The Kuleshov Effect

In 1921 a Russian filmmaker, Lev Kuleshov, created what was called the Kuleshov effect. Many consider this editing technique to be one of the most important, if not the most important, in the film industry. This also led to the film technique called montage. In the original example of the Kuleshov effect, he uses a bowl of soup, a child in a coffin, an expressionless face, and an attractive person. By putting the same shot of the expressionless face after every other shot, it creates different moods for each shot. After the bowl of soup, the viewer may see the person as hungry. After the child in the coffin, the person may seem like he/she is grieving. Finally, after the attractive person, the person may seem lustful. Even though after every shot the person’s face remains unchanged, the viewer gets a different view of the person’s emotions. The Kuleshov effect started to shape the film industry as a whole after many discovered the incredible effects it could have in a film. Not only was this a huge step for cinema because of the creation of montage but also because Kuleshov had now proved the effectiveness of skillful film editing. Kuleshov’s experiments also played a big role in the creation of the Soviet Montage Theory which remained an influence all around the world. Overall, the conclusion that Kuleshov had come to after his experiments was that the editing in was more important than any other aspect in a film.

Works Cites

“The Kuleshov Effect in Film and Video Editing.” The Video 

          Editing Sage, 

           www.videoeditingsage.com/kuleshov-effect.html.

“The Kuleshov Effect: Understanding Video Editing's Most                     Powerful Tool.” Videomaker, Videomaker, 25 Sept. 2018,             www.videomaker.com/article/c10/18236-the-kuleshov-               effect-understanding-video-editing%E2%80%99s-                       most-powerful-tool.