TV series for teenagers are a hit
Short TV series also available online, made by Aalto students, have found their audience in Finland and abroad.
Nörtti: Dragonslayer666 (Nerd: Dragonslayer666) and Bitwisards – nuoret gurut kyberavaruudessa (Bitwisards – Young gurus in the cyber space) are recent success stories of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. Both series are made by the students of Aalto University’s Department of Film, TV and Scenography.
"Our cooperation with the Finnish Broadcasting Company is based on work being done as a master’s thesis by our students. There are usually some Aalto University resources involved as well, such as equipment or studio space", says producer Ilkka Mertsola from Aalto University’s Department of Film, TV and Scenography.
The significance of serial narration has grown in recent years and people often watch the entire production at once. Funding has also shifted more to series production. "These short, online series are different and reach especially the much wanted young viewers with short episodes and internet as a main platform. In this case, the story is not the point, but rather the quick experiences and the short interlaced stories."
Tv-series Nörtti: Dragonslayer666 attracted more than a million viewers during its first season. It came out in October 2017 in Yle Areena and a month later in Yle TV2.
The second season starts this fall
Nörtti: Dragonslayer666 rights were recently sold to the entire French-speaking world. The second season will be released in fall 2018. The series is the artistic part of the master's thesis by Aleksi Delikouras at the Department of Film, TV and Scenography.
The protagonist is DragonSlayer666, a young computer nerd, presented by Samuel Kujala. He wants to become a professional gambling professional. The character has previously appeared on videos downloaded to YouTube since 2007, as well as in the youth books written by director scriptwriter Delikouras.
Bitwisards – nuoret gurut kyberavaruudessa series is produced jointly by Yle Draama and Aalto University. Almost the entire artistic team consists of Aalto University students: it was directed by Jarno Elonen, filmed by Hans Barck, sound designed by Ville Katajala and scened by Santtu Toivola.It is Elonen's and Toivola's master's thesis for Aalto University. All 11 parts of the series were released at Yle Areena in August 2016 and will be re-released in autumn 2018.
The series is based on Miha Rinne's comic book Matkailua pelialalla (Tourism in the gaming industry). A partially cartoon comedy tells about the early days of the Finnish game industry in the beginning of the 1990s.
For more information:
Producer Ilkka Mertsola, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, tel. +358 50 314 1543, ilkka.mertsola@aalto.fi