After playing around in after effects and learning the ropes, I finally came up with my dual screen project {untitled} because I can't think of a better name.

The final piece came through continuous experimentation with a technique called 'slit scan'. Historically, slit-scan originates from the development of panoramic photography.
One of the first recorded patents for a panoramic camera was submitted by Joseph Puchberger in Austria in 1843 for a hand-cranked, 150° field of view, 8-inch focal length camera which was exposed onto a Large Daguerreotype (a polished silver coated sheet of copper).

 The slit scan effect has also made appearances in films, most notable for its appearence in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but used in a rather uniquely different way to simulate a sort of stargate-esque effect depicting what it might look like to travel through space and time.

I learnt this effect from this tutorial:


 The actual process of doing the effect took a bit of mastering, but once I had applied the effect to 8 or 9 clips I was getting pretty good at it. For the effect you have to drag your clip into a new composition, and then go Layer > New Solid , make it grey and then drag it into the composition. You then go to the Effects and Presets tab, and type in Sunset Gradient. The effect 'Colorize sunset gradient' should pop up and then you drag this onto your dark grey solid.


In the Effect Options tab, make the top colour black and the bottom colour white, then where it says Calculations, hit the Reset button.

Then pre-compose both layers using the shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + C. When given the option, one should tick the checkbox that says 'move attributes to new composition'. This means that the properties of the gradient will stay the same. After pre-composing both clips, go to the Effects and Presets tab and type in 'Time Displacement' and apply it to both layers. Drag the media file on top of the gradient solid, and then go into effect controls on the media and for the displacement layer select your gradient. This will apply the effect and you should hopefully end up with something like this:

Naturally you can change the displacement amount. This will increase the amount the image gets distorted and especially helped me to create quite a surreal aesthetic.