As whole, the Bottle Rocket members collaborated quite well with one another. The experience of us giving each other constructive feedback was really beneficial. We were able to be frank with each other as well if need be, in what could work in terms of writing, filming, framing etc. and also what may not have been able to work. On the days of shooting, we worked together quite closely making sure that we were all involved in getting the production made to a high quality.

In the writing process and pre production stages, we divided up duties of the production fairly equally. Jess had the idea for Liam, the unlucky in love Ticket inspector, and eventually when the idea came that our final prototype would be a mockumentary genre TV pilot, Steph, David and I all had divided writing responsibilities for the other characters that eventually turned into Martin and Valentina. Also, seeing as it was a mockumentary pilot, Ashton was active in creating a title sequence which would include composing music, taking images of Melbourne and setting the tone for our pilot prototype. So, from the get go, we had a level of division that was pretty equal. Along the way, it remained equal. Throughout production this pretty much was the standard, and, if my memory is accurate, we agreed that we each have a role to play on the day of filming. As whole, we all had individual roles that we divided amongst ourselves. We trusted each other to create our own separate elements of the pre production like scripts, opening title music etc.

There were a few things that popped up along the way though that required a little extra effort from individual members more than others. Jess’ script required low-risk filming at a tram stop exterior, and that required her to get on to Yarra Trams and try to consult with them about obtaining a permit. That eventually didn’t work it. Similarly, I spent a few hours of one afternoon getting a low risk permit for filming in Carlton, which did get a little bit stressful when the request got really close to not being considered as City of Melbourne council were closing up for the day really soon. But that is just the byproduct of trying to make an ethical and efficient project, you have to get over annoying things.

It ended being fairly even in roles all throughout, but a big shout out is needed to be given to Stef Macarthy. (I think I’ve spelt her name a little bit wrong) Anyway, she volunteered the use of her house as a filming location, and due to her close proximity to the edit suites, she in the end was the editor of both clips. I suppose it was difficult to get duties be split as evenly when the semester started to get really busy and our schedules didn’t align as well as we thought it would, so I think it’s fair to say Steph ended up doing the most for the group. But as a whole, during the consults we had along the way, we really had really decent ideas that we shared, we were all active in contributing ideas, as well as contributing ideas and giving each other updates on Facebook.

All in all, it went very smoothly.