Documentary Research/ Contextualized To Our Project: Status Quo Rock On and On

Due to the nature of our subject matter, following set of independent bands as they prepare for their gigs and the overall scene surrounding the music industry, I decided that I would look at a documentary of a similar nature.

I am particularly interested in the rock band, Status Quo. Ive known of them and have listened to their music since I was a child and have always been interested in how they worked behind the scenes, with rhythm guitarist, the late Rick Parfitt, being personal musical hero of mine. Thus I immediately searched for a documentary on them that shows them outside of their comfort zones and not usually seen by the public.

Status Quo: Rock On and On is a just over hour long documentary, following the band as they go on a large tour during the early 2000s. Immediately, the film opens with professional footage of Status Quo playing one of their gigs, showcasing each band member playing their individual instruments and also the crowd chanting clapping wildly to song being played. Then there are small cutaways to the band members backstage being interviewed individually. Their answers are often throwaway comments, making it appear as if the interviewer has just caught them at an unexpected time and don't have much to say. This presents actuality as these would be the actual responses if the bands were caught out of their comfort zones. They therefore often appear unhappy or simply do not care for what they have to say. The interviewer is seen sometimes struggling to get a proper response, with the band often bouncing her questions back to her for her to answer for herself.

Francis Rossi, the lead guitarist and singer of the group, often appears cynical about the band and its fans, commenting about how they are appreciated by 'all two of our fans'.
Rick Parfitt, rhythm guitarist, is the one who bounces back the questions and altogether does not appear to care for the interviews and sometimes doesn't bother to give any sort of coherent answer.
John Edwards, bass guitar, is the only one who appears to still enjoy himself, conveying a light hearted attitude though not fully addressing the camera at any time.

There are multiple moments of reflection captured, primarily after one of their performances. They each are convinced that the show went horribly due to the fact they thought that the sound wasn't right. We get some actuality here as the manager comes on board the bus and tries to assure them that the fans simply did not care and appeared to be having the time of their lives.

The interviewer also tackles how their popularity has deteriorated due to personal health issues and the moving of the times. I feel that this links in with our documentary significantly due to the fact that the same thing is happening to the music industry as a whole with general audiences losing interest in live band performances. Status Quo were suffering from this lack in popularity in the early 2000s, showing that the industry was already starting fall apart. This shows that the state of the industry now must be comparably worse and we are trying to tackle the subject at an even worse state than it was over 16 years ago.

This documentary was good indicator as to what we would be facing in the subject matter during modern times as opposed to back then. It also showed us how we could structure our documentary through uses of cuts between professional recording and actuality scenes. We can make sure that our interviewees are out of their own comfort zones so that their real thoughts and opinions are captured on camera.