The Devil Made Me Do It =]

The documentary “The Devil Made Me Do It” was a mixed documentary; this is because there was a compilation of such elements such as: - A voice over was used to push the narrative forward so the audience could understand the story which was being presented. Reconstructions were used to evoke empathy within the audience and more importantly to add drama for the viewer to keep their attention. Interviews were also used as this was supposed to represent the evidence through the interviewers recollection of the event. There are several themes running throughout this documentary such as: - Murder due to an innocent nun being involved in an unexplained killing, Religion as their town has heavy religious connotations and the occupation of the victim, Music as the documentary at certain points is focused around the controversial singer Marilyn Manson to make the audience shocked. One other main theme is the media and how they can have an effect on the public by persuading them to belief certain things.

In relation to the narrative structure, at the very beginning of the documentary, it sets up conflict between Marilyn Manson fans by portraying them in a negative light as they show the fans rebelliously swearing at the camera and with religion; this is shown through shots of the quiet town. It also goes into detail about the case of an unsolved murder of a nun which uses emotionally evoking reconstructions which progressively gets the viewer interested in how this conflict will progress.In the middle, this is where the story increases in depth by showing the speculated influence of Marilyn Manson; this is possibly because they need to find truth and reason through the unexplained therefore using Marilyn Manson as a scapegoat. The middle focuses more on the youths and a cause behind their actions, which includes more interviews from experts and supposable “evidence” which backs up their claim that Marilyn Manson is responsible for the death due to his shocking music. At the ending, it shows a sense of equilibrium as the murderers go to prison as Manson is officially free from the responsibility the media was pushing on him and it shows the town even though they haven't forgotten about the dreadful case, the town goes back to normal.

A variety of camera angles have been used in this documentary to portray a specific meaning and to provoke different emotions. There are several low angle shots of Marilyn Manson to show the power that he holds whilst high angles shot are used on the fans to make them look vulnerable, weak and impressionable in comparison to him. Regarding to the town, few establishing shots are used, particularly at the murder scene and also crane shots are used over the town to make the town look isolated, to show the viewer that “This is only a small town” and what happened to it was unexpected and unjustified.

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Canted angles were used in reconstructions to make the viewer feel uncomfortable creating a sense of empathy for the nun, as if it were themselves who got attacked. A high angle shot was used on a graveyard to dramatise the situation as if to point out several deaths when only one death is in question. A close up was used whilst interviewing an expert woman, this was done to show her power and significance and to show that she is important.

In regards to Mise-en-scene, setting and appearance was carefully chosen to make the audience believe a certain thing e.g. The expert woman was power dressing as she was pictured wearing a bright red suit, this was done to make her stand out from all the other people and the mise-en-scene merges in with the sound to further this opinion about her as she said how "She would not buy the CDs" giving the audience a perceived idea of what she will be like.

The interviews that took place were done in their own environment to make them seem more relaxed however this conflicted with footage of the murder scene. They also showed pictures of Marilyn Manson fans wearing heavy make up and Gothic attire to make them look as if they are imitating Marilyn Manson as he is their role model however not all his fans dress like this as they probably only intended to dress up like this for the concert. This documentary addresses and wants the viewers to believe that Marilyn Mason fans are stereotypical rebellious teenagers and the reason for their anti social behaviour is due to Marilyn Manson. The reason why they initially blamed Manson was due to the fact they found his lyrics in the girls diaries however pictures of Freddy Kruger, the villain in Nightmare on Elm Street was also shown yet no blame is being placed on the film industry.

Sound effects and a music bed were used all the way throughout the documentary and the main use of sound was natural ambience from the interviews. One of the more emotive ways they used sound was during the reconstructions as they used non diegetic sounds to dramatise and shock the audience. This was shown mainly in the reconstruction when the innocent nun dies. They used effects such as stones being thrown, heartbeats and repetitive stabbing; these would make the audience fully empathise with the nun therefore creating deep negative emotions both for the nun and the murderers. There was also a conflict between the religious music and Marilyn Manson’s music that was played throughout, in some scenes, religious music would be played when Marilyn Manson was getting interviewed yet it was also played in the background when the priest is driving to see the killer in prison.

Many long shots and establishing shots were used during the voice over, as it was the voice over that was pushing the narrative, not the visuals. Reconstructions are usually done in one long take; this refers back to wanting the audience to feel as if they were actually witnessing it for themselves, this is why eyeline match is used, this is when the audience will see what the character on screen is seeing, this is shown through a canted angle when the nun collapsed. During interviews, cut away shots of relevant images are used to keep the viewers attention. During the Marilyn Manson concerts, shot reverse shot is used between him and the audience and match on action is used.

Even though there was live footage of concerts, archive footage was also used when he was imitating the Pope, this footage was used to coincide with the religious connotations of the documentary. Marilyn Manson’s music videos were carefully used and various controversial imagers were selected to create a bigger shock for the viewers who haven’t been associated with him before. The nuns’ funeral was used to evoke a sense of emotion and anger within the viewers and to constantly remind them what the focus of the documentary is about. Footage from the Columbine Shooting 1999 was used mainly because it was such a shocking memorable event that people can remember the distraught it caused. This event showed the involvement that Manson was caused in and how they blamed him for teenage violence once before.

The title of this documentary was written in a religious gothic font, this gives the audience an inkling that the documentary will be about religion. The white graphics at the bottom of the screen are basic, just so you don’t steer away from the subject. Subtitles were also used whilst Manson was singing to make the audience shocked at the words he was using and singing to the teenagers.