Christopher Rosik wasn't quite the typical teenager. Sure, he and his friends spent time skateboarding their way around town. But most kids didn't videotape the sessions or prepare routines to perform in front of the camera.
“I always took photos of me and my friends skateboarding,” said Rosik, a 2001 graduate of South Lyon High School, “I wanted to do something where i could express myself through visuals and joked about working in children's television.”
It wasn't a joke, a passing interest, or a phase that Rosik went through. Rosik has been working for Greenestuff, Inc., a television company that produces the children's public TV show, “My Bedbugs.”
The local association for television and broadcasting didn't think it was a joke, either, when they recently presented Rosik with an Emmy Award for regional television work.
It's been a steady, measured path that brought Rosik from the television production courses offered at South Lyon High School to a professional schedule that balances work on a television series with independent film projects and time spent as a production assistant for music network VH-1 (including a gig on a Kid Rock television Christmas special). After graduating from high school, Rosik spent a year at Washtenaw Community College before enrolling for a year-long course offered by the Specs Howard School of Broadcasting.
For the past year, Rosik has been part of the 40-some member Greenestuff team, which produces “My Bedbugs,” a children's show that began airing on WTVS/PBS in June 2004. The show's debut season resulted in seven local Emmy nominations; when the awards were handed out in June, Rosik and three other camera operators took home the statue.
“It's a small company, but it plans to grow,” said Rosik, who expects to remain with Greenestuff and take advantage the show's summer hiatus. This year he's helping a friend shoot a thesis video project, and previous experiences include production experience on an independent film and work on a documentary about African-American history.
The production of a seemingly simple television show is more complicated than people think, Rosik said. As a videographer—especially in a smaller production company—Rosik is getting more hands-on, diverse experience than he otherwise might. Plans are made daily, “A lot of planning,” Rosik said, to block the actors, determine the best camera angles, choreograph the actual shots and then run the equipment. Camera shots are then evaluated by technical crew for quality and by the director for the acting.
And the joke about working in children's television? It's trickier than he thought.
“The characters are all people around my age, in their 20s, wearing these big mascot heads,” Rosik said. “It's kind of complicated for them.”
Obviously, he figured it out. All that time planning skateboarding shots carved a path to success in local television, and Rosik is uncertain where his career might go next. He's considering heading for Los Angeles to test the Hollywood waters some day, but for now is content to keep learning his chosen craft.
Rosik said his teenage obsession with capturing Images from behind a camera lens may have confused his parents occasionally, but he knew he had their support.
“At times, I'm sure my mom got fed up with it,” Rosik said. “But mom and dad always encouraged whatever I wanted to do, and made sure I followed it.”
Ellyce Field is a Metro Detroit freelance writer. You can reach her at frannyzoe@aol.com.
