In 1960, Appalachia in Kentucky was a region with the poorest residents; this condition was severe such that it caught filmmakers’ attention. Hugh O'Connor, a Canadian filmmaker, was among the filmmakers who came to create a story about this place. At long last, he was killed by a Kentuckian resident Horbat Ison 1967 because of chaos that erupted between the filmmakers and the residents. Elizabeth Barrett decided to revisit the incident by shooting a documentary called ‘Stranger with a Camera.' She tries to investigate the relationship between the filmmakers and the community they depict in their work. In the film, she begins with a captivating scene of a wooded and dark region, as she says “I wanted to explore this incident that reflects a dark side of where I live” (Barrett, 2000). In the film, she goes to the extent of interviewing the residence who were present during the killing of Oconor. One of the interviewees describes the incident in details and Barret in using her visual techniques in her camera switches to old fashion footage in Kentucky (Barrett, 2000). She shows the exact point where the journalist was shot dead by a resident in the old footage. With this kind of visual art in the film she gave her audience a chance to imagine what happened during the time and again she allowed them to have a view of the old Kentucky.
The people in Kentucky are presented in the film as hostile people to their strangers. They do not like people invading their privacy especially the media personalities. We find that in the 60's there was an incident where one of the residents of Kentucky shot and killed O'Connor, a filmmaker from Canada (Baldwin, 2013: 103). From the documentary, we see just from their behaviors that the people of Appalachian are not friendly to people with cameras. If Barret was not from Kentucky, then let us assumed that she might not have been safe. They are people who do not like their private life to be displayed to the entire world.
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The filmmaker in this context is a resident to the place where the film was shot. Appalachia is a place where people live a simple life, and they are happy with their lifestyle. Barret is not happy with the situation in her region especially the things that happen without people from outside the region knowing (Baldwin, 2013: 104). She decided to shoot a documentary about how her people relate to media personalities. In emphasizing her work, she uses an incident that happened a long time ago to a filmmaker. She interviews the people who were there during the incident to get the exact information about the incident. However, she does not give her commentary about the incident of the filmmaker being killed in the 60's because her people were the ones who did the action.
From the documentary, we find that the film and media industries have developed a lot. In the past, the technology was still developing, and the filmmakers used black and white visual presentation. This is depicted in the film when Barret switched to old footage of Kentucky while she was interviewing one of the residents (Barrett, 2000). Comparing this old film with the new filmmaking techniques she used, it is clear that technology has changed. Barret used lightweight cameras that gave a clear view of present-day Kentucky.
References
Baldwin, T. (2013). Stranger with a Camera. American Journalism,18 (3), 103-104. doi:10.1080/08821127.2001.10739328
Barrett, E. (Director). (2000, July 11). Stranger with a Camera [Video file]. Retrieved April 19, 2018, from https://vimeo.com/channels/676200/54465749
