Sequential Narrative

Kuleshov effect.

The Kuleshov experiment shows a man and his response to three different things. The people shown this footage in the experiment remarked on the actor's ability to portray his reaction to each situation in such subtle ways when in fact it was exactly the same footage repeated each time. This shows that we as viewers attach meaning to what we see.

In the first shot we assume him to be starving and wanting to eat the food.
The second we assume him to be sad because of the child/woman.
In the third we assume him to be lusting after the scantily clad woman.

These two images are from two separate miffy books, when they are viewed separately they provide two simple narratives, Miffy is drawing, Miffy is looking at a painting.

When we put them together we begin to make a narrative from them.

In this order we see Miffy drawing a picture which is then hung in a gallery.

In this order however we imagine that Miffy has visited a gallery and is then inspired to create her own art.

This shows us how the mind can understand narrative through very simple imagery, it also shows us that when creating a narrative we have to be very careful of how we present the imagery so that we lead the audience without them misreading the narrative or becoming confused.