"Eight" Caroline Robertson

The film Eight (1998) struck me as a social realism/drama hybrid. The storyline and opening/closing soundtrack was that which would match a drama genre film, but the dialogue, lighting, and colouring illustrated the social realism genre.

The storyline was a sad one, about a boy whose father had died and how he goes through life day to day without one. It reflects the struggles of a broken working class family,something which many people could probably relate with, ( a typical icon of social realism.) His dialogue was very common, and with a northern accent. The story is set in Liverpool, and is set up to try to get audience members to both sympathise and relate with at least one character in the film. The film opens with a close up shot of him yelling "I am Jonathon, and I am eight!" and as he yells it the audience are meant to see the pain in his expression. He repeats this several times, drilling it into the viewers that he is eight. I think this is because it makes them sympathise with his situation more, knowing that he is only very young and still naive, again emphasising that the story is based around him, and how he both copes with the death of his father, and how he see's life everyday. The story is definately told from his point of view, this is made clear by the narration.

His naivety is reflected through the way he puts his father on a pedastel, as he say's all the things he imagined his father had done, for example being an astranought. This appeals to the audience as sad and sentimental at the same time, making them empathise with the character. A scene which depicts this is the one in which he is eating his lunch blissfully ignorant and naration is speaking about how he knows all these things about his father, while in the background you can see the figure of his mother. Though blurred so you cannot see her expression, Her body language and movements as she shakes her head and crosses her arms depict a sadness or depression, whilst in the forground Jonathon seems so content.

The whole film uses dull colouring, and dark lighting, which reflects the darker nature of the underlining themes of the film. It has mentionings of domestic violence, as he says how another boys father hits him when angry. This could also maybe link in with alcoholic parents, but the general underlining issues are broken families, and how it has an affect on children. The extreme long shot where he is playing at the beach with his friend has been done to make them seem so small in comparision to the world about them, possibly to exaggerate their vulnerability and innocence.

There is no backing music or soundtrack other than his narration throughout the whole film, and this combined with the colouring and lighting gives it a very social realism feel, but the opening musics use of strings and a slow pace sets it up as a drama based storyline, the audience will not be expecting a comedy film with the music they are introduced to first thing. I think the most interesting factor of the film is that although they could have just used normal dialogue, they also use non diagetic narration over clips of Jonathon playing or eating. I think that this is done as if he is speaking to you personally so that the audience feels more of a connection with him and his story.

I think it definately gives a sympathetic view of working class, as you can see the daily struggles they face, especially as it is seen through the eyes of a child. If the story was told through the eyes of an adult I dont think it would have been as effective or upsetting as they would not have the innocence of the main character.