The documentary follows several themes around religion, music, crime and punishment through interviews and footage of the investigation into a nun's murder allegedly inspired by Marilyn Manson's music. It uses a linear narrative structure but leaves the audience unsure of Manson's relationship to the events. Camera work includes handheld footage, establishing shots, and angles that make Manson appear in control during his interview. Religious symbols and the subjects' appearances and environments are used to emphasize themes. Sound includes Manson's music, interviews, and church music. Editing crosscuts between interviews and locations while archive footage shows the concert and investigation.

1. The Devil Made Me Do It
Themes:
There are a various amount of themes that are discussed throughout this documentary.
The most obvious themes that are discussed are religion and murder, music and how it
influences young people and crime. However there are other themes that are brought up
such as punishment, extremism, possession and control, parental responsibility,
psychological evaluation and blame. All of these themes are discussed in some form
whether it is frequently or very little.
Narrative Structure:
The Devil Made Me Do It follows a linear narrative as it has a typical beginning, middle and
end. However although it follows a linear narrative it also has some form of cliffhanger as
the audience don’t know what happened to Marilyn Manson and his relationship with the
people of Rome. But we do know that the girls who committed the murder of the nun were
sentenced.

2. Camera Work:
There is lots of hand held camera work in this documentary and plenty of establishing
shots to show where the filming of the documentary took place. During the interviews with
Marilyn Manson he is shot from a low angle which makes him look like he is in some form
of control over the controversy that is speculated around him; all of the other interviews
including Manson’s are filmed on a tripod for a steady shot. Lots of the filming looks like it
Is shot from a CCTV camera to give the impression that the people of Rome are being
watched as part of the investigation. All interviews are shot with MCU or MS as well as the
rule of thirds being present. Lots of LS shots of religious buildings are shown to emphasize
how religious Rome actually is and the importance of the themes discussed in the
documentary.

3. Mise En Scene:
During the interview with Marilyn Manson half of his face is light and the other half is
dark from his positioning under the light. This seems to emphasize that people were
unable to work out whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. There are religious symbols
throughout the documentary, for example there are churches, candles and crosses seen
on a regular bases. Whenever the young adults are shown doing what they do in their
spare they are portrayed in a negative way. The places they are filmed in show them
gambling in pubs and smoking. When they are seen playing pool they are throwing the
pool balls about and play fighting which shows them as being aggressive. The girls who
committed the murder are seen to represent the Devil and the nun is seen to represent
life.

4. Sound:
There is live footage of Marilyn Manson’s concert where we hear clips of his
music, there is voice over narration which talks about his concert and the narration
also tells us about other things throughout the documentary. We hear people being
interviewed and voice over confessions which were previously recorded and then put
into the documentary. Music from the church choir plays throughout the documentary
which emphasizes the theme of religion. There is also eerie drones and a heartbeat
sound effect used for suspense.

5. Editing:
Throughout the documentary there are a variety of interviews which crosscut between
each other when talking about the same topic or question asked. The filming cuts
between different places and people to make it more interesting for the audience. There
are lots of long takes when the viewers are being informed about important
information, this is to stop them getting distracted from what they are seeing and so they
can focus more on what is being told. There is mostly slow editing throughout, however
when Manson comes on screen there is often a faster pace of editing as this seems to
show Manson as disturbing the peace in Rome. The editing in The Devil Made Me Do It is
very basic and focuses on other conventions rather than editing.
Archive Material:
Footage of Marilyn Manson in concert is shown and footage of the investigation of the
murder of the nun. Newspaper clips from around the time the murder happened. There
is also footage of people who were getting mug shots.