General News
23 December, 2023
Students light up the city
HAVE you seen Bruce Willis saving a Christmas elf on top of the Fletcher Jones Silver Ball?
One Day Studios has teamed up with the Warrnambool City Council to brighten up the CBD this festive season with a series of Christmas-themed projections, including a local take on what some consider to be a classic Christmas film - Die Hard.
About 20 One Day Studios students worked on a series of stop-motion animations which are being beamed onto iconic buildings throughout December.
One Day Studios co-founder Gareth Colliton said the students had a lot of creative licence when coming up with their animations, with Spiderman and gremlins featuring alongside more traditional Christmas characters like Santa Claus, with a few Warrnambool icons included too.
“John McClane is the hero of Christmas, right? Any Christmas movies we thought were fair game. But also Warrnambool’s classic characters, penguins, maremmas, whales,” he said.
“Last year looking at the projections that were already really spectacular, we were thinking of how we could make them more locally focused.
“The students were making stop motion videos this year so we thought we’d pitch it to council and see if they liked the idea.
“The projectors are amazing. Everyone loves a good light show.”
One Day Studios student Kai Barclay, 12, said he was excited to see his creation on public display and he had a lot of fun making it.
“It was fun checking how it would build up and seeing it get better and better,” he said.
“The hardest part was when you were moving them and if they fell apart, then you’d have to stick them back together and re-set up the scene exactly like it was.
“It took roughly three hours. It’s pretty short but I’m pretty proud of it.”
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said he was delighted with how the city centre is looking ahead of Christmas.
“How good does the CBD look? There are so many different elements that come together to make the place look so festive and fun,” he said.
“The One Day Studios students have done an awesome job with their animations, and council is proud to play a part in helping them to reach a wider audience.
“Thank you once again to the Victorian Government for funding these projectors via the Safe Outdoor Activation Fund.
“These projectors are the gift that keeps on giving.
“This is the second Christmas that we’ve been able to use them to add to the vibrancy of our city centre in the lead up to Christmas, and we were also able to make use of them for our Solstice event in the Botanic Gardens.
“Because they’re council-owned and portable, there’s a lot of flexibility on how we use them, so we’re open to any businesses who might like to host a projection in the future.”
