A SELL-OUT audience attended the recent premiere of a locally-made short film ‘Mabel & Switch’, screened at Warrnambool’s Capitol Cinema and produced by former born and raised Hamilton man, Gareth Colliton.

Mr Colliton is the co-founder and producer at One Day Studios in Warrnambool, where the 15-minute pilot episode was produced, and said it was thrilling to see the film released after two years in the making.

“It was a full house on the night of the premiere and tickets sold out in a few days, with a huge waiting list,” he said.

“The five cast members were picked up in a limo and transported to the red carpet at the Cinema to line up and face the paparazzi awaiting.”

The film is the first episode of a potential four-part series, about a young girl, Mabel, played by ten-year-old Mabel Albers, who lives independently and is a young explorer and tinkerer, trying to make her way in the world after ‘The Reset’.

Mabel stumbles into an old factory, and finds an old robot, and as she is not keen on living with other people, wonders if she might be able to build herself a new friend.

“It leaves you on a cliff hanger - with a whole lot of questions about the next episode,” Mr Colliton said.

Mr Colliton said the idea to make a movie or film a series, was a collaborative effort that included One Day Studios’ students, which opened its doors in 2020.

One Day Studios is a not-for-profit organisation that provides skills and connections for students to work in the creative digital industry by offering after school programs as well as partnering with one school each term to deliver a program during school hours.

The film involved around 50 young people from south west Victoria who contributed to the script, costumes, electronics, puppets, props, sets, animations and music for the pilot episode.

“Very early on, we began talking to our students about what they would like to do,” Mr Colliton said.

“There was such a diverse range of ideas being thrown about, but we landed on science fiction.

“The very first vision we had was some sort of YouTube series but also to have a companion piece showing behind the scenes.

“It was always envisioned as a pairing, so you can also watch the making of the episode.

“It (Mabel & Switch) was a verbal idea in discussion with the students and it gradually grew and then we condensed it down into a 15-minute pilot episode.”

Mr Colliton said they conducted auditions for all the roles, mostly via video.

“Mabel (Albers) was a student at One Day Studios and also attends Warrnambool East Primary School but we had seen a lot of Mabel outside of the studio and began to see the potential in her,” he said.

“She’s definitely got the X Factor.

“Mabel’s not trained but we could see that she would come across really well on film, so we just asked her if she would be interested.

“She learnt her lines really quickly and adapted really well.”

Mr Colliton said the whole production from start to finish was a great experience for everyone involved.

“It was a lot of fun - a lot of hard work with hundreds and hundreds of hours.

“But the work - it’s kind of like my hobby at the same time - I can’t tell if I am working or playing.”

He said the studio also does a lot of work with the South West Local Learning & Employment Network Inc (SWLLEN) because they provide student work placements.

“We love showing the students the work we do,” Mr Colliton said.

“We target 15-25 year olds but we also found a strong demand from late primary school age, and we just couldn’t say no - we are opening another studio in Castlemaine in 2023.”

Mr Colliton spent his schooling years at Good Shepherd College and at Baimbridge College in Hamilton.

In 1990, when Mr Colliton was in Year 10, he was fortunate to land work experience with Peter Stubbs who was a special effects producer in film.

At the time, Peter Stubbs was working on Romper Stomper, starring Russell Crowe, including helping on the set of an infamous scene in the Footscray train station.

He then had another opportunity to work with Hollywood great, Anthony Hopkins, on the Melbourne set of another great Australian film, ‘Spotswood’ followed by a comedy called ‘Garbo’.

“That (work experience) was what inspired my interest in films, in producing films,” Mr Colliton said.

“I am an avid story lover - comic books or novels.

“Comics have a very broad range of topics - a lot of the comics I read are much more grounded in realism, but I do love science fiction.”

After school Mr Colliton moved to Warrnambool to study art at TAFE, while also working as a picture framer for a few years.

He then moved to London to work in the arts before eventually returning to Australia where he has continued to work in the industry.

Mr Colliton said Mabel & Switch was made possible by a successful Kickstarter funding campaign.

“We raised $19,000 through the Kickstarter, a crowd funding platform for creative projects,” he said.

“We had to spend a lot of money on merchandise.

“We spent about $15,000 in cash but estimate there was probably about $80,000 of in-kind contributions from people who volunteered their time - so it would be closer to a $100,000 production.”

Mr Colliton said the remaining three episodes of the four-part series were contingent upon funding and everything continuing to come together.

Mr Colliton is an accomplished painter, a self-described multidisciplinary artist who works across a diverse range of media and does a bit of freelance work for public galleries and for other arts’ organisations occasionally.

“I still exhibit in group shows once or twice a year … there are different priorities for now,” he said.