CityU graduates’ ingenious creative media ideas contribute to society

Creative media students from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) opened their Graduation Show 2007 with an exhibition of short movies, animation, photography and interactive media at MegaBox in Kowloon Bay today (20 August).

The School of Creative Media decided to hold the show off-campus this year so people in Hong Kong could experience the fun of creative media first-hand and have the chance to interact with innovative projects that combine technology and media.

These interactive features include ‘virtual fish’ which respond to a person’s position and a multi-touch table that allows visitors to create points and lines and re-size photos by touching a screen.

The theme for this year’s Graduation Show is “In[s]pirit”, meaning inspiration is within and people can transform creative ideas into art through different media channels.

Officiating at the opening today were Professor Richard Ho Yan-ki, Acting President of CityU; Professor James Moy, Dean of the School of Creative Media; Ms Charlie Young Choi-nei, a well-known local artist; and Mr Louis Yu Kwok-lit, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

“The Graduation Show illustrates the multi-faceted talents of our students, whose creations, many of which are applied in nature, contribute greatly to the creative industry of Hong Kong,” Professor Ho said.

“In fact, many of our graduates have received international awards. Recently, Neway Liu Wai-lan, a Year 2 student in the School of Creative Media, won the Distinguished Documentary Award from Reel Ideas Studio for a documentary that she and her teammates shot at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,” he said.

These students could not have achieved such a high standard of work without the stimulating learning environment created by teachers in the School of Creative Media and the cutting-edge facilities available on campus, he added.

In addition, the new Multi-media Building, which is due for completion in a few years’ time, will bolster the learning experience and facilitate the creation of more high-end projects. “The building is very functional and education-focused,” Professor Ho said.

He thanked the local creative industry for its continuing support, ideas, equipment and finance and for offering opportunities to CityU graduates. “Working together we will continue to contribute to the industry and the region,” he said.

Professor Moy said the School of Creative Media was now generally acknowledged to be one of Asia's most important media training centres. “We are proud to celebrate the achievements of this year's graduating class,” he said.

The Graduation Show is significant because it marks a major transition for the students involved as they progress from life as a student to life as a professional.

“We aspire to train a new generation of transmedia specialists, professionals who are skilled in the technology of digital media and well-versed in the art of story-telling and who can integrate a multiplicity of media forms. The creativity, range and depth of the work displayed at the Graduation Show suggest that Hong Kong will be seeing a lot more of these graduates for years to come,” Professor Moy said.

Ms Charlie Young said she was overwhelmed by the student’s enthusiasm. “Many promising new-comers have joined the movie industry in recent years and graduates from CityU’s School of Creative Media are among the very best. I wish there were more opportunities for students to display their work like this because it would add to the industry’s continuous development,” she said.

Mr Louis Yu said CityU provided an excellent environment for creative media education and was succeeding in training high-quality professionals for the industry. “CityU promotes art and culture in Hong Kong and the “Made in Hong Kong” label to the world, helping to uphold the mission of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council,” he said.

The Graduation Show was organized by students from the School of Creative Media. “We are all very excited to hold it in a shopping mall. It means we can promote our work to more people in the general public,” said Choi Chi-chung, one of the student organizers.

The 42 projects on display originated from the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Media programme; the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Creative Media programme; the Associate of Arts in Media Technology programme, and current students in SCM. A separate screening session will be held at CityU campus from 21 August to 26 August.

For details of the Graduation Show, please visit http://www.medialogue.hk/.

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Media enquiries: Zoey Tsang, Communications Office (2788 9411 or 9550 1503)