The devil made me do it is a mixed type documentary. This means that it included documentary conventions such as a voiceover that suited the target audience, interviews with relevant people, footage/archived footage to use as evidence to suit the argument, reconstructions to dramatise the facts and aspects of other styles. This could mean that the documentary could be seen as un-true as it is dramatised but evidence is shown to the audience from both sides.
The documentary had many themes, one of which included religion, as the documentary followed the case of the death of a nun and how the religion of three girls could have resulted in murder. This led to another theme of Murder/death and how the media/music can influence people to commit crimes of such an evil manner. This media influence resulted in the theme of youth rebellion as the satanic music is said to have convinced the three girls proved of murder to commit the crime. This theme ultimately resulted in the covering of the media’s effect on young teenagers, and raises the question, could three girls raised in a small village with a religious environment be drove by Marilyn Manson’s music to kill a nun?
Like all documentaries this one has a clear narrative structure. The beginning of the story raises the question/conflict to the audience and shows the murder of a nun in a small village. This opens the documentary to opinions and a plot to interest the audience. The centre of the documentary is telling the story of the capture of the three girls and showing the audience how Marilyn Manson supposedly influenced them to do it. This means that it could show the two sides of the argument, Marilyn Manson as a bad person, or innocent and the media portraying him as this ‘devil’ like character as a scapegoat. The end of the documentary showed a resolution to the drama, it showed one of the girls being sorry and regretting what they’d done, whilst Marilyn Mason blamed the parents for not paying enough time in the interests of there children.
The cinematography in this documentary also helped to portray a certain image to the audience for example low angle shots were used frequently on Marilyn Manson to show him as powerful over the teenagers in concerts. Many of the interviews of the British people were two shots and in there own home, this meant that the people being interviewed were more comfortable and therefore gave more informative information/answers to questions. Close ups were also regularly used on the expressions of the teenagers faces in concerts to show there expressions. This gave the feeling that they were being brainwashed and portrayed Marilyn as a bad person. A mid shot was repeatedly used for a woman in a red suit, this colour red and the mid shot gave her power and showed as a important ‘character’ within the dramatised documentary. A high angle was used during shots of the village to make it look small, innocent or weak, in contrast to the low angles of Marilyn who is portrayed as powerful. During the reconstructions of the nuns murder a canted angle is used to represent the nun on the floor this makes us view the situation from the nuns’ point of view and make us feel sympathy for her. A median close up is also used on the graffiti on the village walls, such as upside down crosses and satanic words to demonstrate Marilyn’s music as evil. Hand held camera where used outside of the court cases to add to the frantic feel of the documentary at this point.
The mise-en- scene in this piece also influences the audience, the woman in red is shown as important character making a statement in the documentary. The people in the religious dress set the place in the documentary and represent Catholicism and are shown in contrast to the black clothing partnered with the make up that the teenagers are wearing in the concerts. The setting of the documentary is also used to contrast the small quite village in comparison to the devil worshipping concerts of Marilyn Manson’s. This suggests a biased view on the documentary to see this type of music as ‘evil’.
The non-diagetic sound in the documentary is contrasting as it is either religious music to represent the nun or rock music to represent Marilyn Manson. The diagetic sound in the documentary is usually rock concert music or just background sound. Sound effects such as heartbeats, screams and thumps are used during the reconstruction of the nuns attack to add sympathy and tension among the audience. This use of sound effects also dramatised the documentary. The confessions of the three girls where played over the landscape of the village, this was used in dissimilarity to the evil things the girls were describing and made to shock the audience.
Conventions were followed in the editing of the documentary also. The cutaways used were relevant to the interviews and used as evidence to anchor meaning in the dialogue. Match on action was used to follow Marilyn Manson and make the documentary easier to follow. It also empowered Marilyn as he was the centre of the action. Point of view shots were used as a way for the audience to feel sympathy for the nun during the reconstructions. During the confessions of the three girls long shots were used and in difference fast paced cuts during more frantic parts of the documentary ‘drama’.
There was much archived material used in this documentary to act as evidence for the opinions shown on the screen. Marilyn Manson’s music videos and concert footage were used as a support to the fact that he is very unconventional and is known to be satanic and encourage violence. This is also suggested in the footage of the
Another code followed by this documentary was the graphics were simple and plain to not detract from what is on screen.
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