CREATIVE VIDEO PRODUCTION

Film & Video Production: Why Filmmakers Should Care About Stories

“True storytelling activates things within yourself that you didn’t know existed,” says Pedro Cohen, director of the Digital Film & Video Production campus program at Orlando’s F.I.R.S.T. Institute. “So much of who we are is shaped by storytelling.”

Pedro’s passion for storytelling has carried him across several continents. As a filmmaker he has studied and worked in Venezuela, Spain and the U.S. He moved to Orlando in December of 2018. “When you’ve had first-hand experience with several different cultures,” he explains, “you start to notice that a lot of the behavior in a society as a whole comes down to the stories the culture is built around.”

Despite being a talented actor and cinematographer, Pedro considers himself a storyteller first. That’s because, in his words, “cinematography and sound design can make you feel things, but storytelling can make you take action.” Pedro hopes that by sharing certain stories with his students at F.I.R.S.T. Institute, they will be motivated to act on their passions and convictions. After all, he says, “a great story can change a life.”

Although Pedro has worked on an impressive list of feature films, documentaries, short films, music videos, and commercials, he considers the work he is doing for the students at F.I.R.S.T. to be the most important of his career.