In documentaries, visual evidence is crucial for building a meaningful narrative from fragmented footage. Devil’s Playground explores the Amish youth experience during Rumspringa, asking the central question: will they embrace the Amish or English life? The visual evidence supports this narrative, whether staged to enhance the storytelling, or captured authentically.
One example of in-authentic but effective storytelling occurs at 1:08:30, when for a final interview one of the boys gets into a car and drives off. This scene feels staged because the subject would likely not have abandoned the cameraman, more likely they coordinated the shot to symbolize his return to the Amish community. Regardless, it can still be effective, especially for a more novice audience not looking for these things. It should also be noted that this is part of a series of scenes that wrap-up the stories of our side characters in an almost scripted/cheesy movie-like way.
Right before the previous clip, in another of these wrap-up segments at 1:05:48, a girl arrives home to prepare for college. The opening shot of her arriving, framed from behind the car, feels deliberate. It’s unlikely they spontaneously captured this moment, as the scene likely required advance planning to position the camera perfectly. These moments are small but they demonstrate how visual evidence is used not just to record events, but to structure a compelling story. While it may be in-authentic, they now had a establishing shot rather than skipping straight to her inside.
Finally, let’s look at an opposite example, where visual evidence is authentic potentially to the detriment of the film. For example at 3:50, the interior shots in the Amish homes are dimly lit to maintain realism. On a technical level, this reduces the quality of the film or simply our abilities to see things, but I would argue bringing in a bunch of studio lights would feel noticeably off, and even disrupt the natural behaviors of our subjects by messing with their environment.