Two University of East London students have won a prestigious British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) Award. Geoff Gaviria and Matt Gibson topped a talented field to claim the BIMA student prize for their innovative interactive online comic, Dead on Arrival, at a Gala Evening on Thursday 29 November.
The students created the comic, inspired by the 1950 film noir DOA, at UEL’s Docklands campus as a final-year project on their BA (Hons) degree in Interactive Media. Geoff is due to complete his studies in January, while Matt graduated this year with first class honours, and now works for a leading multimedia design agency.
The tricky storyline follows the fictional character David Warrington, a university lecturer who has been fatally poisoned and is now slowly dying. David isn't short of enemies, and the comic’s readers/users must help him uncover the true identity of his murderer before his impending demise. The character is in no way based on the popular UEL multimedia and computer games design lecturer David Dorrington.
This award recognizes the best use of interactivity work within digital media by a student or a team of students as part of a course project.
In their statement, the judges said: “Every year the Student Award delivers work that is full of ingenuity, creativity and sheer bloody-mindedness. This year didn't disappoint. The combination of genre-styling, classic storytelling and interactivity makes "Dead on Arrival" much more than simply an unusual and compelling 'read'.”
Geoff and Matt are still coming to terms with their success. Matt, said: “It was a great evening and a great honour to be sitting next to creative directors and designers from big names within the digital and interactive industry. To be completely honest, we were happy just to be there, let alone to be picking up an award.
“Straight after the ceremony we were congratulated by highly-respected industry figures and asked for interviews. The whole moment from when they called out our names onwards was quite surreal. We hope this is a sign of things to come and that future UEL interactive media and multimedia students can continue to show off their creativity and win awards.”
Geoff explained: “Through interactive choice interfaces, the reader can affect how the story develops by choosing which of the suspects to follow. To help readers decide, each character has a viewable profile, including a back-story to their involvement in the plot.
“Our aim was to go beyond the traditionally static, linear and paper-based medium of comics and graphic novels by incorporating a full online multimedia experience, using interactivity, sound, film, animation and graphics to create a richer and more immersive reading experience.”
Matt said: “Our tutors, and in particular our project supervisors
Tony Sampson and Grethe Mitchell, deserve a special mention for the support
and inspiration they provided throughout the project's development. The
photographic comic was mostly shot in and around UEL's Docklands campus and
'starred' both staff and students from the university."
Grethe Mitchell, their project supervisor and senior lecturer in interactive
media at UEL said: “Winning this award is a great achievement and brings
students and institutions to the attention of this important industry
sector. It was a wonderful occasion - especially seeing our students win
among strong competition!”
UEL’s BA (Hons) degree in Interactive Media and BSc (Hons) degree in Multimedia offers students the opportunity to undertake an interdisciplinary approach to their study, exploring both theory and creative practice. Key areas covered include interactivity, digitalisation, interface design, social networking and nonlinear communication.
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