The Kuleshov Effect

The Kuleshov effect is a product of mid-twentieth century Soviet Union filmmaker Lez Kuleshov.

“According to Ronald Levaco, Kuleshov shot a single long closeup of an actor named Mozhukhin, sitting still without expression. He then intercut it with various shots, the exact content of which he forgot in his later years, but which, according to his associate Vsevolod Pudovkin, comprised a bowl of soup, a woman in a coffin, and a child with a toy bear. The audience "marveled at the sensitivity of the actor's range.”” (The Kubrick Corner - The Kuleshov Effect)

“The essence of the Kuleshov effect is filling in the blanks, or connecting the dots. Mozhukhin isn't actually looking at anything; he probably doesn't even know what they'll make him look at, so he can't possibly be reacting to it. He expresses no emotion, so an audience cannot possibly see emotion on his face, but the audience does. The viewer is presented with a situation or environment along with the academic fact that someone is experiencing it. He cannot simply accept the actor's evident emotion, as none is given, so he decides what the appropriate response would be and assigns it to the actor.

Now here's the real magic of it. The viewer dosn't realize the reaction is in his own mind. He assumes the actor shows it, but he can't see just how, so it seems like an almost magical projection of feeling by a brilliant actor. The viewer admires the actor's subtlety, and at the same time is more strongly affected by the scene. The character seems stoic, which at once impresses the viewer and lends weight to the emotion he does seem to display. In addition, the viewer wonders if others in the audience have caught the undercurrent, patting himself on the back for being so insightful. Backward as it may seem, the emotion of the scene is heightened in several different ways precisely because it is not being expressed at all.” (The Kubrick Corner - The Kuleshov Effect)

The Kuleshov Effect from Michael Sullivan on Vimeo.
I think the Kuleshov Effect is an extremely important piece of research for me since I will be playing around with randomising recordings and film, which in turn will produce a whole different significance to each and every story.

It is very important that the audience doesn't know that the visuals and recordings have been randomised, otherwise it will be difficult for them to try and link the two together. I want to try and run some tests with my students before the summer holidays start, and see how many of them actually make the link.