SFTV Students Partner with LAPD for Public Safety Videos

LMU SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION | With Loyola Marymount University’s close proximity to Hollywood, having a top-ranked film school seems to be a no-brainer. So, when the LAPD Pacific Division was looking to produce a series of videos on public safety, they knew just where to turn.

The Pacific Division, serving the communities of Mar Vista, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, and Westchester, reached out to the students of the School of Film and Television for help with the project, and the students were happy to take the reins.

Over the summer, SFTV students and staff met regularly with LAPD representatives as their vision took shape. “LAPD gave us full creative freedom over the videos,” said Brandon Estrella, a third-year graduate student at SFTV who served as co-writer and director. “They had a list of topics they wanted to cover, and shared a few anecdotes. We used those stories and some personal experience to come up with the four concepts,” including unattended property, leaving valuables visible in cars, aggravated assault, and burglary.

“Our goal when creating the videos was to make sure they weren’t the typical dry, heavy sort of thing you usually see, but to make them as entertaining as we could while still being informational,” added co-writer and director of photography Dominic Arcelin, M.F.A. ’20.

With Ken Ornstein, SFTV head of production, serving as executive producer, the students wrote, produced, and directed the six-minute video, which will be shared on LAPD’s channels as a series of public safety videos for the community.

“After we put together the first cut, we sent it to LAPD for notes,” shared Estrella. “I was so worried about what they would say, and they said that we blew their expectations away. We have an amazing staff here at SFTV, and I feel so honored to have worked with them on this project. I hope we are able to do more of these collaborations with other agencies and organizations [in the future].”

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