Andre FirmeCase study / Documentary + community storytelling
THE HEART
OF THE LION.
At a crosswalk defined by cold mornings, rushing headlights, and strict rules, one question reveals the person behind the safety vest.
A short character-driven documentary created for Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Stories, supported by the UCLA Center for Community Schooling.The story engine
THE ENFORCER
BECOMES THE
ANCHOR.
I developed the film around Juan Ovalle—known affectionately as “9-1-Juan”—and the contrast between the visible urgency of his job and the quieter care that has sustained Jack Franscioni School for nearly 15 years.
I opened with traffic, cold mornings, and constant vigilance, then widened the portrait through observational moments and voices from staff and students. High fives, laughter, a trusted ear, and a willingness to help become the evidence: keeping children safe is only the most visible part of Juan’s impact.
“Why do you do what you do?”
That recurring question shaped the interviews and edit, carrying the film from daily duties toward motivation, memory, belonging, and a community’s gratitude.
Narrative design
A STORY BUILT
IN CONTRAST.
Find the human question
Build the film around a chorus asking one deceptively simple question: Why do you do what you do?
Create visual tension
Begin in darkness, cold, traffic, and constant vigilance—then let sunrise and connection change the emotional temperature.
Listen for the truth
Use sensory and story-based interview prompts to move beyond job duties toward memory, motivation, and meaning.
Protect the community
Plan around student privacy, consent, street safety, active duty, location sound, and a non-disruptive production footprint.
Seven-scene arc
Complete production toolkit
THE FILM
BEHIND THE FILM.
I carried the project from story development through production and post: planning the arc, protecting student privacy, recording interviews and observational footage, then shaping picture, sound, color, titles, and captions into a concise community tribute.
Story development
Platform matchmaking worksheet, logline, narrative arc, media inventory, production schedule, and risk planning.
Pre-production
A seven-scene screenplay and eight-panel storyboard mapping darkness, tension, warmth, revelation, and release.
Interview design
Tailored question guides for the pupil supervisor, educators, students, families, and other community voices.
Ethical production
A parent letter, narrator agreement, minor-participant consent language, and updated image-release documentation.
Production craft
Interviewing, observational B-roll, natural sound, cinematography, editing, sound design, color, titles, and captions.
Portfolio strategy
Credits, appreciation language, case-study structure, social cutdowns, and a place for the finished film.
The classroom roots
THE STORY
DIDN'T BEGIN
WITH A CAMERA.
My former classroom website captures the philosophy behind this project: students at the center, learning made multisensory and musical, families treated as partners, and technology used to make help easier to reach.
It also records a path through nearly every corner of school life—from aide, pupil supervisor, custodian, dispatcher, mail carrier, librarian, secretary, and music instructor to classroom teacher. That range matters here. It shaped the instinct to recognize a pupil supervisor not as background staff, but as a person whose work holds a community together.
Digital Storytelling Fellowship / California Community Schools
STORYTELLING AS
AN ACT OF NOTICE.
Narrative strategy
Community-centered interviewing
Ethical production planning
End-to-end post-production