Learn Digital Video Editing

A split screen is a fun effect which allows you to seamlessly combine two shots into one. This allows the same actor to play multiple roles at once!

The trickiest part about creating a split screen effect is actually shooting your video. You have to make sure the actor (or the actor’s shadow) doesn’t cross the line where you plan to create the split. You also have to make sure lighting stays consistent for both shots. Since this site is learn digital video editing, and not learn how to shoot video, I’m going to leave that part up to you.

For my split screen effect I decided to use an Image Matte effect. An Image Matte is a mask that is applied to a video track to remove certain parts of the video. The part that is removed is based on the information in the Matte Image specified. I made my own Matte Image using Photoshop.

The above image has a black side and a white side. I also applied a Gaussian Blur so that the line separating the two parts would be less defined. When we use this image as our Image Matte, the video in the black area will be removed. By putting the Image Matte on our top clip, it removes the left side of the clip, making the clip underneath visible.

How To Create A Split Screen Effect In Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0

1. Make a Matte Image.

2. In Premiere, add your two videos to the timeline, one on top of the other.

3. Click on the Effects Tab. Choose the Keying Effects folder. Drag “Image Matte Key” onto the top clip in the timeline.

4. Select your top clip in the timeline. In the Effect Controls Panel for that clip, twirl down the Image Matte Effect options. Click the setup button.

5. Choose the matte image from your hard drive.

6. Make sure “Matte Alpha” is selected instead of “Matte Luma”.

7. In your clip, if instead of seeing both actors at once you see none at all, check the “Reverse” checkbox.

That’s it! Watch your clip to see how it looks. You might find that you did a poor job shooting your video and there are lighting issues. You may need to do some editing to properly sync the acting taking place. If the split occurs in the wrong location, remake your image matte with the line in the desired spot.