Eight

By Stephen Daldrey

Synopsis Eight tells the story of an eight year old boy who is a football fanatic who has to come to terms with moving to a new town and cope with the loss of his father

Representations Jonathan- the way he is represented is at first that of a stereotypical boy, he plays with his best friend, has an active imagination as seen in the beginning of the film when he is playing on his own and is obsessed with football. He speaks of his father and refers to him in the past tense which confuses viewers but he reveals his father had passed away and this slowly shows the inner workings of his mind as he has never known his father. He imagines all different types of jobs he believes and deep down hopes his father had, it shows it’s constantly on his mind and is eating away at him and wishes he had a relationship with his father, craves it even and his obsession with football brings him closer to him as he know his father loved football. His desperation for his father seeps through from the very beginning as he is shouting seemingly into the distance but is in fact shouting to for his father. Another example of this is when he is in his bedroom playing with his football mat he stops and stares at the players, mystified as to why he is on his own.

Narrative:The narrative is delivered through Jonathan as he recalls and tells events to the audience looking at the camera

Sound: Lots of diegetic sounds such as wind, the sea and talking is heard to show Jonathan’s surrounding and isolates him to emphasize his loneliness. There is also non-diegetic sound such as the cheering from football matches to show the obsession surrounding the sport.

Title

The title of the film is Jonathan’s age which portrays the amount of time passed between his father dying and his birth, since he has never known his father.