Today’s lecture gave  importance to the power and significance of editing, this being the process of giving meaning to things via the context of what comes before or after.

We were introduced to the Kuleshov Effect, which occurs by putting two unrelated images or shots in sequence. In effect, the audience viewing the two images/shots creates their own meaning for it, even when there is no meaning intended. The first example of this was shown an image of a man looking at the camera followed an image of a bowl of soup. The same image of the man was shown again, this time followed by an image of a dead child. The man was then used a third time, and this time followed by an image of a woman lying on a couch.

I know I perceived different emotions from the man with every change for the man. I understood that the man felt, hunger, sadness and lust all from the same image, the only difference being what he was looking at. This demonstrated to me just how powerful editing can be, as it can subconsciously develop feelings and emotions within one towards the viewed medium.

We also learned that meaning can be achieved from composition of simple sequences of photographs. The example given was to show a picture of Joffery (from Game of Thrones so I’m told, I don’t watch the show; slay me)  followed by a picture of Christopher Pyne. My initial reaction was that the two were being compared to each other and similarity is implied, which is ridiculous and hilarious because they literally have nothing in common.

Another sequence showing the same image of Joffery, but this time followed by a different image of Christopher Pyne had a different response, the implication this time being that Pyne was reacting to Joffery.

This is most likely due the placement of the photos. Once again meaning is derived from completely unrelated images of a fictional character and a politician.

This lecture not only reinforced my understanding of the power of editing in being able to add meaning to media, it also opened my eyes to how psychologically affected we can be by simple editing methods. I must admit even though I like editing, I had never really processed my thoughts like they were presented today. Staggering stuff.