842 lives, 90% of a country in ruins, and only one destructive hurricane to blame. In October of 2016 Hurricane Matthew wrecked the lives of many in multiple countries and one of those countries was Haiti. A photograph of the people of Haiti was taken by a news company and this photo uses a form of filmic language called a POV shot or a point of view shot. The use of this element in the photo contributes to the unspoken argument trying to be told in this photo; of the people of Haiti needing our help. 

The picture is at eye level with the citizens of Haiti who are shown, this is one reason of how it is a point of view shot. Within the shot you see: flooded streets, kids walking in water, people standing on rubble to try and get dry, and you see clothes hanging in the air and in the middle of the street. An important thing to notice about this picture is that a POV shot is not all that common but when it is done it is used to put the reader or viewer in the place of someone who is actually in the environment that is depicted.  So by taking this image with a POV shot everyone looking at it now has the perspective of someone who is actually standing in flooded streets and trying to put their lives back together. This element is so key to the message or argument trying to be displayed because by putting the viewers in the shoes of someone affected you now require the viewers to think about how they would want to be treated if roles were reversed. The unspoken message of the picture is that Hurricane Matthew destroyed many areas and more than just one country. Because we live in the United States we sometimes forget to worry about others but this picture is urging us to remember that countries such as Haiti need our help rebuilding what this hurricane took from them, it forces us to feel for them, it connects to our emotions. 

“One way that I feel that the emotional connection with a film can be engrossed is with the use of P.O.V (point of view) shot” (Kneller). Connecting a reader to the emotions depicted in the visual text is a key way to support or contribute to the message being depicted. The photo shows the emotions of the Haitians pictured, you see the faces of confused children, sad and disappointed adults, arms are crossed, and many blank stares can be seen. The element of a POV shot brings those emotions to the front and center and makes it easy for the reader to feel those same emotions or possibly even different ones as they are now seeing exactly what the people in the photo are seeing and in the exact same way. Any one viewing this picture is viewing it in the same way all who are in it are, they feel like they are the ones walking down this street, thy can feel the water covering their feet, and they can feel the disappointment of these people pictured. This supports the unstated argument because the author or the photographer wants people to understand, sympathizes, and help those affected. What better way to do this than to make those looking at the photo feel what those photographed are feeling and to make the reader feel for those affected. Point of view is one of the best elements to use to get this effect and the photographer knew this and he so perfectly executed this. Now that the photographer has got the people to care, the use of the POV shot convinces them to do a little more. 

Putting people into the position of those affected and stirring up emotions inside of the reader isn’t enough. The entire purpose of the picture is to get people aware but to also get them involved, so another thing point of view shots do pretty well is leave the reader curious and wanting to know more about what is going on. In this photo all you see is one street, a few families, and a couple houses, that doesn’t give the reader a clear picture of what has really happened. The POV shot puts them in the scene and causes them to wonder about the full picture not just what they themselves can see. It’s just like when you are watching a movie and all of a sudden the character goes out of frame and the camera doesn’t follow them, you then want to know what is beyond the cameras view. This contributes to what the photographer is arguing because now there are people searching things like: “Damage in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew” and searches like this bring up facts like the death toll, the amount of structural damage done to an already beat down and battered country, and it pushes people to see how much in need these people depicted truly are. The United States had states such as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina affected by Hurricane Matthew and because of this most news coverage involved these states and not much else. Therefor when the POV shot gets readers in the shoes of people in Haiti they get a new perspective and when they answer the questions they are left wondering from the picture they realize that as much as the U.S got hit Haiti did too and they didn’t have the resources we did. 

The point of view shot was an excellent choice of element to use by the photographer. The POV shot allowed readers to step into a new role and that was the role of a Haitian who just got hit with a massive Category 4 Hurricane and is not wallowing in the destruction that was caused. The POV shot pushed readers to feel for the people in Haiti and to get in touch with the emotions so clearly seen in the faces of those who were affected. Lastly the POV shot left readers wondering what all they couldn’t see, how bad was the wreckage? All these things brought up because of the POV shot element assisted the photographers message of destruction and signified is argument that we look beyond our country and help those in other countries like Haiti that were torn apart by Hurricane Matthew. 