The main focus of this documentary was on murder, religion, Gothic music, the youth of today, the influences of the media and the influences of celebrities as Marilyn Manson is blamed for influencing the murderers of a nun, this shows that even in a small rural area there is still media and celebrity influence on the youth and their behaviour.
The narrative structure of the documentary is fairly linear as it explains the subject of the documentary, how it happened and the consequences of this. The beginning of the documentary shows the conflict of the death of the Nun and the uproar that it caused, the middle introduces the media influences and the prospect of Manson being a puppet master to the youth, the end of the documentary ensures that all audiences questions are answered with the town being righted once more and the teenagers being incarcerated.
The camerawork of the documentary is very relevant to the way the director wants the audience to see certain aspects such as the way that there is a low camera angle on Manson during his concerts, this could be so that the viewer see it through a spectator point of view but it could also be so that the viewer feels submissive to Manson and that the is in control as he is in a dominant position. Handheld cameras are also used during the reconstruction so that the audience feels uncomfortable as they are seeing the attack from the point of view of the victim.
Two shots were also used to show the interviewees at the same time, this helps the audience get a better idea of who is putting what point of view across.
The psychologist is seen to be power dressing in the introduction to her as she is seen to be amongst commuters who are wearing dull muted coloured clothes whereas she is wearing a red suit which connotes power and professionalism. Also during the reconstruction as the audio is coming to a close a stone in a pool of bloody water is shown to anchor the severity of the situation to the audience.
The reconstruction is mostly shown audibly rather than visually, this unnerves the audience as they can hear the events such as each blow of the stones and the drawing of a knife followed by the distinct noise of stabbing and blood flowing. Many of the sound effects used at times such as the nuns funeral are designed to create empathy from the audience. Also the use of religious music when Manson is on the screen is used to create a juxtaposition and show some conflicting ideas.
The editing in the documentary is fairly slow in places as it uses a lot of long takes and establishing shots especially in reconstructions, it also uses a lot of cutaway shots of the town and match on action and shot reverse shot in the case of the audience and Manson at the concerts.
There is a lot of archive footage used throughout the documentary as many Manson music videos are used to show how shocking the singer can be, footage of the nuns funeral was also archive footage, this would be used to gain sympathy from the audience. A segment of news footage from the Columbine shooting was also used to show that this is not the first time Manson has been blamed for the murder of innocent people.
The opening titles are shown in a religious font to emphasise that the documentary will be heavily influenced by the church and it is an important part of the documentary, the text is in white which is basic but professional and also does not draw away from the action on screen.
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