Perfectly split screen
This short film is an editing marvel. Every frame is edited for the alignment with the other half and to synchronize the pace. I love that you can hear the background noises of two shots clearly separate in two earpiece. Then, that is superadded by a marvelous piano (background) score.
Now, I'll give you the details of the alignment that I was talking about, which you will surely miss out if I don't tell you.
1. The view from the bedroom window shot : The buildings are made to match at the meeting point of the frames. The sun is shown on the east (as in a map). And you can see the left half of the frame is also being enlightened from the right side.
2. The shower shot : Both showers are shot from a distance that their visual angle is same. They are matched for their curvature AND handle, and also for the top nozzle.
3. Egg boiling shot : Curvature of the vessels are matched. You can see regulators only on the left side. And both pots have just the same amount of boil.
4. Coffee pouring shot : Curvature of the cups are well matched, however a handle is seen in both splits. Moreover, a lying newspaper is also seen in both halves. This shot is technically less perfect but you can see two different languages in both newspapers implying that both characters are in a different country. Milk poured in the right half fills the cup on left half too with the same speed.
5. The newspaper shot : Turning the page is almost perfectly synchronized. However, background on the left half is a shelf but on the right half is a palm tree. So.... ah... thats a con.
6. The doorway shot : This is the worst part of this short. The shots are aligned at the floor line across the door. There is nothing right about this shot. Both shots are taken from different angles showing right half of the doorway awkwardly inclined. Lighting is bad; left half is lit, right half is not. Both cars outside the door are not aligned at all, they are not even facing the same direction. First floor of the front building are non-aligned.
7. The sidewalk shot : Nothing is synchronized here too. You can unwantedly listen to the unsynced footsteps of the kitten heels in your left ear and loafers in your right ear.
8. The subway enterance shot : I don't know how, but James Griffiths managed to find two subways of exact same depth. Inclination of both the shots is same so much so that the roof line and the floor line are matching. But lightings are not (but I'm giving him a break. Hey, he can't manage lightings of subways.)
9. The train arrival shot : Platform hight AND depth are aligned. Both platforms have one passenger (a she on his half and a he on her half) and both starts to walk at the same pace with leg to leg synchronization. Then, the trains arrive. The train on the right side hits the half line a bit before the train on the left side started to appear. Train on left also appears to be faster than the one on right.
10. The train interior shot : Aligned at the exit in the horizon. You could appreciate different seatings. But, there's night on the left and day on the right. Also, left train is moving faster than the right one.
11. Neighborhood through the train window shot : Synchronized for the speed of trains. There is an inclination to the left in both halves which is not just aligned, but also synchronized for the whole scene.
12. The canal shot : The two right shores meets the dividing line so surrealy synced.
13. The train gate shot : The left gate is closer to the camera than the right, but they are aligned not just at the dividing line but also synced for their sizes. The left train is again faster, but they are synced to stop.
14. The railway station alley shot : Aligned at the horizon. In this shot, the camera seems to move with the same pace in the both halves.
15. The escalator shot : Aligned for the horizon of the escalator. There are further stairs on the right side but not on the left.
16. Railway station hallway shot : Nothing is synchronised, but it shows the similar station environment,however the station on the left side is more crowded and hustley.
17. The windscreen shot : Aligned for the rear view mirror.
18. Out of the windscreen shot : Aligned for the horizon. There, you can see a mini truck converting into a cab however, the cab starts to appear before the mini truck merges into the dividing line.
19. The zebra crossing shot : This shot is too skewed to convert a young man walking from right into a middle-aged man to the left. However at one point, you can see the left leg of the young man disappeared from the right side and that of the middle-aged man not yet appeared on the left side.
20. The car window shot : I don't get the point of this shot. Nothing seems meaningful.
21. Sky from the car shot : Synchronized for the trees disappearing on the left side and appearing on the right side. This shot could be made better. The sun is seen right above the head in the left side, however in the right side, the light is coming from left.
22. The bridge shot : Aligned for the road and two cars (one on each half) are made to look like running parallel to each other. Horizons are not perfectly aligned. Camera on the right side is moving a bit faster than the left side.
23. The take-off shot : This is the most beautiful scene. This shot is aligned for the ground (obviously) and the horizon (which becomes more evident in the second half). Both planes seem to run at the same speed as the scenery outside the window tilts at the same pace.
24. The clouds shot : Aligned for a cloud in the foreground on the right side.
25. The twilight shot : (You guessed it right) Aligned for the horizon.
26. The bus arrival shot : This shot is so incredibly perfectly aligned that for once, you'll ask from yourself where is the split screen? Except for the paleness on the left half, it seems that the two buildings in the background are one. Two arriving buses are one.
27. The bus turning shot : Although both halves seem distorted, the symmetry of the two halves and concurrency of the bus pace is blissfully beautiful.
28. Outside the bus window shot : Aligned for the buildings seen from the window and they are so perfectly aligned that I doubted whether the director shot the same street twice, which is not the case. Transformation of one tree on the sidewalk into the other is also subtle.
29. The window shops shot : Aligned for the depth of the shot and horizontal lines of the window shops. The only reason to include this shot in the final cut is the transformation of biker, which is technically flawed because of the bikes of very different built, and the the different postures of the riders.
30. The bridge shot : This shot makes you think that whether the two bridges are same, and this time, you are correct. You can see the weather is same in both the shots implying that they are taken around the same time. However, you cannot see anybody coming in front which is certainly an error of continuity.
31. The face to face shot : Maps shown in two halves are not aligned at all although they are of the same city and to the same scale. The view turns upwards showing for what the shot is aligned for. It is another person holding the map, smiling. But the biggest question is, where is the camera?