post sixteen - the kuleshov effect

( POST SIXTEEN )

THE KULSHOV EFFECT

In the early 1920's, Kuleshov, a soviet film maker, was among the first to dissect the effects of juxtaposition. Through his experiments and research, Kuleshov discovered that depending on how shots are assembled the audience will attach a specific meaning or emotion to it. In his experiment, Kuleshov cut an actor with shots of three different subject: a hot plate of soup, a girl in a coffin, and a pretty woman lying in a couch. The footage of the actor was the same expressionless gaze. Yet the audience raved his performance, saying first he looked angry, then sad, then lustful. Kuleshov and other early directors trained themselves by reediting existing films. Kuleshov found that filmmakers could create an entirely new story by reordering scene and shots, noticing this could in turn alter an audience's reaction. More generally, the Kuleshov Effect is the basis of Soviet montage cinema, and has been used in many films since. The idea is that by editing different things together, it is possible to create meanings that didn't exist in either of the images put together, it is possible to create meanings that didn't exist in either of the images put together- constructing 'sentences' and 'texts' out of film. The effect is used in many different films, tv series and even music videos because it is such a simple concept, yet still very affective and it allows the filmmakers to frame the audience's thoughts without directly conveying particular emotions and thoughts that the actors are experiencing.