- Nickname
- Coop
- James Cooper is known for directing David Oyelowo in the award-winning noir short "206" shot in Brooklyn, New York City.
James was born in Sydney, Australia and began his filmmaking career as visual effects assistant at Garner MacLennan Design. Here he worked as a post production assistant on feature films "Rabbit Proof Fence", "The Quiet American" (both directed by Phillip Noyce), Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and the Farscape television series. In Sydney he assisted on hundreds of television commercials, music videos, titles and indent design projects for Australian and New Zealand free to air and cable television networks. James then moved to be an assistant in the pre-vizualization department at Australia's Fox Studios on Baz Luhrmann's musical "Moulin Rouge!".
A musician as well as a filmmaker, around this time James also created a score for a friend's short film and recorded an extended play single with his band which went on to receive rotation on youth radio station Triple J. As a front man and performer in the band, James played hundreds of shows in and around the Sydney area. After completing his bachelor's degree in Visual Communications in Sydney, James spent several years in London as a record sleeve art director. He designed covers for hundreds of artists and groups including Paul McCartney and David Bowie. In London he experimented further with video and music as an art form and was hired by Universal Music to become a musical director and session musician for new groups. With Universal he toured Europe extensively as a performer. James became a creative consultant for many brands in Europe and created concepts for large scale advertising campaigns, music tours, and entertainment properties as an art director and creative technologist. James also began creating short films and distributing them online. Inspired by what the new advances in technology now allowed him to create, James then gained his certificate in filmmaking at Met Film School, Ealing Studios, London. Shortly after this he immersed himself in shooting, directing and editing an array of short web films and was subsequently signed as a director for commercials and content. He won an ICAD award in Dublin for his series of three mini-documentary films profiling Irish singer Fionn Regan for Universal Music.
James has since directed commercials, short films and content campaigns all over the world for leading brands Apple, Mercedes Benz, Disney Channel, Visit California and Adidas. James also edits much of his work and was lead editor on a Hulu mini-series 'The Driver' in 2017.
In 2018 and 2019 James was a resident screenwriter at Australians In Film at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.
Along with film James continues to write and create music. He has released several albums. In 2006, "Beautiful As You", a song he co-wrote with Tim Freedman, front man to Australian group The Whitlams appeared on the double album "Little Cloud and the Apple's Eye" distributed by Warner Music. In 2007 a new, faster version of the song was recorded by the group to be released as a single. It would go on to become a top 10 single on the ARIA Australian Artists chart. The song was performed live by The Whitlams at the Australia Day Concert broadcast nationally around Australia on January 25th, 2007. He often married his musical experience with film and works closely with composer when scoring commercials or film.
James is also an exhibiting fine artist specializing in abstract expressionism. His paintings are held in private collections in the USA and Australia and he has been selected twice by world art experts to show as part of the Other Art Fair in both Sydney and Melbourne, presented by Saatchi Art.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Harry Davis
- Designed 'The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987" album cover and sleeve.
- Co-wrote the Australian top 40 ARIA chart hit "Beautiful As You" with Tim Freedman for recording and performance by The Whitlams. The song was recorded as two versions; once, as a slower ballad for the album "Little Cloud" (2006, Warner Music Australia), and the second time as a faster version with more acoustic guitar and a horn section added. This second version was released to national radio and retail as a single on February 20, 2007 by Warner Music Australia. It was performed on live national television by The Whitlams as part of the Australia Day Live concert, January 25, 2007 and hit #7 on the Australian Singles Release Charts by ARIA.
- Designed the single cover for Paul McCartney's "Fine Line" song in 2005 off the album "Chaos & Creation in the Backyard".
- James often writes, directs, shoots, edits, and sound edits his projects.
- James was the first ever creative technologist working in Ireland at the intersection of storytelling, ideas and technology for BBDO.
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