The Connection Between Alfred Hitchcock and Russian Film-Makers of the 1920s

Alfred Hitchcock, the man known as “the master of suspense,” (I can still remember the creepy and eerie feeling I had while watching Birds) and perhaps the most iconic and influential film-maker of all time, used editing techniques borrowed from early Russian film-makers such as Lev Kuleshov and Vsevolod Pudovkin.

In my Russian film class, we learned about something called the “Kuleshov Effect.” Named after the film-maker, Lev Kuleshov conducted an experiment to show how useful editing could be in creating meaning for the audience. A picture helps best to illustrate this phenomenon:

The Kuleshov Effect

Kuleshov showed a movie where a man’s expressionless face alternated with various images. As show in the above picture, the man’s face was shown immediately followed by a child in a coffin. Then, later in the film, his face was shown – the same emotionless face- immediately followed by a bowl of soup. Finally, the same face was shown followed by a semi-clothed woman. The audience reported that the man’s expression was different depending on what he was "looking at."(Remember, these were two shots shown in quick succession). If he was looking at the child in a coffin, the audience reported that his expression was sorrowful. If he was looking at the bowl of soup, his expression showed hunger. If he as looking at the woman, his expression took on a lustful appearance according to the audience.

Kuleshov used the results of this experiment to show how powerful editing could be and also to show that the role of the actor was not as important. Meaning was determined by good editing, not by the acting!!! I think the concept that the individual actor is not that important is something that has never even entered the consciousness of movie-goers today. Nevertheless, the technique was (and, of course, still is) a huge tool for film-makers, and one that Hitchcock himself used to make his iconic films.

The Kuleshov Effect explained by Alfred HItchcock

Hitchcock famously explained this editing technique in an interview using a visual aid: In the first row of pictures, Hitchcock is squinting, followed by a shot of a woman with a baby. The screen then returns to Hitchcock's face, now smiling. The audience then perceives him as a kind old man. In the second row, the woman and baby are replaced with a woman in a bikini. Now what does the audience think about the man? As Hitchcock said, "What is he now? Now he is a dirty old man."