Kyle Cooper is an American designer known for his main title sequence work. He has produced and directed over 350 visual effects and title sequences for motion pictures and broadcast. Early life Childhood Cooper was born on a Friday the 13th in Salem, Massachusetts. As a child, Cooper spent his days obsessed with sketching monsters. He was also fascinated by comic books, monster makeup books, and horror movies. Cooper stated in an interview with Revert to Saved that he had always wanted to be a film director, “I’ve always been interested in film and editing—more specifically, the juxtaposition of images in film or on a single page. However, I felt it more comprehensive to tell stories over time. Print design can provide great single moments, but I wanted to work with a sequence that had a beginning, middle and end". Education When it came time for Cooper to go to college, he attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studying interior architecture. While on the brink of failing, he convinced his professor to let him pass by making a promise -- that he would never actually work as an interior designer. Cooper then went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in graphic design at Yale University in 1988. He studied independently with renowned American modernist Paul Rand during his time there. Cooper wrote his thesis on director Sergei Eisenstein, and was awarded the Mohawk Paper Traveling Fellowship to complete his thesis research in the then Soviet Union. Career Early work After graduating with his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art, Cooper went on to work at R/GA (then known as R/Greenberg Associates) from 1988 to 1996, first in New York City and then Los Angeles. During this period, Cooper created the title sequence for the 1995 American crime film Seven (1995 film), a seminal work which received critical acclaim and is credited for inspiring a number of younger designers for years to come. According to Cooper, at the time he made the title sequence for Seven, main title sequences were behind what was happening in print, music videos, and commercials. Cooper has stated he aimed to create main titles that would raise the bar creatively for future title sequences. Founded companies In 1996, Cooper founded Imaginary Forces with Peter Frankfurt and Chip Houghton. Imaginary Forces went on to become one of the most successful creative agencies in Hollywood