Ever since he started recording videos on the sidelines of basketball games at his high school, Television Production teacher Steve Geresy has been fascinated by filmmaking. Since discovering this passion in his sophomore year of high school, Geresy started involving himself in film production more often, including class presentations, making cable shows or working a job for the first half of his school day. Geresy was able to turn this interest into a career 27 years ago when he started teaching the TV Production program at Grosse Pointe South.
This year, Geresy is bringing his passion for TV Production to both North and South, and he is very grateful to be able to facilitate the programs at both schools.
“At South there is curiosity like ‘What do they do at North?’ and then here at North there is curiosity like ‘Well what do they do at South?’,” Geresy said. “So it’s kind of fun to bridge that gap.”
As a new teacher at North, Geresy is hoping to incorporate some new ideas into the program while building off of what was already created. He will continue progressing the program and give students and other viewers a new experience while watching.
“I’m excited to incorporate some more field recording, news stories and other different things to enhance and bring student voice out,” Geresy said.
To bring these advancements to the program, Geresy plans to make sure what he believes to be the core of TV Production doesn’t get washed away with the rapid advancement of technology.
“Technology changes,” Geresy said. “When it comes to the skills, TV Production is nothing more than storytelling. We’re always kind of evolving with [technology], but the one thing that doesn’t change is a good story, and that’s the key right there.”
Using good storytelling, Geresy hopes to improve upon what TV Production students create and to start using video to cover topics in unique ways, connecting more to what he believes is one of the most important components of media — the people.
“I think the future is really kind of looking at: ‘How do we take an event that we are covering and use all the different ways to incorporate our video in it?,’” Geresy said. “People want to be seen, people want to be heard and I think that’s going to be the direction that we take.”
Q & A
Favorite movie series: Back to the Future trilogy
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite animal: His dog, Winnie
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite music artist: Huey Lewis and the News
Favorite book series: Harry Potter series
Dream vacation: Visiting family members’ hometowns
Hobbies: Researching family history