The Kuleshov Effect

“In Soviet Russia, films watch you…”

The Kuleshov effect is a film editing effect and cognitive phenomenon discovered by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s.

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That’s Lev. Doing his best serious guy impression. They don’t smile where he’s from ---------------------->

Lab Rats.Kuleshov created an experiment where he had an audience watch three separate film clips.

Each clip was very short and had only two images. The first was of a man with an ambiguous look on his face.

However, the second image was different in each clip. In one, the man’s face is followed by a picture of a bowl of soup. The next, a dead child in a coffin.

The third, a pretty woman.

Boom. CineMAGIC.

Audiences responded in an interesting way: for each clip, the audience assumed the man’s face portrayed an appropriate emotion for what was revealed in the second shot, despite the man’s expression being the same every time.

Viewers also ranted and raved about the acting of the man in each clip, calling his performances “moving” and “nuanced”. Funny thing is, he wasn’t acting at all.

This is what audience members saw, and decided the man in the first shot felt.

So what?Kuleshov stumbled upon the very basic principle upon which film works. Remember, a film is nothing more than a fast-moving series of still pictures.

However, our brains take these sometimes contradictory images and connect them thematically to make a visual story. This is the basic “magic” of editing, and film. Every movie you’ve ever seen uses this effect.

Image A makes sense because of image B, image B makes sense because of image C, etc.--all the way until the credits roll.

Don’t take it from me…

The clip below is legendary film writer and director Alfred Hitchcock explaining the Kuleshov effect, and how it works to change the meaning of images:

Breaking it Down With Hitch

Another example…This clip shows a film student’s take on the Kuleshov effect. Note how the first series of images does not change, but the overall meaning of the clip does as we see what the man is looking at. We fill in the blanks and decide for ourselves what the man is feeling, with only visual clues to do so…

I'm Not Sad/Lonely/Bored, You Just Think I Am

Applying this to the filmWatch for the Kuleshov effect in the very opening of Tombstone. You’ll be presented with two contrasting images: a wedding scene, and a group of men on horseback riding. These two images on their own hold no meaning, but together, they suggest something is about to happen…

This is how suspense is created. When your brain can’t connect the images, you get that “OMG wut is goin 2 happen” feeling that movies often provide.

Thanks for your attention, and…

ENJOY TOMBSTONE!