Audiences project specific emotions onto an actor based solely on the preceding film shot
Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov demonstrated that film audiences derive an actor's emotional state entirely from the surrounding context of the edit rather than the actor's actual facial expression.
Lev Kuleshov's 1918 experiment proved that film meaning is generated in the mind of the viewer through the juxtaposition of shots. By intercutting a single, neutral close-up of actor Ivan Mozzhukhin with images of a bowl of soup, a child in a coffin, and a woman on a sofa, Kuleshov prompted audiences to praise the actor's range. Viewers perceived hunger, grief, or lust, even though the actor's face remained identical in every sequence.
There's more to this story — open the app to keep reading.
Continue Reading in App
1 more paragraphs · plus a 2-question quiz