Mark Patterson

Background

About Mark Patterson

Director, Filmmaker, Camera Operator, CGI/VFX artist and teacher, I began my career in 2004 as a 3D modeller, freelance animator and compositor before moving into editing, camera work and directing. In the early years of my career I qualified in teaching and taught BTEC National Diplomas and BA Hons in Games Development and Film and TV production. Until November 2018 I spent six years running the Aspire Film Unit, responsible for creating the vast majority of recent British Army training films. I was department and project manager responsible for running 10-20 simultaneous film or animation projects at any one time which often took us filming overseas. I ran the delivery aspect of a major Army initiative called ‘Bringing Doctrine To Life’ also known as ‘BDTL’. Over 16 hours of BDTL high quality training films were output through the Aspire Film Unit under my management along with hundreds of hours of presentations, talking heads and promotional material. On set I took up the role as Film Director and directed multiple big budget shoots including the use of military personnel and equipment, hired armoured vehicles, film armourers, large numbers of extras, practical effects such as explosions and squibs while working under tight time and budget constraints and sometimes in adverse conditions. Most recently I was the Film Director responsible for creating all big screen content for the 2018 Land Combat Power Visit on behalf of the British Army. I left Aspire in October 2018 to pursue new creative, technical and personal challenges which led me to becoming Creative Director for Services To Film Productions alongside frequent work as a variable hours lecturer and a freelance Filmmaker. In October 2019 I took on the position of CGI Editor for Sandstorm Films. I predominantly work in Post-Production however I also work in Production as a hybrid member of the team. Sandstorm Films creates exceptional high quality media content, they have excellent facilities, high end equipment and they have a brilliant team and I'm really enjoying being a part of it.