[!todo] Seed note. A starting point, not a finished note yet.
The Kuleshov effect is the phenomenon where viewers derive more meaning from two sequential shots together than from either alone. Lev Kuleshov demonstrated it in the 1910s and 20s by intercutting one identical expressionless shot of actor Ivan Mosjoukine with a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, and a woman on a divan; audiences read hunger, grief, and desire into the same face each time. It matters because it locates the source of cinematic emotion in editing rather than performance: the viewer supplies the feeling, prompted by juxtaposition. The evidence is mixed and still debated. Prince and Hensley (1992) failed to replicate with 137 subjects; Mobbs’ 2006 fMRI study and Barratt’s 2016 study across six emotional conditions found partial support, weaker and more selective than the legend. Seeded from Becoming a Craft-Aware Moviegoer.