Question

The question I initially thought to answer was "Has the true meaning of indie been lost in recent years?".

The reason I have come up with this question is because it is an interest of mine and I feel as though I can make a documentary with content about this. There can be a yes or no answer but there is no specific answer and this will be explored in the documentary introduction.

The Stone Roses are an example of a true indie British band and so they will be involved in the documentary as well as other bands. I am going to try and organise interviews with local bands and also people who were around in the 70s and 80s when indie had it's true meaning.

I am going to use a small amount of archive footage to try and show the meaning of indie. This is a mainly opinion based question however I am going to try and en-cooperate as many facts and figures as I can to back up my opinion, however there is nobody that I am trying to sway or influence purely for the fact that this is an opinion based documentary.

The Stone Roses

Another question I thought of was "Is indie still indie?".
This question is similar to the other however, it would be interesting to study as indie means independent and alternative however The Smiths in the 80s were an alternative indie band who's debut album hit number 2 in the UK top 40. Also nowadays there are many indie fans. Also the idea of being indie is to be completely different and alternative but lots of people who call themselves indie follow codes and conventions such as wearing Doc Martens and denim jackets.

The Smiths

Modes of Documentary

Modes of Documentary

1. Expository documentary - Expository documentaries are more commonly seen on TV, rather than in the cinema. There are many different techniques that are used in this mode of documentary including voiceover narration, commenting on the images and explaining what is happening in a direct address to the audience. The aim of this mode of documentary is to inform the audience about an event or place with something in which they are not familiar. They usually have lots of factual information and figures. America's Most Wanted is an example of an expository documentary.

2. Observational documentary - These documentaries tend to represent a certain area of society. Techniques include long takes, hand-held shots and they usually have little or no interviews and voiceovers. Big Brother is a perfect example of an observational documentary as the audience are observing the people in the house.

3. Participatory (interactive) documentary - This is the opposite to an observational documentary as the filmmaker is foregrounded making it explicit that the film is made from their point of view. There is a lot of interaction in participatory documentaries as the filmmaker tends to want to interview people and meet other people. They actively engage with the situation they are making a film on. Living with Michael Jackson is a documentary that is interactive as the filmmaker/ journalist Louis Theroux is actively talking to people and interviewing others involved with Michael Jackson.

4. Reflexive documentary - This borrows techniques from fiction film for an emotional or subjective response. It emphasises the expressive nature of film and anti realist techniques. Voiceovers are likely to be questioning and uncertain.

5. Performative documentary - The final two modes are linked because they both investigate the relationship between the real world and the way in which documentaries are produced as representations based on the construction and manipulation of the image. The performative documentary takes this idea further, explicitly challenging the idea of documentary truth, instead emphasising the process of film language itself. Tongues Untied is an example of a performative documentary as it is not a typical documentary.

Documentary Research

--Sheila Curran Bernard, Author of Documentary Storytelling

Documentaries on music and certain bands are very popular within the documentary business as they give fans an insight to a band or artists life and their musical career.
There is a so-called 'checklist' when watching documentaries that many film makers tend to follow. 1. Interviews. 2. Storytelling techniques. This tends to mean the footage used, is it all original footage or  is there archival footage also incorporated. Also it is the narration and the editing techniques to get the footage into a logical order or an order that fits the documentary type. 3. Information sources. This focuses on whether the documentary is created to try and persuade the audience. Also whether the sources used were legitimate or not.

Initial Idea

My initial idea was to create the beginning of a documentary. I am extremely passionate about music, especially music that falls under the 'Indie' branch. My passion recently sparked an interest in the study and research of indie music and I felt that I could create a documentary on indie music and if indie really is it's true definition anymore. By this I mean are bands that are considered indie really indie because it really means that they are independent. Most artists and bands are signed to a record label which takes away their independence as they are signed to a company who tell them when to release singles and albums etc. Bands such as 'Arctic Monkeys' (circa 2003-2005) are the true definition of indie as they released their music themselves and were truly independent as they only signed a record deal to Domino Records in 2005.

Arctic Monkeys (2003 Photo: Ed Miles/NME)