Genre analysis

The devil made me do it

Themes

• Crime


• Murder


• Religion


• violence


• Gothic


• Morality

Narrative structure

The narrative structure in the devil made me do it is both linear and circular. The narrative is linear because the events are shown in a chronological order however it is shown as circular because of the opening sequence where it talks about the murder of the nun and when it happened followed to why it happened as well as motives for it when they go back to before the event happened. The narrative structure goes from The girls planning the murder, admitting to the murder and then the outcome and sentencing and finally returning to normality.

Camera work

Because there are no visual accounts of the murder in the documentary the editing and camera work have to make up for this when describing what happened. It uses a lot of shots of crosses when talking about the night it happened they use a low angled shot of the cross in the church to make Jesus look superior to everyone including the nun. To add more effect to the police officers they show them in both high and low angled shots. High angles are used when they are talking about the night after it happened, when the police have no idea who did it. this makes them look helpless as they are trying to look for the murderers. High angles are used when they find out who did it, this makes them look superior to have solved the murder. many of these types of angles are used when Marilyn Manson is talking as well. low angles are used to make him look important and powerful when first talking about his concerts whereas low angles are used to make him look guilty when he is being blamed for the murder. As well as this many talking head shots are used as much of the documentary is made up of interviews, giving a clear shot of who it is as well as being able to see what it going on in the background (Marilyn was shown in his concert dressing room which is relevant to the documentary as it is about how the music and concerts effected them). Many hand held shots are used to make it seem as if we are actually there even though no actual shots of the night is shown. Long shots of CCTV footage is used to add effect to the investigative style of the documentary.

Mise-en-scene

Costume and makeup- The majority of the outfits in the devil made me do it are Gothic, this links in the accusation that Marylin Manson was partly to blame, As if many people copy the way he acts then that must mean they copy the way he is, and in his concerts much of this is inappropriate according the the police and observers that aren't fans.

Lighting- The clips of the murder scene are shot at night, in dull streetlamp lighting, this creates tension and makes the audience feel as if they were actually there on the night of the murder. The contrast of the bright but artificial lighting that Manson is shown is makes the audience think if he is actually guilty of the claim, as it is the opposite to his style of black and Gothic clothing and makeup.

props- the props are used to give a religious presence, crosses and statues of Christ are used to link into the nun that was murdered.

Sound

Because there are no visual accounts of the murder, sound and still pictures are used instead. Shocking the audience they use sounds of knives and stones (items that were used to kill the nun) along with hand held camera work of the murder scene. combined these give a realistic account of what happened. before as well as after the murder scene more Non-diegetic sounds were used including a telephone ringing, a heartbeat and people screaming. The dark Gothic music that only the audience hears is another form of this. The two main themes here are in contrast as the dark Gothic music is challenged by the harmonious choir at the start of the documentary. Diegetic sound that is heard are mainly the interviewees dialogue. Another diegetic sound is the what was live Marylin Manson concert music.

Editing

The editing of the documentary always matches the content. This means that when the audience is meant to feel sorry or a sense of passion for the people in the documentary the editing is slow creating emotion. where as when the audience is meant to feel tension or confusion the editing is fast for example Marylin Manson's concerts. Cut aways are used in the documentary for when there are no visual accounts. The do this when they are describing the night of the murder for example, as they cut away to a cross or another significant religious item. As well as this they use cut aways to reconstructions leading up to the murder to make the audience feel like they are actually there. Other editing techniques are used to make it seem like we can see it through the nuns point of view or that were there at the time of the murder such as shot-reverse-shot and match on action.

Archive material

Some examples of archive material that is used are the news clips from after the murder happened, these are used at the start of the documentary describing the murder and makes the audience see it from the police's point of view. CCTV footage is used in scenes that are meant to create tension as well as trial footage which makes the audience consider whether Marylin Manson is in fact partially guilty in the murder and evolves their opinion of the girls who murdered the nun. Music videos and concert footage of Marylin Manson effects their view of him as some of the footage they show may be seen to the audience as shocking from some of the things he does in them. Many of these clips are reused, for example the shot of the murder scene is used several times when the narrator is talking about the scene. Clips from things such as the nuns funeral are to add drama and emotion to the documentary.

Graphics

not many graphics are used in the documentary the devil made me do it. the only graphics used are the ones in the title sequence as well as names places and dates.

The meth epidemic

Themes

• Drugs


• Crime


• Abuse


• Addiction

Narrative structure

This documentary has two structures to it; first a linear structure with the story being told from the start of the meth epidemic right through to the end. Second the meth epidemic has a parallel structure as all the stories told in the documentary about people who abuse/sold the drug are all linked together by the Crystal meth.

Camera Work

During the documentary the interviewees are shown in a lot of talking head shots, these ensure the audience knows who this person is, for example a police man was shot inside a police station. A lot of the footage used in the documentary was not the productions own camera work, these included CCTV footage from the police showing the drug dealers cooking the meth. it also uses things such as footage of when the police are making the arrests or raiding houses. Many close ups have been used to focus in on the drug when an interviewer is talking about it, this keeps the audiences attention by cutting up the interview into different visual images. over all the documentary has a clean finish as there is a lot of static camera work being used.

Mise-en-scene

During the documentary the lighting is used to create a sense of good and evil. whenever a police man or investigator is shown they are seen in natural bright light creating the good side. where as when ever anyone associated with the drug is shown the lighting is always dull especially during archive material with then creates the evil side. Props such as pill bottles are shown when the documentary is trying to take a dramatic turn, this is meant to shock the audience. as well as this pictures of family's breaking apart are also used to create an emotive effect on the audience.

Sound

The meth epidemic uses sound to ensure it creates specific emotions that the producers wanted it to create. for example it uses depressing non-diegetic music when a past user of the drug is talking about their experiences with it. However It also uses positive more faster paced music when they want to add hope or when the addicts talk about them being clean of the drug. All the sound in the documentary matches the on screen content perfectly for example police sirens when the police are raiding the houses/meth labs.

Editing

During this documentary the pace of the editing matches the content. during shots of raids/arrests the hand held camera and fast editing makes the audience feel like they are there at the actual scene. whereas to create emotion the slow editing and static camera are used when they are talking about things such as loosing children. to emphasise this story one of the last shots is a clip of images of her family on the floor and the wind blowing them away, this then fades to black. It is trying to make the audience feel a sense of compassion for the woman as it represents her children and the past life she had before the drug fading away.

Archive material

There is a lot of archive material used in this documentary, many of these are police reports of the meth epidemic as it was happening, as well as the story's on the previous meth users. it shows the users over a long period of time from when they first got arrested to one of their latest times they were arrested for using the drug.

Graphics

The main use of graphics in this documentary are for the title and the names shown under the talking head shots. another use of graphics is for the charts that are shown. these represent the trends of the meth epidemic Specifically the peaks and troughs of the meth consumption in America at the time and is referenced to a lot during the documentary.

Loose change

Themes

• Government


• conspiracy theories


• c9/11


• politics


• crime

Narrative structure

This documentary doesn't have a specific structure as it is based on facts that are brought together leading to one event. it moves from several stories leading up to the event, then to the event and then back giving more facts. It could be classed as a linear structure as the documentary goes through most facts in chronological order building up to the event. but this documentary goes back in time to give more evidence many times therefore does not have a complete linear structure.

Camera work

There isn't much camera work used in loose change as it is mainly archive material and the documents are shown in more of a slide show style. During the clips showing the actual events most of it is hand held as the public have been filming it. however shots from CCTV and other sources are also used giving a wide shot of the actual event. during these, close ups are used to give little details of evidence that viewers might have missed. During interviews loose change once again uses talking head shots.

Mise-en-scene

there is not a lot of mise-en-scene that can be shown in loose change as the majority of the documentary is still images showing documents that are used as evidence. However it uses light to highlight parts of the documents that the audience needs to focus on to get the full idea of that the narrator is talking about.

Sound

The drums and piano at the start of the documentary builds tension and matches the pace of the narrator when describing the documentary. the main sound is the narrators voice who is heard all the way through. as well as the narrators voice, so the audience have someone to look at and keep their interest, they also use interviewers this is so the audience doesn't get bored of looking at still images. We also hear things such as telephone or radio conversations during the actual event. the only diegetic sounds that are used at the planes hitting the world trade centre during the public's footage.

Editing

Because there is so much to take in during loose change and a lot is hard to keep track of at first, detailed editing would just distract the audience of the actual information given, therefore only simple editing styles such as cuts and cross fades are used. This keeps the audience interested as well as up to date and not confused with the evidence that's given at the time.

Archive material

Loose change is based completely on archive material. The clips shown are from newspapers, websites, still images and privet documents. Radio transmissions and telephone calls from planes etc are also heard on the documentary. These are shown in front of graphics of things such as a voice detector to keep the audience's attention whilst listening. Footage from the public as well as CCTV is used to back up the directors claims as he has used close ups to point out little details that can be used at evidence.

Graphics

Many graphics are used in this documentary. Dates, names, places and times are shown in a typewriter font to give the effect that it is a secret document. Reconstructions are the main example of the graphics that are used, They show what was meant to have happened in the situations as well as what would have actually happened if this were true (e.g a plane crashing is shown, he suggests that it would have left a bigger destruction site and reconstructs what he thinks it would have actually looked like if it did happen). He uses things such as a target sign to show explosive points in the tower when it is collapsing to make the audience focus in on that point. as well as this he uses highlighters to focus us in on parts of documents we should be looking at and dulls the rest making our attention go directly to that point.

Grizzly man

Themes

• Danger


• Wildlife


• Bears


• Challenges

Narrative structure

This documentaries narrative could be classes as linear or circular. We can class it as circular as throughout the documentary it returns to when Timothy Treadwell died alongside his girlfriend Amie Huguenard whilst the interviews are being show. However it can also be classed as linear as it shows the footage of timothy which he filmed himself in order as the days went along.

camera work

Most of the camera work which is seen on the documentary was filmed by timothy himself during the time he was out on his expeditions. Although it is filmed by himself he still considers where he is talking on the shot creating a talking head however he also talks into the camera which is unconventional for a documentary. close ups and full shots are used to see the bears in detail or to show them in their dailey lives e.g fighting.

Mise-en-scene

Throughout the documentary mise-en-scene is carefully considered when it came to both interviews aswell as when timothy was talking in his video diary. Examples of these are when timothy is talking about the bears fighting and he has carefully positioned himself infront of the camera so that you can still see the bears fighting behind him. another is when the helecopter piolet is talking about finding the bear that killed timothy and his girlfriend and when he flew back over there, a helecopter was placed in the background.

sound

Most of the music used in the documentary was slow emotive music so that the audience would sympathise with the interviewees who have some relation to timothy. A voice over was heard along with the interviewees and timothy on his video diary. some of the questions could be heard that the interviewer was asking This person was the person doing the voiceover also.

editing

During Grizzly Man there are not many different types of editing techniques used however there are long shots used which have been filmed by timothy when he is recording his video diary. aswell as this fades are used between the interviews and some of the footage that timothy has recorded. jump cuts are also used between interviews and the video diary

archive material

The documentary grizzly man focuses heavely on archive footage that timothy treadwell filmed during his video diarys of his days out with the bears. Other sources of archive material are tose of when he was back in his home town talking in schools about his experiences etc.

graphics

Not many graphics are used throughout the documentary grizzly man the graphics which were used were mainly the white bold titles and when it introcuced people which were being interviewed in the documenary.

Comparison of two documentaries - The Trial of Amanda Knox and The Last American Freak Show

The two documentaries i have decided to compare are the trial of Amanda Knox and the last American freak show. The trial of Amanda Knox is a crime documentary where as the last American freak show is more investigating into the lives of the people there.

The main themes in the two documentaries are crime, drugs and murder in the trial of Amanda Knox, reflecting on why it happened and what the results from this were and in the last American freak show is disability, how they cope with being put on show voluntarily. The circular narrative in the first documentary presents the audience with the murder first then goes back to investigate what happens. The last American freak show is different to this, here it has a linear structure for the narrative where you discover how the freak show started and it tells their story from the beginning.

The camera work in both documentaries have their many similarities as well as differences. Both have clips from events whether it be a police camera going into the scene of the crime showing visual accounts of what the murder scene looked like when they actually found the body to one of the first shows that the freak show actually performed. Both have clips from before the event, The trial of Amanda Knox shows clips and images of the murder victim, and the three suspects before it happened. They did this via Facebook videos and images as well as youtube footage that the suspects have uploaded themselves. The last American freak show shows footage of the performers before they became part of the act for example childhood competitions where one of the participants learnt what she now uses in her act. In the trial of Amanda Knox they use many hand held cameras to re trace the murderers footsteps, reenacting what they believed happened. They often show the people on trial in high angled shots making them look vulnerable whereas many low angle shots are used in the freak show to make them look superior as the main aim of the documentary is to show that they are exactly the same as other people and they shouldn't be ashamed of their disabilities. There are many talking head shots used when interviewing either police/experts in first documentary and the participants/audience in the second. Both use points of view shots either from the suspects or the participants in the freak show, this shows the audience what they see the situation like.

The archive material used in the first documentary is mainly from the crime scene itself. It uses trial footage as well as police reports of the suspects. It shows news footage of the murder victim and personal pictures/videos from all of the people involved. The second documentary only has archive material from personal videos of the past, showing what the participants were like before they got involved.

In the last American freak show it uses a lot of makeup and costumes to emphasise what they are trying to show whereas uniforms from police etc are the only ones we see in the first documentary.

The sound in the documentaries uses a lot of diagetic audio clips to match the visuals for example using police sirens in the background noise for the murder scene. They don't use a lot of actual music in the first documentary however in the second they use it to play on emotions, whether it be the happy, energetic music when they are actually performing to the more slow paced music when they are thinking about the past. The editing in the documentaries both show fast pace when either talking about the murder scene/trials or the shows and slow paced when talking about the victim/events in the past. Both paces of editing in the documentaries match the content.

The only graphics used in both documentaries are at the start of the documentary or at the end, showing the titles and end credits.