DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS - The Devil Made Me Do It

TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY

This documentary was mixed because of its features of voiceovers, archived footage and getting both sides of the expositional arguement. We saw interviews with the fans of Maralyn Manson, the star himself, police officers and relatives of the Nun who had been murdered. There were also reconstructions of how the Nun came to be murdered.

THEMES

Death, Religion, Music and Crime. In mostly the middle of the documentary, it explains how these themes are all linked together. It does this by debating questions similar to 'Does the music of Maralyn Manson influence others in their youth to commit murder as part of an anti-religious hate crime?'. Maralyn Manson's music is often judged to be pro-satanist because of their lyrics and the heavy metal sound that some younger people listen to. The Religious side to the documentary is that some younger people who were thought to be Maralyn Manson fans murdered a Nun to mark the star's arrival in Italy.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

The documentary follows a Linear structure. The beginning makes a statement to the viewers about how three girl's satanic motivations could have influenced the nuns murder and a very brief look at people who are defending Manson and also those who critisise him. The exposition of 'Is Maralyn Manson is a puppet master or a scapegoat?' is now apparent by the middle of the piece. Some people felt that the acts he commits and the lyrics he sings made him a puppet master. Others, including Manson himself felt that the girls who murdered the Nun could have had other influences and was not happy that some people thought of him in this way. By the end of the documentary, the equilibrium had been restored and a final explanation to the three girl's sentances is justified by the narrator to the audiences. The idea of satanic vandalism has now been removed. Since this documentary is set in Italy, there were also voiceovers who acted as a small guide to the audience because they translated what some of the Italians said to English. This should not be confused with the narrator which we listen to throughout the documentary.

CAMERAWORK

The documentary begins with an establishing crane shot of a town an Italian town called Chiavenna, making it look vulnerable despite acting peaceful at first. We are told that this town is extremely important and relevent to the documentary because the murder of Nuns in a largely Catholic country such as Italy may be considerred more forbidden than anyone or anywhere else in the world. The church that is part of this community is among the first things we see with another estabilishing shot. There are some close ups on a lot of interviews to define the subject's power. Some really close shots show the horror on a woman's face after listening to the music of Maralyn Manson and read the lyrics to his songs. Canted high angles are used in the reconstruction of the Nun's death to help the audience envisage what went on in the moments leading up to her murder. In some ways, this helps the audience feel as though they acting as police during the reconstruction with the help of this angle. Static cameras and Handheld cameras are used in the reconstruction and have a similar effect to the canted high angles. Low camera angles are used onto Manson when he plays on stage in front of fans at his concert. This is to make him seem powerful whilst the film cross cuts to canted close ups of fans in the front row of his concert. This shot does make them seem insignificant, but the insiginificance is only really presented when a High Angle shot is looks down on his fans. As this is a mixed documentary, the shots may make Manson look as though he is brainwashing them to some members of the audience; one thing they may consider for their interpretation at the end of the film.

MISE-EN-SCENE

A large proportion of the documentary is set on location at the towns and proffesions of those involved. This includes those who are involved with the law, whose backdrops in some ways justify their relation to the exposition. There was a woman on a train who wearing red. The colour represents blood and with this documentary focusing on a murder investiagation, the clothes themselves helps this woman to have an impact on the audience's knowledge knowing that she has now been affected by the situation.

Maralyn Manson interviewed in dressing room in several cuts of 'The Devil Made Me Do It'. This does not only show that he is a star but rather define himself to the exposition.

SOUND

'The Devil Made Me Do It' features Digetic Sounds to try and heighten the audience's emotion. Heart beats and the ringing of church bells help to keep the overall atmosphere of this documentary at the somewhat electrifying to watch. Other sounds included when Manson sang his songs to his fans. This is diagetic sound, although the way he sings his songs is hard to understand for some audience members. Therefore, his lyrics were dubbed onto the central bottom of the screen. The sound of his songs could be seen as evil, which is completely the opposite to the church bells seeming harmonious to listen to. With regards to Non-Digetic sound, voiceovers are a common feature when an interview subject needs to be translated.

EDITING

'The Devil Made Me Do It' uses a Shot Reverse Shot so that the audience can be presented with two sets of people; Manson and his fans. This is edited so that Manson could be judged as a puppet master to his fans during the concerts. Shot reverse shots also present a confliction between Manson and the Media. Especially at the introduction of Manson's fans, fast paced editing gives an indication to the audience that an important event is about to happen, that event being his concert. The editing became slow motion to emphasise the vulnerabilty of Manson's Fans.

ARCHIVE MATERIAL

In 'The Devil Made Me Do It', Maralyn Manson's music videos are used as an introduction to the man himself and his characterisation. Immediately, due to the content of his music videos, the audience get an impression of his personality. When there was a shooting at Columbine High School in America, archive footage of a news report which wrongly blamed manson for his influence helped Manson tell of how he was used as a scapegoat after the Nun's murder. The Nun's funeral was included as archive material in this documentary to try and make the audience feel sad for a past event that has taken place. There was footage of Religious Festivals in 'The Devil Made Me Do It', however we do not know for certain as to whether this is archive footage or it was filmed as part of the documentary.

GRAPHICS

'The Devil Made Me Do It' title has gothic graphics with a white text and black background. This helps the graphics stand out in to the audience in a ghostly way. During interviews, white text is used again in a bold Arial font showing the name of the subject and their relation. Depending on the camera angles, these graphics may switch sides each time we are presented with a new interview subject and also depending on the close up camera angle at which they were filmed. Sometimes, the text would be written in Italic when someone is representing an institution. A similar white text with a black background in credits is seen in the credits. Manson's song lyrics have a transparent background with a white text when he sings his songs that is in the centre of the screen.