Mark Totti is a bilingual (English/French) Canadian location sound-recordist. He is based in Ottawa and is willing to travel. He was heavily influenced by the Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004-2005 and was drawn to the idea of experiencing events of that magnitude first-hand. Connecting his interests in global issues, culture and nature with his previous experiences in digital and analog sound-synthesis, photography, and digital video and editing he realized that the television production industry encompassed the range of interests he had already explored as well as those he wanted to explore further. In 2006, he enrolled in the Algonquin College Television Broadcasting program in Ottawa, and by the end of his first year he was crewed by various production companies and broadcasters as a production assistant, grip, photographer and camera operator. After focusing much of his time and education on camera work and editing he graduated from the program in 2008 as the recipient of the Student of the Year Award and has been working consistently ever since.
Out of school, Mark was hired as a boom operator and audio assistant for a five week tour of the Gaspé Peninsula where he worked with a large group of cast and crew in challenging natural environments. Later, he began working as a camera operator for entertainment and political events, and as a boom operator, sound recordist and photographer on a variety of French language television and film productions both in studio and throughout various parts of Ontario, Québec, Newfoundland, and notably, as a sound recordist travelling by boat, raft, foot and car through the wilderness and towns of the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska. In 2011, Mark relocated to Toronto to explore new opportunities and experiences and quickly began capturing sound and images while working and volunteering on a number of projects in the documentary community, a feature length horror movie, various television series, interviews, lectures and special events, as well as his own personal projects and experiments. Mark also attended Ryerson University for continuing education courses in Visual Studies and Sociology.
Mark spends his time looking curiously into the social mass, often from the periphery. While working in location sound he has come to recognize that the process of capturing audio effectively, in many ways parallels how he conducts himself in day to day life – again, as an observer looking in from the periphery – resulting in a very natural and fluid approach to his work. Mark has chosen to specialize in sound but continues to remain active with video and photography work and experimentation. As a sound recordist with camera experience Mark is cognizant of the camera operator and his or her work and understands the technical elements of the camera itself, making him a versatile and valuable member of the production crew.
Aware of how invasive the presence of television and film productions can be, Mark enters into the lives and environments of others respectfully and as inconspicuously as possible, while connecting with co-workers and subjects personally and openly, and conducting the technical nature of his work in a calm and professional manner.
Versatile and mobile, and with a wide range of practical skills and experiences, a strong and respectful work ethic and his own equipment Mark is prepared to provide professional quality audio for your documentary, film, and television productions, and is available to work along-side other sound recordists as a boom operator and audio assistant. He is also available to provide camera work for interviews, lectures and events, cinema vérité, b-roll, and behind-the-scenes footage.
