The Devil Made Me Do it

TYPE
‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ is a ‘Mixed Documentary’. This is evident as it contains a mixture of Observation (E.g. Clips of Marilyn Manson in concert), Interviews (With Manson himself, lawyers and friends of the three girls), Narration to anchor meaning, reconstruction (of the nun’s death) and cutaways

THEMES

• Death
• Religion: notably Christianity and/v.s Satanism
• media influence

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
The documentary follows a linear narrative following from when the nun is found dead leading to the girls’ sentence. At the start we are automatically set up as to what the documentary is going to be about, with Manson quoting the title of the documentary. This intrigues the audience and forces them to ask questions. An exposition and conflict is already put in place when we find that the nun has been brutally murdered. In the middle furthers its line of argument and presents us as the audience with a question as to whether Marilyn Manson is a puppet master or a scapegoat’. The conclusion to the documentary all the loose ends are tied. The girls are sentenced and the town where they lived returns to normal with all the satanic symbols being removed.

CAMERAWORK
We are shown an establishing high angle shot of the small town, making it seem vulnerable, so that the media attention and the horrific murder of the nun seem to do it more damage.  High Angles are also shown in the Marilyn Manson concerts when filming the audience, making them seem vulnerable, which supports the argument that Manson is a Puppet Master and he has a major influence over those that listen to and are a fan of music. This argument is also furthered by the low angles when filming Manson at the concert, making him seem powerful and in control.

Canted shots are used in the reconstruction to make the audience feel uncomfortable.

The Camera is handheld as it walks into a Marilyn Manson concert, placing the audience into an eye witness position, making the events seem highly authentic
 
A close up is used when speaking to the lawyer that specialises in satanic homicide making her seem very important, indicating to the audience that we must listen to what this woman has to say as she has spoken to the girls personally and is important in their sentencing. Reinforcing how horrendous the crime was.

MISE-EN-SCENE  

Everyone was interviewed in their own natural environment, so their response seems very true and natural and they aren’t restricting what they can say.

In a shot where the prosecution lawyer was walking through the subway, she wore a bright red suit, which itself connotes power, yet she was walking among a crowd of people that wore either black or grey suits, making her stand out in a crowd, literally, making her seem highly important and so we must listen to what she has to say.

We are also shown several shots of the concert goers dressed all in black and in gothic make-up, mimicking Manson, which may make the audience feel uneasy, but it also reinforces the exposition that Manson is extremely influential.

SOUND 
When the reconstruction takes place, although we never see a nun being killed, we just are shown the canted shots of the city. However we hear the voice over of the girls telling the story of how they killed her, and the echoing sound of the heartbeat speeding up, and banging sounds as though someone is struck. This then leads the audience to imagine what happened that night, and the imagination can make it all that more scary than reconstructing the gore and violence of the actual event.

As the documentary starts, the rock music begins and is very loud. As the programme begins the theme is ‘in your face’ and bold, and then when it switches to the religious choir music creates an antithesis between good and evil, symbolic of the 2 arguments running through the documentary, is Manson to blame for the girl’s actions, or should they be held responsible for themselves.

We also hear the ambient sound of traffic or birds when people are interviewed in their natural environment, emphasising that their response is natural and has no restrictions.

EDITING 
The documentary is cleverly edited to advance the exposition, that Manson is highly influential. When Manson is talking cutaways of several newspaper articles stating that he is to blame for the nun’s murder, we are also shown footage of the columbine murders. This is due to the fact that the murderers in this case wore Marilyn Manson T-shirts, making the audience further believe that he is to blame for influencing these malicious acts.

 

There are cutaways in every interview, this is visually pleasing to an audience and it stops us from getting bored, also the images used in the cutaways anchor the meaning of what the person is saying, and doesn’t simply lead the audience to form an opinion based entirely on observation.

At the start fast paced editing us used when showing us several images of mug shots, this confuses and disorientates the audience, which also relates to the documentary theme .

ARCHIVE MATERIAL 
Maralyn Manson music videos
Maralyn Manson concert
Talk shows discussing the murders
Some interviews with manson
Nun’s Funeral
Columbine news footage.

All used to anchor meaning.

GRAPHICS
The graphics, when introducing each of the interviewees were small, plain and white, this is due to the importance of the content of the interviews, and so the graphics do not distract us from what the person is saying.

The opening title is in a religious font and is white on a black background, again linking to the theme of religion and Good Vs. Evil.

We are also shown subtitles to some of Manson’s concerts, perhaps so that we can understand the lyrics, or to further the exposition that his  lyrics are extremely disturbing and badly influence a generation (‘I’ll rape the raper’)