SAUSD Communications

The Details:

My role at Santa Ana Unified School District’s Communications Team primarily focuses on the development of storytelling-driven video content for both internal and external use. I oversee all stages of production from preproduction planning and writing, to operating cameras and conducting interviews during production and producing the final edit of content in post-production. I’m not always 100% hands-on on every video project as we do have one additional Video Production Team member but since my role is the senior one, I functionally act as the director/producer of most of our video projects.

Our department works directly under the Superintendent, and I am often tasked by our Public Information Officer or Communications Coordinator to work on other visual media tasks as needed and use my graphic design experience and skills regularly, functioning as the de facto Art Director of the district.

"Framework For The Future" Animated End Card – 2025

Animated Graphic that I designed and animated using a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere Pro to highlight SAUSD’s Framework For The Future and Graduate Profile as core to the focus of our schools to reflect the goals of our new superintendent, and includes a focus on the District’s new Social Media Hashtag #DiscoverSAUSD.
Background Texture Animation and Audio Samples Sourced from MotionArray under license.

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Future Hex Logo/Branding

I developed dozens of potential designs as part of designing the updated SAUSD branding. This design was the one that was chosen by our PIO and the Superintendent. There is a full companion Style Guide with breakdowns on every element of the design and its varied applications in different media.

NSPRA and CALSPRA

Award-Winning Communications

The SAUSD Communications Team has received both national and state recognition for our Social Media Presence in recent years – mostly due to the increase in quality of our Video Productions which I have contributed to significantly. We've received 3 NSPRA Awards in 2024: including an Award of Merit for our 2023 Teacher of the Year Video Series, and Awards of Honorable Mention for our Weekly Rewind Video Series and Social Media.
We also received 3 CalSPRA awards in 2024 – Award of Excellence for our Relations with News Media, and Awards of Merit for our Weekly Rewind Video Series and Ethnic Studies Curriculum Rollout Video.
In 2023 we received 2 CalSpra Awards: We received the Award of Excellence for Social Media Campaign – Vertical Video Initiative. And an Award of Merit for Logo Design for our "Future Hex" logo.

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SAUSD Career Technical Education Provides Students With Real World Experiences – 2025, SAUSD YouTube – Directed and Edited by Nate Little. Video Contents shot by Nate Little and Andrew Flores. Stock footage of CHOC sourced from CHOC Social Media Accounts.

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Building The Future- A SAUSD Story – 2021, SAUSD YouTube – Written, Directed and Edited by Nate Little. Video shot by Nate Little, Chris Rangel, Hoan Le, Josie Amador, and Gilbert Garcia. Voiceover by Chris Yee.