Split

Two personalities battle for dominance inside the mind of a woman. But how can one personality be entitled to everything when both have their own lives?

A WORD FROM CHRIS

"Split" was a project I've been wanting to do for some time. I am very fascinated with Dissociative Identity Disorder aka multiple personalities and the idea of two remaining alternate personalities duking it out inside the mind of a woman really appealed to me.

Imagine if you can, having no privacy whatsoever and not a single thought to yourself. Every waking moment of your life, you have to listen to or deal with another person inside your mind, constantly aching to come one. That's basically what it's like to have D.I.D. I can only imagine the raging wars going on inside the heads of some people. I mean, apart from therapy, how can one truly deal? What steps does a person take to reclaim their life? And what steps would an alternate take to preserve their existence?

With "Split", I wanted to touch upon both perspectives. I wanted to show how drastic, opposing personalities can be towards each other when claiming ownership to the body. Another subject I wanted to emphasize, was entitlement. Who is to say whether it's right or wrong for a host to kill it's alter? The alter never asked to be created, yet there it is, living inside your mind, with access to your life. That thought alone can make someone feel very violated.

I chose to have one woman play both parts for two reasons, the first being that it would be a challenge for me as a filmmaker to shoot, direct and edit such a scene, and the second because I think its harder to determine which personality is the host if they look identical. Also, the tag line "Kill Yourself" is more effective if both personalities are visually identical.

This film was shot in 5 hours in my rank, dank, skank basement. It was cold, wet and full of dirt. Suzi and Ann (her body double) were real sports about this. Fortunately for them, the water was warm, but that didn't do them much good in between dunkings since the basement was still freezing. And unfortunately I couldn't have the space heater on during filming, so yeah, I am truly grateful both women were such professionals about this.

I was inspired by a scene from season two of "United States of Tara", in which Toni Colette drowns her evil alter by physically jumping off a dam into a river. It was very symbolic and a great concept. So when I wrote split, I really wanted to incorporate water-boarding into my story. I think it's one of the most brutal ways to go and visually it makes for a great confrontation.

All in all, I am proud of "Split". I think it is a nice addition to my Message in a Bottle series, and has a pretty cool, yet creepy theme to it.

Category:

Film & Animation

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[imkluu]

This is the first I have seen multiple personality disorder dealt with form the perspective of the submersed personality's point of view. Original idea and well portrayed in the dream like quality such as most of our thoughts are within our own mind when not connected to the input of our senses.

[blinky500]

@imkluu yeah i thought it was cool to empathize with the alter. after all, they're as real as we make them.

[Lurvy1963]

A Jekell and Hyde story inside a woman's dream. We all can't survive without both the good and dark sides, can we? Independent film shorts give me a reason not to watch mainstream television. Sometimes they can tell better stories than tv shows can. Or motion pictures for that matter. Well done guys!

[blinky500]

@Lurvy1963 thanks. though this was not meant to be a Jekyll/Hyde story. this was specifically about split personality disorder. then again, i suppose that's where the Jekyll/Hyde concept derived from.

[alias43]

Her alter was "Ellis"? I think this is based on Harlan Ellison's "Shatterday" -- a story of two Peter Novacks....

[blinky500]

@alias43 no it was not based on that. the character is actually named ALICE.

[frankdill666]

2 great acting performances from Suzi! Peaches & cream, ring a bell :D

[Guitarrocks23]

Is this what the Joker would be like as a chick?

Good video

Blinky never fails to impress

[EternalDamnationProd]

Well done Chris!! The editing was especially good in this one.

[pulsarfusionmedia]

Awesome filming and story behind this. Good job!

[ianhow2478]

Excellent!! You are very talented!!

[Joecbg100]

@Dawnelldo2 It's a female version of Idenity mixed with the character Niki Sanders/Jessica from Heroes.

[Joecbg100]

Jesus Christ....your a genius, Chris.

[EvilMonkey66Films]

Now this had a good twist ending, plus this teaches a good lesson on not to judge a book by it's cover. We see a girl in a white nightgown being attacked by a girl in black leather, and we think the girl in white is the hero of the story, but really she was alternative personality.