Research Tasks - Jess Garman

'Eight' - Stephen Daldry - 1998

• Genre = social realism. Camera work - evenly spread between various shot sizes, depending on what was appropriate. Extreme long shots were often used to emphasise his loneliness. We are introduced to the scene with a pan from right to left, establishing the setting on a beach and stopping on a football - a key piece of iconography in the story. The beach is recogniseable as a British beach (due to the grass and the grey sky) which sets the story up. The costume constructs characters (the boy wears a home-made football shirt which shows he's desperate to fit in - as his friend Terry has a real one). There is a difference in lighting and colour to show changes of mood - inside the house is darker and has more shadow, to show that his mum is distant, but still existant in the back of his mind like a dark space.



• The audience were made to assume that the boy's dad had left them rather than died up until the end. This was done with the lack of imformation communticated in voice over and the boy's want to discover what his dad was like and his admiration for him. This assumption makes us feel predjudice and shows that we make assumptions without conclusive evidence.



• The film begins with a slow pace, but doesn't follow Todorov's theory because there is no real conflict or resolution at the end. Instead the audience are left with a sense of sympathy and sadness at learning the truth behind his father's absense. Due to the lack of proper structure to the narrative (there is no linear storyline) I would not want to use this for our film, however, I like the use of a young boy as a central character because it shows their innocence in such a tragic situation and shows how they can be funny without realising (for example, the scene in which he holds the man's hand as though he is his dad.


• There is non-diegetic music used to enhance the emotions of the story which comes in at times of significance in the dialogue. The use of voiceover acts as a guide to his emotions and thoughts (reminiscent of Brief Encounter). The fact that he talks to himself emphasises his loneliness.


• A main theme is mourning the loss of his father, and the difference between his and his mum's coping methods - this shows childish optimism (how he continues to imagine his father's jobs etc.), but this is broken at the end when we see his true sadness and loneliness as he sits on the beach by himself. This is an extreme long shot so that there is alot of space around him which makes him look smaller and more alone. Our sympathy is heightened at this point as we've just heard that his dad died and the lasting image of him singing to himself looking out to sea and saying 'Bye' is a sad ending which has does not leave us with a sense of hope and hapiness (as a social realism following Todorov's theory wouldn't).