Sometimes in film it can be very obvious what a character is feeling, using close up shots of the characters face. However, often sometimes the reaction becomes much more meaningful when we see the performance within the context of the scenes that come before and after it.
The Kuleshov effect is a technique which uses two shots, the first is a close up of a person's face leading to a second shot to highlight the persons viewpoint, to represent what they were looking at. This is designed to create a psychological relationship between two sequential shots. Research has shown the context in which a face is shown has a significant effect on how the face is perceived.
Kuleshov did an experiment which showed that a sequence of images can base more meaning than a single shot.
Using close up shots of a characters expression, followed by what they are looking at, allows the audience to decide what the character is feeling.
When two scenes are shown at the same time, it can make the audience think they know what is about to happen, but really theres a twist and it shows that the two scenes are happening separately and they aren't going to converge like the audience expect.
Similarly, the audience of a film will automatically infer that a sequence of shots or scenes in a film are happening chronologically, and it can be a powerful reveal when it becomes apparent that a movies narrative is being told out of order.
Editing is choosing the best sequence of images to create a desired response from the audience.
The most recent example of the Kuleshov effect that i have seen in a film is one of the first scenes in 'Black Mass', when Jimmy is looking at another character in disgust.
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