In the - now famous - film below, Kuleshov edited a shot of the expressionless face of an actor, which was alternated with various other shots (a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, a woman on a divan).
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGl3LJ7vHc
When the clip was shown to an audience, they believed that the expression on the protagonist's face was different each time he appeared, depending on whether he was "looking at" the bowl of soup, a girl in the coffin, or the woman on the divan, showing an expression of hunger, grief, or desire, respectively.
Of course, the footage of actor Ivan Mosjoukine was actually the same shot each time.-
The audience even went on to rave about the actors "performance" ... "the heavy pensiveness of his mood over the forgotten soup, [they] were touched and moved by the deep sorrow with which he looked on the dead child, and noted the lust with which he observed the woman".-
The point is that, given the audiovisual medium, a certain degree of manipulation, or "intent" on the part of those creating the work is always to be expected ...
... and, also, that audiences bring their own bagage when they view something.-