Sunday, 27 June 2010

Genre Analysis - Documentary Analysis - The Devil Made Me Do It

This documentary has an expository genre due to it having a voice-of-god, it also has images which illustrate this.

It contains an enigma code as it starts with Marilyn Manson and then moves onto the story about a nun and 3 girls who murder the nun, this all happens in the first 12-15 minutes then there is a connection between both Marilyn and the murder as the enigma code from the beginning is starting to be answered. The last segment us about Marilyn Manson and then links back to the murder of the nun as if Marilyn is somewhat to blame for what they done. It then ends with a closed narrative of the 3 girls going to jail.

There is a series of handheld camera work used, an example of this is when following the men up the stairs, the point of using this type of camera work is to make it seem more real-life and believable. The hand-held camera work also makes the documentary more frantic as if we are there ourselves, this invloves the audience more.
Close ups are also used which show the importance and related to the religious part of the documentary when talking about god and the devil.
Also, an establishing shot is used looking down on the cemetry which is used to signify the start of the new segment.

When looking at mise-en-scene, a close-up of Marco Politi is used from where the Pope lives. There is also a religious in the background to show he is a serious reporter and to relate back to what the documentary is showing.
The mise-en-scene of the interview of the 3 girls friends connotes them as not caring about thier friends commiting a murder as they are all sitting on a bed smoking and chatting.
The scene of the detective being interviewed infront of his desk shows his authority, he is also very smartly dressed by wearing a suit in order to connote a serious atmosphere and his importance to the case.

Through sound, there is a voice-over used in order to translate the language into English, it contains a person speaking and then the translators voice-over.
There is also non-diegetic sound used of the music which is very sad and dreary, this signifies how we are supposed to feel. The non-diegetic sound of the heartbeat is used in order to make it more dramatic and keep the audience watching as it builds more tension.
The use of the voice-over has a formal mode of address and is spoken by a man, they may have used a mans voice as he has a lower tone which fits in with the topic of death.

The editing has got specific cutaways when interviewing in order to illustrate what is being talked about in the interview. There are also cutaways of religious symbols such as the cross in order to reinforce the idea of god and of the girls commiting a crime which goes against god. Also, the font of the captions stays the same throughout the documentary.

There is archive material used during this documentary which mostly consists of Marilyn Manson footage from his concerts and interviews as they were not filmed for the documentary itself, these scenes have been taken as archive material.

When looking at the audience/institution, it is a channel 4 documentary for niche audiences. With channel 4 being a Public Service Broadcaster it shows that this channel has a list of things it has to achieve for its audience.

There are lots of black graphics used against a white background, this is a stereotype of the devil. This shows that documentaries have consistant graphics throughout.

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