can be whatever you like) instead of Premiere's default (which is black).

Now, as I re-read what you wrote, I'm no longer sure if you want to squash the two screens apart (for example, the way they screw with credits on network TV by squeezing the credits over while an ad runs on another part of the screen, which I think is reprehensible at best) or if you want to split 'em down the middle (for example, Clip 46 has Joe talking on the phone, and he's on the right side of the screen. Clip 47 has Linda talking on the phone to Joe and she's on the left side of the screen and you want to show them both).

I gave you directions for squashing (which doesn't necessarily have to involve messing with the aspect ratios -- for example, the opening sequence to The Brady Bunch), and the directions for splitting a screen is a different thing.

Bytemaster34's directions are pretty much the thing you'll need for that.

There are a couple of other hacks to achieve the same effect, so if these don't work, post more specific details and one of us will probably come up with something that smells good and tastes great, too!

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[like2edit]

This has all been very helpful. Now that I've tried this technique I have some questions in the "there must be an easier way" department.

So, I'm doing my horizontal split screen as follows:
- place one track in Video 2, place the other in Video 3
- go into Video Motion on first track, "squashing" it into the upper half of the frame.
- go into Video Motion on second track, "squashing" it into the lower half of the frame.

This essentially does the job, but I'm finding that dealing with the Video Motion settings on each track is a painstaking process. During the process I use the "start" and "end" buttons, which requires squashing each clip twice (to the identical size) and then placing it in precisely the right start and end position. If it's not precise, I find the clip moves a bit, which I don't want.

I get the feeling I may be making this more difficult than it needs to be. Is there an easier way to use the Video Motion settings to get the upper and lower clip to each occupy exactly half of the frame and play smoothly, without movement? Can "saving" the motion settings help in this process? thanks.

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

As I recall, the way to make sure your start and stop points are the same in Video Motion is to simply copy the numerical values.

In the upper left corner is a preview window. Next to it is a play button and a pause button. Hitting pause helps you think.

All settings in Video Motion can be expresed numerically.

When you first enter Video Motion, the working panel in the upper middle or so has two dots, each representing the ends of the motion. If you have clicked pause, then each time you click on a dot, the preview will jump to that section of the animation.

So, click on the first dot. Arrange your frame as you wish. Then click on your second dot and enter all the same settings. If you forget, no worries -- just click back and forth on the dots, comparing the values.

Howzzat work?

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[like2edit]

o.k, I found the numerical values for getting start and end postions to be identical.

but what about the getting the "squashed" images to be the identical size? When dealing with each of the two clips I have to "squash" each clip twice (both the start and end), and I think the start and end images need to be squashed to the identical size, correct? Is there a way to help make sure the squashed images are exactly the same size? this seems pretty tricky.

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Apply the same numerical values to squash both into the upper half.

Then move one down.

Video isn't that precise a science -- do 'em the way that looks good to you.

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door