The kuleshov effect

The Kuleshov effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet (Russian) filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation. It influences every film maker and their film.

Lev Kuleshov and experiment (1899-1970) 

During the period in which film was relatively new, Kuleshov asked the question: what made cinema a distinct art, separate from photography, literature or theatre? He discovered that art was 2 things: the material itself and the way in which it was organised. Kuleshov found that the organization of individual shots, also known as montage, is what makes film stand apart.

In 1921, Kuleshov set up a series of cinematic demonstrations which gave the phenomenon its name. In these experiments, he projected the face of a well-known actor, then cut to a plate of soup, he then showed another shot of the same actor, then a girl in a coffin, the final sequence was the actor’s face, then an attractive young woman. Audiences responded that the actor seemed in the first sequence to be hungry, in the second, quite mournful and finally seemed to exude lust. In reality, all three shots of the actor were the exact same, his face was interpreted differently based on what it was put next to in the edit. Additionally, even though there was no establishing shot of the actor together with objects from the other shots, they seemed to the audience to be in close proximity to one another. Through the ordering of the shots, two separate places seemed to be one whole continuous location to the audience.

This was a huge moment for cinema becuase kuleshov discovered that manipulating space and time was possible through editing. Kulshov declared montage to be the central principle that defines film as it's own art. 

For filmakers

Understanding the Kuleshov Effect allows editors to better control the tone and meaning found in their films. Through the choices in how shots are organized and sequenced, filmmakers can create new meaning by juxtaposing unrelated images. With the illusion of condensing space, we are able to create new worlds, connecting places that were previously separate. Thus, the Kuleshov Effect is a huge part of the magic that is film.