Mark Cooper here with my new blog- which I've set up to serve as a kind of portfolio of all the creative and media type works that I've been a part of- or been in charge of- over the years. My work can be found across the web, and on many different websites, and because of that, it can get a little confusing as to where certain work can be found. Therefore, I'm making this blog to store everything in one place.
So at this point, you might be asking yourself- Who is this guy?
Well, as I said- my name is Mark Cooper. I'm a 20 something student from Nottingham in the East Midlands, and at the time of writing this, I'm currently attending University where I'm taking a Television Production course. I've always loved being creative, and I've always found myself pushing more towards subjective subjects like Art and Drama, as opposed to the more academic subjects like Maths and Science.
Even from a young age, I adored creative writing, and whilst the majority of my friends would spend their time picking their noses, playing Nintendo and generally messing around outside, I would often lock myself away with nothing more than a notepad and some pens. From there i'd find myself writing, drawing, doodling, and even creating scripts. I actually wrote my first (and admittedly terrible) script when I was about 7 years old. Achievement Unlocked.
I'd create my own worlds through my writings, and would use the stories I wrote as a form of escapism. Something I always wanted to do was make films, but since I came from a single parent family with hardly any money, we didn't really have the disposable income needed to purchase a video camera (or the tapes required. Tapes? Hey, it was the 90s.)
Something we did have though was an old tape recorder and player, and this was something I was allowed to use. As a result I found myself creating my own Audiobooks, based on the stories I wrote.
Although I was just a little kid, and to me I was just having fun, I was actually unknowingly teaching myself valuable creative techniques. How could I get a sense of setting and atmosphere across without visual aid? How could I use foley and soundtrack to create something more than just me speaking into a recorder?
I had a massive amount of fun experimenting with this tape recorder, and I look back at these points of my childhood with the fondest memories. It also allowed me to go wild with my imagination, and ultimately opened the door for more creative experiences which I would have later in life with other forms of media, and allowed me to get to where I am today.
So what do I do now?
Well, right now I have a skillset that I truly believe is incredibly unique. A lot of the people I have spoken to in the many areas of the media industry are focused purely on their own section of the media, and often cannot- or choose not to deviate outside of their respective areas, either because they aren't comfortable with doing so, or because they are so skilled and successful at what they already do that there is no need for them to try other things, or go into other areas.
I'm quite the opposite. Having come from a background and area where there weren't many opportunities for me, I choose to take advantage of the ones that I currently have. As such, I've developed skills within the following areas;
- Acting.
- Pre-Production.
- Post-Production.
- Script-Writing.
- Story-Boarding.
- Graphic Designing.
- Voice-Acting.
- Fine Art.
- Video Editing.
- Project Pitching.
...and many more skills which I am continuously adding to whenever I get the chance. The plan is to become a "Swiss-army knife" of creativity (love that term), being able to effectively operate as a one man production team, which I hope will allow me to always have a place in the media industry.
So now you have a bit of an idea about who I am, I hope you'll follow my work and see where it takes me! I'll also be posting retrospect work that I have created in the past so that you can see how my work has developed over the years.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll check back often!
-Mark
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