Watch this clip and be prepared to talk about it:
The Kuleshov Effect is the result of a very famous film experiment done by Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. What the experiment revealed is that the juxtaposition of images, through editing, created a relationship in the minds on the audience that didn’t exist before.
This relationship is called the Kuleshov Effect. The ramifications of which are constantly felt throughout film today. This simple relationship transforms actors performances and drives the very nature of film.
Can you think of any examples of how the Kuleshov Effect is effectively used?
By stringing together a series of these juxtapositions, filmmakers created montages, or a series of short shots edited into a sequence. Can you think of a montage from a movie that you thought was good? What was it trying to convey by doing a montage?
When I saw this video, I thought that the Kuleshov Effect is much more prevalent in scenes that do not have much dialogue. This way, you can focus on the images shown and the way the director has produced the visuals. The video that I remembered and thought displayed the Kuleshov Effect was the Ikea Lamp Commercial. I thought it displayed the effect because it caused the viewer to develop a connection with the lamp because of certain cuts and sounds. And at the end, you see that your connection was irrational. -Krishan Saini
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeyEXt7-0jU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZgKo46X8CI
ReplyDeleteBrian Bieman:
--I am not sure that the Kuleshov Effect is used in the Omaha Beach scene of Saving Private Ryan, because the cuts never stray from the primary line of the story, but there is definetly a series of short shots that depict emotion. You can really tell how nervous the soldiers are knowing they are headed out into a blood bath from the following shots: close up on the shaking hand, soldier throwing up, and the man drinking from his water pouch. While the shots didn't diverge from the plot as shown in the given example, I feel that the series of shots convey a particular emotion, nervousness.
I agree with Krishan in that it is easier to show the Kuleshov effect without dialogue because then the audience is forced to draw emotional connections between shots
ReplyDeleteI also agree with brian and krishan about the dialogue. I think the Kulshov Effect is a great way to generate emotion from the characters and show what is causing their emotion without having to go into too many shots to reveal what is happening to the viewer.
ReplyDeleteokay i picked a scene from the titanic as my example for the kuleshov effect. here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLcZ5Rk3Lg&feature=related
so the established story line begins with the violin players playing their last song together. it sort of evokes a feeling of brotherhood/friendship/love etc etc. so basically you've got this running theme of brotherhood and love, and then the montage begins, where the audience sees a series of clips of people preparing to die with their loved ones (put to the musicians' song, which maintains the brotherhood element of the initial story line). it sort of turns what the audience would interpret as panicked tragedy reacting to loss of life into resigned sadness reacting to loss of love
Like all the other posts, I agree that the Kuleshov effect is a great way of creating emotional connections from viewer to character. While watching the clip from "The Godfather" I was amazed at how much the Kuleshov effect could create suspense. I was constantly wondering what the outcome was going to be in the story that was created from the montage of different shots. I took two of what I believe to be examples of the Kuleshov effect from the film "Drive". In these two montages I believe the director wanted the viewer to feel confused and guessing. The director wanted the viewer to take a guess at what the main character's emotions were in the beginning of the film. This confusion and guessing of the main character's emotions would allow the director to create mystery around the character. Throughout "Drive" the main character is very mysterious and this lack of emotional connection keeps the viewer interested. When the main character's emotions are finally shown the intensity of them is only increased because the viewer was never able to create an emotional connection earlier in the film. - Teddy Porter
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtC64YfY61A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX0H9moUGsI&feature=related
I thought Teddy's clips from Drive were a great example of montage, and same with Mary's Titanic example. I don't know if this is a correct, but I think The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick, has a huge montage in it when he creates life from the big bang, leading up to the childhood of Jack O'Brien. It kind of shows the culmination of a huge effort by the universe that produces this one little kid, with his own life that includes moments of happiness, sadness, confusion, rebellion, and everything that is included with coming of age.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkUBECRoAwM
Also, the Kuleshov effect is shown a lot in the Ocean's Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen movies, when there are multiple storylines at once. A movie that basis itself on this idea is Vantage Point, taking the views of multiple characters to figure out the entire story.
I think Krishan's clip pretty sums up the Kuleshov effects very nicely. Like Teddy said, it can add a serious amount of drama to a scene that would otherwise not have very much. A good use of a montage is used multiple times in the Rocky series when he's training for his boxing matches.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP3MFBzMH2o
I think that the Kuleshov effect does add a lot of drama and suspense like Shane said because you are unaware of where the people or objects are in relation to each other. So that makes the viewers mind wounder and makes them wanna see what happens next. A good use of the Kuleshov effect is used in the Hurt Locker when he is trying to find and shut off the bomb.
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