The Dallas Effect

The aim of this guide is to split the screen into 3 segments with each segment playing a different clip. The first task is ensuring we have at least 3 video layers with which to work. To add a new video track, simply right click inside the time line and select "add video track" from the window that pops up:

Now let's start with the left most clip that will be playing. Simply drag the clip to the place on the timeline you wish the effect to start as you would normally do. Now we need to apply the "clip" effect to this video clip to, so make sure the video effects window is in view. To do this, select "window" from the top menu, then "show video effects" (this will be labled "hide video effects if it is already shown).

Click on the video tab in the effects window, the scroll down and open up the transform tree. Now drag the clip effect to the clip we've just added in the timeline. We now need to ensure that the "effects control" window is open, so select Window > Show Effects Control. Now highlight your clip in the timeline window by left clicking on it, then select click on "setup" in the "effects control" window

effects control window

You should be presented with the following window:

This is the left most part of our scene, so we need to crop the right hand side of the image. Do so by moving the slider on the right hand side. Here I am leaving a gap between each of the images, so I have set the fill colour to black.

Adding the second or middle clip will prove more difficult as the image we want isn't in the center, i.e we are going to have to move the clip around in the window to make sure the part of the video we want IS in the centre!

So firstly repeat the process as above and drop you second clip in the timeline directly above the first one. After dropping the clip effect onto the new clip, right click on it and select video options > transparency:

Now we move the clip around so that the middle third of the screen displays the desired footage. I was lucky in that the subject didn't move around too much so all I had to do was shift the image slightly to the left so that he remained in the middle third for the entire scene (you might want to bear this in mind when shooting your video). You can use the motion setting to constantly move the image around, but it does get rather overcomplicated and is much more easily achieved whilst shooting! To move the clip around you can do one of two things. The way I tend to do it is make sure that the progress bar is on the extreme left (i.e at the begining!) and then set the points as described in the following image (in this example, I have shifted the image 10 pixels to the left).

As I say, if the subject continually moves around and goes outside of the "third" in question, you'll need to set a series of movement points. To add more points, simply click on the progress bar and type in new co-ordinates. You may find it easier to do it another way - you can physically move the thumb nail in the top right hand window to where you want. Click OK once finished.

Now we need to clip the scene. Do this as above, remembering that the "motion" setting will move the image accordingly (so the position of the clip won't necessarily reflect it's "final" position. Simply clip the frame to the size you need, ignoring the actual footage if this is the case.

We now need to add a transparency setting or the other clips will be blacked out! To do this, firstly make sure that you have chosen black as the background colour in the clip settings. Now slect transparency from the same menu used to select the motion setting:

Ensure that the color is set to black, then set the key to RGB difference and the similarity to zero.

You should now see both clips in the sample window. Finally, we need to repeat this process for the final third of our video and the Dallas Effect will be complete!

You can also use this technique to create the editing effects of multiple windows used in "24" and becoming popular in more other series. You may also want to use it to create a two way telephone conversation - or you could even think of ways to make one clip be squeezed out by another which splits the screen in two. Or you may want to display someone's reactions (or how they would have reacted had they had been there!):

I hope you found this guide useful. If you want to comment, please do so in the forums at www.videoforums.co.uk!