Channel 4.
Part of 'Public Enemy Number 1' series or documentaries.
Themes - This is a mixed narrative documentary which explores several themes such as Good Vs Evil which is a binary opposition, Louis Strauss said that all narratives revolve around a serious of binary oppositions. A further theme is of rebelion which realtes to the disifected youth and problems in soceity and also the lack of communication between teenagers and their parents. Although probably the most significant theme would be the power of the media influencing behaviour.
Narrative Structure - The documentary is single strand as it follows a central thread, also it is non linear because it doesn't follow time order as there are flashbacks and finally it is open because the question is left unanswered and the audience can make up thier own mind if media influence behaviour or not.
Camera Work - Many types of camera work are used within the documentary for example..
Handheld- this is for actuality footage such as real events so the camera can respond quickly to an action an example of this is when the Marilyn is walking around the town.
Interviews- close up/medium close up- framed to the left or right of the screen with the interviewer standing on the opposite side to them in order to get the framing right.
The documantarys also has pans, tilted frames, extreme close ups, tow shots, establishing shots etc.. Furthermore stock footage is used such as shots of teenagers, crosses, churches and other variuous shots from around the town.
Mise En Scene - The interviews refelct on something about the life, occupation or role of the interviewee such police men in office. Also there is a contrast between the old fashioned town and the loud rock concert and furthermore there is a contrast between Marilyn Manson being in McDonalds as this shows he isn't as different as the media and even himself try to make out.
Sounds -
There is non-diegetic sounds such as calssical music in contrast with Marilyn Mansons music which is also played throughout the documentary. There are also ambient sounds such as church bell rings, screams or choir music, these are usually during a scene that fits with these sounds.
There is narration throughout the documentary, this is done by a male who uses standard english and doesn't have a regional accent and he doesn't change the tone of his voice at any point point so the programme remains unbias.
There is another voiceover that translates anything that is said in italian. The translater is a similar age and same gender as the italian speaker.Examples of this is shown in the first minute of the extract below.
There are also scenes that need tension created in them and this is done by sounds such as heartbeats during the girls confessions and dogs barking in the murder scene.
Editing - The programme uses several forms of editing such as simple cuts from scene to scene, a montage such as at the beginning of the documentary (shown in extract below) and also at the end of each important scene the screen goes black signifying the dark themes of the documentary or that a certain amount of time has passed by. Also at the end of the beginning seqeunce there is a title shot which uses religious imagery in the graphics which allows the audience to understand some of the themes.
Archive Material - The documentary contained tconfessions from the girls, recordings from the time of the murder, news rreports on the nuns death and also Marilyn Mansons music video. There is aalso extracts from an italian talk show and front covers of newspapers to ddemonstrate that this was worldwide news at the time.
Graphics - There are several graphics used in the documentary such as the title which is shown at the beginning and the end start and end of each commercial break. There is also names, times, dates and places shown in the frame in the appropriate places. Furthermore there is also lyrics and subtitles which appear at the bottom of the frame, once again in the appropirate places. Finally there are the end credits.
Important Scenes
Murder Scene -
This scene is one of the best filmed and edited scenes in the documentary as it uses a lot of sound to tell the story and very little visual. The scene started with a long shot down a corridor with ambient lighting and a voiceover which stops just as the door closes. The echo of the door closing signifies emptiness. There is then a slow pan across the town of a roof top, this goes on and on whilst the girls confessions are used as a voiceover, these voiceovers are backed up with sound effects such a heart beat which gets faster as the attack begins, there is also muttering and you can hear the blow to the nuns head. Furthermore there is dogs barking in the background and this shows that no one is around apart from the girls and the nun then you can hear a knife being pulled out of the bag and stabbing the nun repeatedly as the heart beat slows down which highlights the fact that the nun is dying. There is then a point of view shot from the nun as she dying, it is a tilted frame of her lying on the floor helpless. Images of churches are then shown, the shot changes on every heart beat and then when the heart beat stops there is a pause with a church bell ending the sequence.(symbol of death). Then following scene contains a lot of religious iconography.
Manson interview - This scene starts with a low angle of Marilyn Manson which gives him power whilst the lighting leaves his face half in the light and half in the dark, this can highlight the question of whether he is a saint or a sinner. The camera then follows Marilyn Manson around the town by tracking, Marilyn goes into McDonalds which makes him seem normal and poses the question of whether 'Marilyn Manson' is just a character played by Brian Warner ( Mansons real name ) or if he really is an anarchy figure. The voiceover during this scene is Mansons interview and as he steps into McDonalds says "im not evil, i just have an opinion" .
Interview with priest - The scene starts with a close up of the priest driving and smoking and there is a voiceover of him talking about meeting the girls which killed the nun. The lighting in this scene uis very dark as they are talking about a dark subject. Every so often there are point of view shots of the road whilst the priest is driving. The documentary makers have done the interview in this way to keep the audience entertained and to emphasise the fact interviews do not have to be done in a traditional way.
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