Brad Gyori

Dr Brad Gyori

  • Principal Academic in Digital Story Telling (Broadcast)
  • Weymouth House W444, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

Dr Bradford Gyori is a Principal Academic in Digital Storytelling at Bournemouth University. The program leader for the MA in Creative Writing and Publishing, Gyori has worked as a writer-producer for such networks as MTV, VH1, E!, FX and HBO online. He was the head writer of the Emmy winning series Talk Soup. His scholarly articles have appeared in The Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journalism, Interactive Storytelling, and others. His short fiction has appeared in The Mystery Tribune, Museums Journal and others. His practice-led projects include the location-aware story Shelley’s Heart and the immersive audio play Mr. Illusion. He leads various outreach initiatives including ComMent men’s writing workshops, Rising Voices showcase for BIPOC writers, Allies in Action intersectional storytelling scheme, DISC interactive storytelling project with young offenders, and Memory Markers, an initiative seeking to improve socialisation for people living with dementia via AI enhanced creative collaboration...

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Research

I study how new media stories work by creating them. My practice-based research includes elements that are interactive, multi-media, transmedia and location-aware. I am particularly interested in how different virtual and physical contexts influence User Experience (UX), narrative enjoyment, retention and comprehension.

I am a Practice Led Researcher. I make stories in order to understand how stories work. Key characteristics...

• Social – influenced by the crowd

• Interactive – influenced by the individual

• Locative – influenced by the context of engagement

• Multi-Modal – influenced various mediums and platforms

The research questions I explore are…

1. How does merging contexts of engagement (physical, theatrical and virtual) influence User Experience?

2. What designs best promote associative learning?

3. How do the poetics of path and place influence narrative pleasures and meanings?

My current project, Shelley’s Heart, involves collaborations with students and staff from diverse disciplines including creative writing, game design, animation, and filmmaking. I have also teamed up with industry professionals, including local actors, web designers and sound designers. Shelley’s Heart centres on two local heritage sites (St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth and The Shelley Theatre in Boscombe). It has been awarded funding from the Bournemouth Borough Council and Bournemouth University.

In November of 2018, I directed a staged production of Shelley’s Heart at the Shelley Theatre. Elaborating on multi-media assets from this production, our team is now creating an interactive location-aware story experience. This iteration of Shelley’s Heart will be unveiled on October 31st 2018 (Halloween) to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The project debut coincides with an academic conference host by AUB and the launch of the annual Shelley Frankenstein Festival...

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From 2015-2020, Dr Brad Gyori designed the Shelley's Heart Transmedia Learning Experience. Its research aim: promoting cultural education across multiple media platforms.

Tying the Shelley Tomb in Bournemouth to the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein (2018), Gyori secured £12,000 in funding. He then investigated the mechanics of interactive education tools and read biographies of Mary Shelley and the Romantics. Via an Action Research methodology, prototypes and user tests were developed and best practices were identified across three platforms:

Theatrical (2017) – An interactive stage version presented in the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe took two hours to perform but contained six hours of available material. To keep the budget reasonable, Gyori filmed eight ghostly characters who appeared on screens around the stage and interacted with three live actors. During the first performance, the audience voted to skip key scenes, so the voting mechanic was subsequently altered to limit such choices.

Locative (2018) – Creating a locative story set in St. Peter’s churchyard meant shifting to a single-player interface, so Gyori split the story into four paths, each representing the perspective of a different character. As location-aware narratives requires participant to hike trails and brave harsh weather, he reduced the number of scenes per path (from 15 to 10) and their length (from 3 minutes to 1). Participants at the debut requested more narrative context, so an introductory text was added...

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Journal Articles

Chapters

  • Gyori, B., 2018. Creating Kismet: What artists can teach academics about serendipity. In: Goggin, M. and Goggin, P., eds. Serendipity in Rhetoric, Writing, and Literacy Research. University Press of Colorado, 246-256.
  • Gyori, B., 2015. Britain's Got Tories: Yank Scholar on U.K. Lifestyle Politics. In: Jackson, D.A.N. and Thorsen, E., eds. UK Election Analysis 2015: Media, Voters and the Campaign: Early reflections from UK leading academics. Bournemouth University: Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, 87.

Conferences

Reports

Internet Publications

Others

PhD Students

  • Michael Gaines. ‘God of Mischief: An investigation into the adaptation and appropriation of ‘Loki’ within narrative media.’, (In progress)
  • Jayne Rowney. Spectatorship and Morbid Curiosity in Domestic Psychological Fiction: Metacognition, self-perception and self-representation in domestic noir. A practice-led project., (In progress)
  • Richard Waring. “Negotiating artistic identities through sonic art co-creation between students and tutor", (In progress)

Invited Lectures

  • Storytelling Fundamentals for Documentary Films, BU's Talbot Campus, 14 Mar 2018 more
  • Transmedia Writing Workshop, BU's Talbot Campus, 19 Oct 2017 more
  • Welcome to BAMMJ at BU, BU's Talbot campus, 13 Sep 2017 more
  • Storytelling Fundamentals for Documentary Films, BU's Talbot Campus, 15 Mar 2017 more
  • Transmedia Writing Workshop, BU's Talbot Campus, 15 Mar 2017 more
  • Digital Rituals, BU's Talbot Campus, 20 Oct 2016 more
  • Transmedia Writing Workshop, BU's Talbot Campus, 20 Oct 2016 more
  • Welcome to BAMMJ at BU, BU's Talbot Campus, 14 Sep 2016 more
  • Transmedia Writing Workshop, BU's Talbot Campus, 22 Mar 2016 more
  • Storytelling Fundamentals for Documentary Films, BU's Talbot Campus, 16 Mar 2016 more
  • Digital Rituals, BU's Talbot Campus, 22 Oct 2015 more
  • Transmedia Writing Workshop, BU's Talbot Campus, 14 Oct 2015 more
  • Welcome to BAMMJ at BU, BU's Talbot campus, 17 Sep 2015 more
  • Documentary Storytelling Fundamentals, BU's Talbot campus, 11 Mar 2015 more
  • Writing Political Comedy, Bournemouth University, 04 Feb 2015 more

Grants

  • Picturing and voicing responsible online gambling (Economic and Social Research Council, 11 Sep 2020). Completed
  • Shelley's Heart Location-Aware Story (Bournemouth Borough Council, 08 Jun 2018). Awarded
  • Shelley's Heart Location-Aware Story (BU QR Fund, 12 May 2018). Awarded
  • Shelley's Heart Location-Aware Story (BU QR Fund, 12 May 2018). Awarded
  • Shelley's Heart Location-Aware Story (TREF, 17 Jun 2017). Awarded

Internal Responsibilities

  • Chair/assessor, Undergraduate research conference SURE 2022
  • Features and Online 2 Level Tutor, BAMMJ
  • Broadcast Journalism 2 Unit Tutor, BAMMJ
  • Level 5 Tutor, BAMMJ

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • Celebration of Humanities talk (21 Jun 2022)
  • I Am Writing Festival, Winchester (12 Jun 2022)
  • Winchester Writers Festival (18 Jun 2021-20 Jun 2021)
  • Shelley's Heart (31 Oct 2018)
  • Gaming Group Genius (16 Jun 2018)
  • Interactive Digital Storytelling Community Outreach

Conference Presentations

  • NAWE Conference, Locating Shelley’s Heart, 08 Nov 2019, York
  • NAWE, Two Digital Writing Projects in Secondary Schools, 08 Nov 2019, York
  • MIX, Digital Storytelling in the Community, 10 Jul 2017, Bath Spa
  • MIX, Gaming Group Genius: Workshop, 10 Jul 2017, Bath Spa
  • English and Shared Futures, Reanimating the Romantics: Bringing Shelley’s Heart Back to Life, 05 Jul 2017, Newcastle Civic Centre
  • MeCCSA Annual Conference 2017, BU Innovation Booth at MeCCSA 2017: Turn your research into resources for social change, 11 Jan 2017, Leeds University
  • IFLab Code Booster, Target BACRIM, 01 Nov 2016, Leipzig, German
  • AoIR (The Association of Internet Researchers), data-storytelling workshop, 05 Oct 2016, Berlin, Germany
  • IFLab Design Booster, Target BACRIM, 16 Aug 2016, Malmo, Sweden
  • IFLab. Story Booster, Target BACRIM workshop, 10 May 2016, Leuven, Belgium
  • ICIDS (The International Conference of Interactive Digital Storytelling, Target BACRIM: Blurring Fact and Fiction to Create an Interactive Documentary Game, 01 Dec 2015, Denmark at Aalborg University’s campus in central Copenhagen
  • MES (Media Education Summit), POV X 3, 20 Nov 2015, Boston, Emerson University
  • Communication Media Managers Association (CMMA), 20 Nov 2014, Pasadena, CA

Honours

  • Finalist, Dramatic Screenplay: Mystic Hour (Austin Film Festival, 2005)
  • Semi-finalist: Variations on a Dream (Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, 2004)
  • Gold Medal, Dramatic Screenplay: Variations on a Dream (Houston Worldfest, 2003)
  • Nomination, Best Special Class Writing: Talk Soup (Emmy Awards, 1997)
  • Best Special Class Writing: Talk Soup (Emmy Awards, 1996)
  • Nomination, Best Special Class Programming: Talk Soup (Emmy Awards, 1996)
  • Best Special Class Programming: Talk Soup (Emmy Awards, 1995)
  • Best Special Class Writing: Talk Soup (Emmy Awards, 1995)

Memberships

  • This is the website promoting my location-aware story experience, educational tool and practice-led research project, Shelley's Heart., https://www.shelleysheart.com/