Kuleshov Effect (often misspelled as Kulshov)
noun

- a film editing effect where meaning is created by the juxtaposition of images.

- the idea that viewers derive emotional meaning from the combination of images rather than from individual images.

- a principle of montage: audience interpretation is influenced by sequence, not content alone.

Oxford Reference, Collins Dictionary, Film Encyclopedia

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PHRASE ORIGIN

Named after Lev Kuleshov (1899–1970), a Soviet filmmaker and teacher who conducted editing experiments in the 1910s and 1920s.

He demonstrated that viewers project emotion onto an expressionless face depending on what comes after it.

When the same neutral facial expression is shown followed by different images (e.g. a baby, a funeral, a pizza), audiences perceive the actor as protective, sad, or hungry, depending on the context — even though the face never changes.

The Kuleshov Effect shows how context shapes emotion.

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SHAPING EMOTION

The Kuleshov Effect is one of the most powerful—and invisible—tools in film and visual storytelling. It proves that we don’t just see images, we interpret them based on what surrounds them.

Lev Kuleshov’s famous experiment used the same blank facial expression three times, but cut it with different images. Audiences swore they saw different emotions: hunger, sadness, desire. But the actor’s face never changed.

This tells us something fundamental—not only about movies, but about the brain. Context isn’t decoration; it’s meaning. In real life too, we read people’s faces, words, and actions in the light of what's happening around them. The Kuleshov Effect reminds us that our minds don’t just absorb information — they construct it. It’s not only what we see, but what’s next to it, that tells the story.

Paul & Helga Smith

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SYNONYMS

contextual framing, KULESHOV EFFECT, montage theory, emotional inference, visual bias, sequential perception, cognitive projection

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation today, say something like:

“Hitchcock openly talked about the KULESHOV EFFECT and loved using it. In 'Rear Window' (1954), we watch James Stewart’s face as he spies on his neighbours. His expression barely changes — but when the shot cuts to different things (a dancer, a suspicious husband, a murder scene), our brain instantly “reads” his mood as curiosity, distrust, or horror. The face is the same — but the cut creates the emotion.”

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

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