I'm Mohammad Tavakoli. I run Stopdown Media Inc., where I work with non-profits, universities, and researchers to turn complicated work into something a general audience can follow.
Across these projects I produce, film, record audio, edit, and build the motion graphics, and I bring on additional crew when a job calls for it. Each piece below has a short note on what the project needed and how I solved it.
Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly, Rivers and Lands Conservancy
The Delhi Sands flower-loving fly lives in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and nowhere else on earth. In 1993 it became the first fly ever listed under the Endangered Species Act. Somewhere between two and three percent of the sand dune habitat it depends on, is still intact. The rest went to development and agriculture.
I've documented this work for Rivers and Lands Conservancy in both video and photography.
The video above covers one property damaged by off-road vehicle use that the conservancy is now restoring, and walks through one of the methods they use to bring the dunes back. I edited it as a vertical Instagram reel, and made cuts to grab and hold audience attention.
Most people living near this habitat have never heard of the fly, so they have no way to weigh what happens to it. I made this piece to close that gap in two ways: explain the scientific method the conservancy uses to restore the dunes, and teach enough about the animal that the outcome means something to someone who happened upon the video, knowing nothing about it.
I created motion graphics animation to demonstrate the erosion of the dunes and the method of restoration Rivers and Land Conservancy is implementing. Animation offers a clearer pedagogical value in walking novice audiences through complex processes—it simplifies visually without losing the complexity of the problem. The processes of off-road activity damaging the land, and the restoration needed to reverse it, are both processes more clearly explained with animation than with footage. I designed the artwork in Adobe Illustrator, organized it into animatable layers, and animated the sequences in After Effects.
Education and Social Transformation, UCLA School of Education and Information Studies
UCLA was launching a new undergraduate major and needed to communicate the value of choosing a newly formed program, by presenting a well-rounded view of prospective careers paths. The problem was that "Education and Social Transformation" does not tell a seventeen year old reading a course catalog what is possible within and beyond that field of study. The series had to show the work, in exciting ways, rather than just describe it.
I produced, directed, and edited a three-part series built on interviews with current students, alumni, faculty, and staff, with motion graphics conforming to UCLA brand standards.
30 Years of RAC, UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies in Education
Dr. Daniel Solórzano’s Research Apprenticeship Course has run at UCLA for over thirty years. For its June 2024 reconvening, I delivered a short documentary on the history of the program, built around an interview with Dr. Solórzano, plus individually edited video of all six conference sessions.
I also built the page these videos are published on: https://ccrse.seis.ucla.edu/rac/
This project ran from preproduction through a live conference to seven finished videos and a web presence, and it meant coordinating with scholars from universities across the country to finalize their deliverables.
Native Bees, California Native Bee Society
Most people hear "save the bees" and picture a honeybee, which is a domesticated species that isn't in decline in the way native bees are. This piece explains the difference to a general audience, using motion graphics to show the parts that are hard to see.
It's the first completed piece in an ongoing educational series for the organization, shot and edited specifically for Instagram as a vertical piece.
Portraits and Headshots
Headshot and portrait work for professional profiles, speaker bios, faculty pages, and applications. Sessions are guided and lit for clean, flattering light on simple backgrounds, then delivered lightly retouched.