To support our Interactive Narrative project, we were given a lecture on Sequential Art and Visual Narrative. Within this lecture we learnt how the sequence of different images create stories and how the sequence can effect the narrative.
We were introduced to the "Kuleshov Effect", named after Lev Kuleshov, an influential filmmaker in the mid-twentieth century Soviet Union. Kuleshov conducted an experiment in which he filmed a close up shot of an actor with no expression and then presented this next to three separate scenes. One of a bowl of soup, another of a woman in a coffin and another of a child with a small bear. When shown to an audience, the viewers believed the actor to be so talented to portray different emotions with little facial movement, even though it was the same clip shown after each scene.
This is a video of Hitchcock explaining the Kuleshov Effect. When we see the two clips, one of the scene and one of the actor, our brain automatically tries to relate the two together to make sense and create a story. In the example of Kuleshov, we assume the actor is ravenous and hungry when he sees the soup, even though he could be thinking anything and is not necessarily looking at the soup.
The sequence in which images are shown also effects the story we create in our heads.
These are two separate images from "Miffy" but when put together they begin to create a story.
This image looks like Miffy has painted a picture and has hung it on the wall.
However, if we swap the images round...
...it now looks like Miffy has seen a painting and been influenced by this to draw.
The order of images are so important because, as this example showed, it can greatly effect the narrative.
We also learnt about how different shots, such as close ups, can be used to tell different things. As the saying goes "A picture can paint a thousand words."
A close up can show a characters feelings by their facial expressions, where as a longer shot can show setting and environment.
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