This documentary examines the 1999 murder of a nun by three teenage girls who were fans of musician Marilyn Manson. It explores themes of religion versus Satanism through interviews and footage related to the crime. While Manson is interviewed and denies influencing the girls, the documentary suggests his dark lyrics and persona may have impacted their actions. Through a variety of editing techniques, it presents a unsettled narrative that leaves the conclusion open to the viewer's interpretation regarding Manson's culpability.

1. The Devil Made Me Do It

2. • Type of documentary: Mixed
Themes: Death, good vs. Evil, religion vs. Satan
vs. Christianity (Binary opposites, parenting,
communication with children, disaffected
youth.
• Narrative structure: A single stranded open
documentary which has no conclusion.

3. • Dates
• Locations
• Manson’s lyrics
• Details of the girls verdicts
• Names
• Credits
• Title
• Subtitle
Graphics

4. Archive Material
• Interviews
• Footage from school murders in Columbine
• Music videos
• Online, TV and newspaper

5. Editing
• Cuts
• Juxtaposition of choral and Manson’s music
over images of his fans
• Cutaways relating to what is being spoken
about

6. The title ‘The Devil Made Me do It’ is in
black and white and looks rather
sinister which highlights the fact
that it says ‘The Devil’ and the
actual story is of a murder.
The ‘t’ at the end in ‘it’ looks
like a cross which signifies the
religious theme to the
documentary and how a nun
was killed
The background is eerie looking,
portraying the fact that the overall
documentary is creepy and dark, as it is
about a murder of a nun.
The mast head shows
that the people are
blaming the Devil for the
their own doings and
gives it Satan vs.
Christianity theme

7. Low key lighting signifies the
rock genre of music and how it
is portrayed as ‘dark’
Mise-en-scene – The dark attire and
eccentric black and white make-up link to
how they are fans of Marilyn Manson and
are at his concert.

8. Manson’s body language and facial
expression portrays that he is
tired and annoyed at having
been accused of influencing
three teenage girls to kill a nun
Close-up of
Manson

9. Manson is in a mid shot
whilst giving direct
address to the audience,
making him seem
confident and not
‘sketchy’ which would
further peoples opinions
on him being an
influence to the killing.
The background in this
shot is rather bare and not
very personal
Low key lighting reflects Manson's persona
yet it also makes him seem darker which
could lead the audience watching the DVD
to believe that he overall is dark and that
maybe his dark nature influenced the girls
into killing the nun.
People being
interviewed are mainly
on the left of the
screen

10. The scenery in the shot is misleading as it is calm and peaceful in contrast to the actual
story.

11. This image is a close up of the women’s face which, from her facial expressions
tells us that she is concerned and a little scared about what happened.

12. Archive material in the documentary
The title ‘Don’t blame ‘goth’ culture for tragedy’
suggests that when a murder tragedy happens
that people would immediately start blaming
people who dress or act anything related to
‘goth’.
Links to how people accuse
Manson of being a big part of the
reason why the three girls killed the
nun.
This could mean that because
another tragedy happened, that
they might start to blame him again

13. Manson is in a point of view shot from the audience
The graphics of the subtitles
underneath the image tell us the
lyrics to Manson’s song.
The lyrics suggest his own
personal beliefs that there is no
God and he will not follow what
everyone else who believes that
there is does.
These lyrics in particular could
portray why people thought that
he had a big influence over the
girls killing the nun as the girls
(who were big fans of Manson)
could have got the idea to kill a
nun from them.
Low key lighting suggests
the darkness over the
topic of God, and how he
does not believe in such
things
Manson is dressed as a pope, which makes the
audience
think things that are unnecessarily true. It
portrays him as disrespectful

14. The choral music in the background
created a melancholic feel to what
was happening
The people presented in the image are
not dressed as Manson in contrast to the
teenage fans of Marilyn. Their facial
expressions in this image represent the
sadness and how emotional they are at
having to bury her.
It is a long mid shot of
people carrying a
coffin.

15. The graphics of subtitles at the
end tell us the conclusion to the
whole thing, the girls sentences
for their crimes.
In the background to the
credits was the sound of
choral music which was a
contrast to Manson’s
music. It made the
audience feel fear for
what has happened .
The black background represents the
darkness of the crime that the girls have
committed. It signifies the death of the nun
and how she is now in darkness.
The black background makes the white
writing stand out which connotes how big of
a topic this documentary was about.