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| The founders of Wacky Tie Films, Mikko Helmanen, Jussi Sandhu and Ville Hakonen with their stylish ties. |
On Monday morning, there’s a class full of fourth year students during the course “Documentation and Reporting of Bachelor's Thesis”. Some of these students still aren’t sure what to write their thesis work on, even if the teachers first asked us about it during our first year of studies.
The thesis project of me and four others was filmed on week 41 and is being edited as we speak. It appears the film will turn out good, and the headline of my thesis work is becoming clear to me, as well. However, what’s waiting after school makes me insecure at times – graduation is just over six months away, and I hear that jobs are hard to find. One can’t help but wonder, how did the other graduates do before me?
When I came to TTVO in the autumn on 2009 I soon got more involved with the students two years ahead of me, the class of 2007. From those mutual projects I got, not only good movies, but irreplaceable friendships and awesome co-workers. I wish I could always work with such a crew, in which people get along and they understand each other. I ended up spending most of my time with these guys, inside and outside the school walls.
Now most of my friends of class 2007 have graduated. Some are working in the industry. Others find it very difficult to get a job according to their education, and so they plan ahead on their following projects and take on other work in the meanwhile. Then there are those who have decided to employ themselves. For example Miro Laiho, sound student of 2007, graduated in the autumn of 2011 and in June of 2012 founded Time Films Oy (http://www.timefilms.fi/) – a production company and freelance filmmaker’s agency in Helsinki. Some of the company shareholders are TTVO graduates as well.
For me, it’s been especially inspirational to follow closely the birth of a brand new production company here in Tampere: Wacky Tie Films (http://www.wackytie.fi/). The company specializes in post production phase and their goal is to bring some culture of film making from the capital city to the Tampere Region.
The company was founded in September 2012 by three good friends: editing graduates Ville Hakonen and Jussi Sandhu, and a media producing graduate Mikko Helmanen. The three made two short films together during their time at TTVO, and they found themselves to make such a great team, that they decided to continue down that road.
“Both the weakness and strength of TTVO lie in its project-based learning. The most we learned during school was from each other”, Jussi Sandhu says.
It was a genuine pleasure to watch Ville, Jussi and Mikko work together during school, and now in their daily work with the company, I can see the same spirit of pulling the same rope and having laughs together. Being an entrepreneur can be extremely stressful, but when you have two of your closest friends in the same boat with you, the journey will sure be more fun.
Wacky Tie Films is a fine example of what TTVO has to offer at its best: an opportunity to find the people who you want to work with for the rest of your life. If, in addition to that, you find some patience and will to bring something new to the table in this industry, you will be alright.
Hopefully each and every one of us can take that with us from this school.
Text and photo: Salla Lehtikangas.
The writer is a fourth and final year student in the Degree Programme in Film and Television.
