Montage creates meaning by juxtaposition: image A cut with image B produces meaning C that neither image alone contains

Lev Kuleshov demonstrated that viewers infer meaning from the juxtaposition of shots — not from the shots themselves. An actor’s neutral face preceded by soup reads as hunger; the same face after a coffin reads as grief. Image A + image B = meaning C, where C is not in either A or B. Eisenstein extended this as ‘intellectual montage’: juxtaposing images to produce symbolic meaning (workers + slaughtered cattle = workers treated as cattle). This principle transfers directly to live cinema: pairing visual elements creates associations and emotional responses that the elements alone do not. A live performer who understands montage uses juxtaposition deliberately.

Examples

Eisenstein’s Strike! (1924): shots of workers’ rebellion intercut with cattle slaughter. Live cinema equivalent: a clip of a crowd juxtaposed with a clip of swarming insects to evoke alienation.

Assessment

Create a 3-shot sequence (A, B, C) where A+B creates meaning M, and then change one shot so A+B creates the opposite meaning. Explain what shifts.