History Main / SplitScreenPhoneCall

* ''Film/PillowTalk'''s use of this trope was {{parodied}} in ''Film/DownWithLove''. The phone scene between Ewan [=McGregor=] and Renee Zellweger used the SplitScreen in a rather [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything interesting way]] to imply that they were directly interacting. Earlier in the film there's a montage of Ewan's character calling to cancel every time they're supposed to meet. By the final call the line dividing the screen is shaped like a bolt of lighting to show how annoyed Renee is about being stood up ''again''.

* One of the cell phone calls in ''Film/MeanGirls'' splits the screen in ''five''.
* In the French lesbian romance film ''Film/LesMeilleures'', [[VideoPhone video conversations]] via cellphones are rendered with a split screen.
* Also does the phone call in at the finish line hotel in ''Film/MidnightMadness''. Each team is on one of the four corners, and the gamesmaster caller is in the center.

* There's one of these in ''Film/{{Snatch}}'' The director's DVD commentary reveals that in order to cut costs the two sides of the phone conversation between Cousin Avi and Doug the Head were shot at separate times on the same physical piece of film - which is why the timing is slightly off.
* ''Film/RuthlessPeople'' has this trope twice between Carol and Chief Benton; first discussing to arrest Sam Stone and again after Sam was released from jail.
* Used in ''Film/RunLolaRun'' when Manny and Lola talk on the phone.
* Parodied in ''Film/TheNakedGun 33 1/3''. One end of the conversation is in a phone box, the other in an apartment. In the background, a hobo walks past the phone box only to cross the split screen line and find himself in the apartment, which he then proceeds to burgle.

* Parodied in ''Film/AustinPowers'' when a normal split-screen call keeps adding new elements until there are eight split-screens and the original caller has moved on to something else.
-->'''General:''' And be sure to feed my goldfish.\\
''[fish flakes enter the goldfish's screen]''\\
'''General:''' Not too much.\\
''[a net takes some fish flakes away]''
* ''ComicBook/AmericanSplendor'': Used in a phone conversation between the main character and his love interest.
* ''Film/{{Suspense}}'' (1913): The UrExample shows a wife in one part of the screen, telephoning her husband (in another part of the screen), while a tramp attempts to break into the house (in a third part of the screen).
* A unique example in ''Film/FiveStarFinal'' (1931). A distraught Nancy Townsend tries to call Hinchecliffe at the newspaper. But Hinchecliffe is on the line with Randall, so the screen shows Nancy in the middle as Hinchecliffe and Randall are on each side talking to each other. When Nancy gets bounced back and forth between the two of them, either the right side or the left side goes black.
* ''Film/ThreeSmartGirls'': The camera shows Donna's and Judson's wedding rings. It zooms in for a closeup. The two circles are filled up by shots of Donna's mother and a reporter, as the former calls the latter to tell him about the impending wedding.
* ''Film/FoursACrowd'': This happens when Bob's two girlfriends Lorri and Jean both call his office at the exact same time, and Bob tries to have two conversations at once with a phone in each hand.
* ''Film/TrainMan'' updates the trope to the early 21st century as Split-Screen Internet Chatting. Many scenes use a six-way split.

* ''Film/GlassOnion'': The opening phone call between the Disruptors is framed through a frequently-changing split screen configuration, since they're all in different locations and characters join in on the conversation randomly.
* ''Film/TheIncredibleJessicaJames'': Both times Boone calls Jessica, she takes up the top half of the screen; he takes up the bottom.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Used in the episode "Blind Date".

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' did one split screen between Agents Mulder and Scully, and then their boss Skinner joined in, too. It is played for laughs. Both Mulder and Scully lie about what they do, and only Skinner unashamedly admits that he's taking a bubble bath, which is what Mulder and Scully are doing as well. They were pampered by a Hollywood production as there was a movie being made, based on their case and characters.
* Used frequently in ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' when there was a triple-split screen, and on one occasion, quadruple when Lizzie's brother tried to listen in.

* ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' does this ''a lot''. According to the DVD extras for the first season, 24’s entire split-screen look was born of necessity when the editor realised the pilot involved a lot of phone calls. He was using a common computer editing setup that showed two separate takes running side-by-side and decided to apply that visual metaphor in the actual show.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' had a few of these, and sometimes played with the concept with call waiting.
* Commonly done on ''Series/TopGear'' when two presenters are in separate vehicles speaking to one another by radio or cell phone.
* Taken to extremes on ''Series/{{Glee}}'', during a conference call between all the members of the Glee club that are in on Finn's BabyTrap.
* This trope appears in one episode of ''Series/FamilyMatters'' involving Steve, Laura, Maxine, Waldo, and Eddie.
* The ''Series/{{Roswell}}'' episode "I Married An Alien" is partly done as a ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' style sitcom; at one point there's a four-way split-screen as the real characters and the sitcom characters carry on separate phone conversations, until they get mixed up and start responding to the wrong conversation.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' uses this trope constantly and finds new ways to play with it. For example, one scene shows Lily talking to Marshall's mother and she hangs up. Marshall comes in, and they start talking about how they keep throwing away cookies that his mum sends them. Then they have floor sex. And split screen shot fades in, revealing that the phone was not hung up at all, and Mrs Eriksen was listening ''the whole time''.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}''. PlayedForLaughs in TheTeaser of "Provider". A VictimOfTheWeek is being chased by an [[ShadowDiscretionShot unseen monster]], [[BrokenHeel stumbles in the rain]], [[CoincidentalBroadcast finds himself clasping]] an [[WeHelpTheHelpless Angel Investigations]] flyer, rushes to a phone booth and begins to dial frantically. We then SplitScreen to Team Angel staring at the phone waiting for a call -- only for the screen to split again to [[BaitAndSwitch show a pizza parlor cook picking up the phone]]. Apparently the wrong number was printed on the flyer.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': 8th season episode “Persian Gulf” used it in a dramatic moment, when Mac speaks to Al-Qaeda terrorist Sadik Fahd.

* Used briefly in the fourth-season opener of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', with Garcia hurried checking in on Prentiss, Morgan, and JJ in the aftermath of a car bomb.
* Strangely popular in [[KoreanDrama Korean Dramas]], which seem to like to use this trope even for routine phone conversations. Among the Korean dramas to use this effect are ''Series/EvasiveInquiryAgency'', ''Series/QueenInHyunsMan'', ''Series/NineNineTimeTravels'', and ''Series/TheSlingshot''.
** ''Series/{{Extracurricular}}'' uses this for the scenes where Gyu-ri, who has stolen the phone that Ji-soo uses for his prostitution business. She uses the pimp phone to call his regular phone and demand a blackmail payment.
* In ''Series/SledgeHammer'', Hammer is taking a transatlantic call from Scotland Yard where the stolid British cop is smoking a pipe as he talks. Hammer realises a cloud of pipe smoke is crossing the split screen to ''his'' side of the call.
* Used for perhaps the only time in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise in the ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' episode "Such Sweet Sorrow, part II" during a pre-battle confab between ''Discovery'' and ''Enterprise''.

* Occurs in the music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Music/CyndiLauper.
* The Creator/{{Hipgnosis}} sleeve for Music/TenCc's ''How Dare You!'' album uses this trope.

* N calls Black in episode 02 of ''Webcomic/BlackAdventures'', then reaches over the dividing line and drags Black into helping him [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext save Hitler from the Allied Forces]].

* "A Call To Arms", Chapter 1 of ''WebVideo/LG15TheResistance'' plays with this effect a lot (including a bit at the end where the two cameras meet).

* Used all the time in ''WesternAnimation/SixTeen''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' did the parody version with Yoshi and Oogtar. ("Yoshi hear Oogtar ''too'' good! Who need telephone?")
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' also did the parody version with [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick.
** Done again in another episode with [=SpongeBob=] and Sandy, the latter leans up to [=SpongeBob=]'s side to yell at him.

* Taken to extremes in one 1999 ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode, where there was a '''4×4 split!''' Each of the 16 screens also faded to black as that caller hung up. When Binky Barnes ended up being the last guy talking, some [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued™]].
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon ''The Bear's Tale'' has a split screen phone call scene between Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks who are both using payphones. It was a cartoon made by [[Creator/TexAvery the Texan]]. And he really ''loved'' this trope. See for example ''WesternAnimation/ThugsWithDirtyMugs''.
* Shows up commonly on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', [[BigBad Dr. Robotnik]] parodies this trope [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6NM_3J0lEY&t=7m12s in a way that has to be seen to be believed.]]
%% * Shows up on ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger''
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' gives us shorts called "Random Rings", where Cricket (and sometimes Tilly) would deliver prank calls to a random store or business with little to no success.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'' had Todd and Riley both on the phone with Conrad Fleem, only for them to start fighting, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall tilting the split-screen]] and forcing Mr. Daring to try and urge Mr. Fleem (whose chair began sliding around) to "save yourself!"
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' once had the screen divide into a progressively larger number of subsections as more people joined in the call. By the time Rocko picked up the phone, he found himself greeted by enough people to fill a 4X4 grid.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins and Him affect this in "Telephonies."
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has Varrick describing what Bolin's own mover would be like: Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, and Zaheer doing a VillainTeamUp on Bolin. During the flashbacks, Vaatu, Zaheer, and Amon have a casual chat together on defeating Bolin [[TakeThatScrappy while keeping Unalaq out of the talk.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In the episode "The Spoiler", several character connect to Gumball's phone call in order to attempt to spoil the movie to him. Just two characters are seen first, but when Darwin gets added to the call, everyone else gets shortly added.
* Happens briefly in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', when Lincoln loses his sister's bike.
* Since ''WesternAnimation/TheHauntedWorldOfElSuperbeasto'' is DenserAndWackier than its source material, this shows up in one scene. When Beasto accidentally reveals that he's only saving Velvet von Black for the chance to get laid, Suzi X reaches over and gives him a [[DopeSlap mean slap]] for being so selfish.
-->'''Suzi X:''' Did you just say "your lady"? [smack] I knew this was about pussy!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Jimmy gets several split-screens in a row in "Journey to the Center of Carl" when his classmates call to complain about the [[PlayingSick "sick patches"]] [[spoiler: suddenly dissolving into their skin, leaving them permanently sick]]. The call is actually a conference call, but we only see one classmate at a time, as they take turns speaking. This ends with Jimmy visibly pushing the split-line off the screen with his hand; the phone call continues, but Jimmy is now the only one the audience can hear.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 128, this happens between Kaeloo and Stumpy. When Kaeloo gets angry, she steps into the other side of the split, yells at Stumpy in person and then storms off.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "The Plant From Bortron 7", Jet has one with Carrot and Celery. This also happens in "A Visit From Uncle Zucchini".
* Shows up on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. The first time it does, it's used to lampshade TVTelephoneEtiquette.

* Klaus from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' becomes a lineman for an episode and opens a conference call from a telephone pole to talk to the Smiths about it. Stan doesn't care and immediately hangs up, but Klaus presses a button that brings him back on, to Stan's confusion since it somehow made him pick the phone back up.

* ''Film/BlackDyamite'' has the scene where the titular character's mother called him via phone in the middle of his training. The screen splits perfectly in half.

A common cartoon gag with this is where the shouting character's portion of screen expands and/or the timid character's portion shrinks. Very useful when the tide of the argument shifts, moving that diagonal back and forth showing who's in charge. It's also common for cartoon characters to [[ReachingBetweenTheLines reach across]] [[ExploitingTheFourthWall the screen split]] and directly interact with the person on the other end of the line. It is sometimes parodied when the split is removed and it is revealed that [[ShortDistancePhoneCall the characters are actually next to each other.]]

%%* A famous movie example is ''Film/PillowTalk''.

* ''Film/PillowTalk'''s use of this trope was {{parodied}} in ''Film/DownWithLove''. The phone scene between Ewan [=McGregor=] and Renee Zellweger used the SplitScreen in a rather [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything interesting way]] to imply that they were directly interacting.

* It's happened in ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' when there was a triple-split screen, and then quadruple when Lizzie's brother tried to listen in.

* Used in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddnEddy'' after the three are grounded for trying to break Ed out of ''his'' grounding, using a three-way TinCanTelephone system. Which backfires when they get repeatedly slammed into the wall by Sarah and Jimmy yanking on the strings connecting them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Jimmy gets several split-screens in a row in the [[PlayingSick "sick patch"]] episode (season 1, episode 12a), when his classmates call to complain about the patches [[spoiler: suddenly dissolving into their skin, leaving them permanently sick]]. The call is actually a conference call, but we only see one classmate at a time, as they take turns speaking. This ends with Jimmy visibly pushing the split-line off the screen with his hand; the phone call continues, but Jimmy is now the only one the audience can hear.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Spoiler". Several character connect to Gumball's phone call in order to attempt to spoil the movie to him. Just two characters are seen first, but when Darwin gets added to the call, everyone else gets shortly added.

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon ''The Bear's Tale'' has a split screen phone call scene between Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks who are both using {{PayPhone}}s. It was a cartoon made by [[Creator/TexAvery the Texan]]. And he really ''loved'' this trope. See for example ''WesternAnimation/ThugsWithDirtyMugs''.

[[quoteright:320:[[http://web.archive.org/web/20061202135103/http://www.mellowmushroom.com/sundried.html https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MellowMushroom_2494.PNG]]]]

'''Luca:''' Oh! Uh... Hi, Boss! [[WhatAnIdiot What are you doin' workin' at the pizza joint?]]\\

* Episode 4 of ''[[Creator/ZapDramatic Ambition]]'' has one of these between Yale and Helen.
* Whenever George makes a phone call in ''[[VideoGame/BrokenSword Broken Sword: The Shadows Of The Templars]]'', the camera switches to screen. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness They gave it up in the sequels though]].

* Since ''WesternAnimation/TheHauntedWorldOfElSuperbeasto'' is DenserAndWackier than it's source material, this shows up in one scene. When Beasto accidentally reveals that he's only saving Velvet von Black for the chance to get laid, Suzi X reaches over and gives him a [[DopeSlap mean slap]] for being so selfish.

* Taken to extremes in one 1999 ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode, where there was a '''4—4 split!''' Obviously, 16 people were shown on the phone at once in a single scene. Each screen also faded to black as each caller hung up. When Binky Barnes ended up being the last guy talking, some [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued™]].
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon ''The Bear's Tale'', has a split screen phone call scene between Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks who are both using [[PayPhone payphones]]. It was a cartoon made by [[Creator/TexAvery the Texan]]. And he really ''loved'' this trope. See for example ''WesternAnimation/ThugsWithDirtyMugs''.

* ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' features technology that can allow free-floating 'screens' to pop up just about anywhere, and it appears that the caller has some control over the size and positioning of their image, so multi-way conversations will oftem involve multiple screens literally jostling for attention, the winner being the character with the best 'Screen-Fu' (generally [[LittleMissSnarker Ruri]]).

[[folder:Web Comics]]