How did you get into skate video production?
It must have happened in 2002, when my dear friend Tume moved to Helsinki. Before the time he and my brother had basically been the carrying strength of the Varkaus video scenery. Alrite, the film making and that definitely wasn´t my calling, more like a silently forced heritage. Somebody´s had to stick to that producing thing. That´s pretty much how their Nokias got filled and Raynox snap-on nicked.

Favourite camera and editing set up? (And why)
I use Rasta vx with Nintendo zoom for filming coz it happens to be the one I own. This zoom thing is quite a rarity; it´s fully automatic and works as fine as the Nintendo controller did after the Track and Field marathon. You get me? As for editing/animating I first started with Sony´s Pixela, but after finding out how thick the manual is I decided to dump it, and carry on with Final Cut Pro Hd, Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe After Effects.

Tell us a bit about your local scene and where you grew up (even if its the same or different place)
I was born in Varkaus, in east province of Finland to be accurate. Somehow my parents had decided to move in area where the pressure of the KGB was inevitable. Living a stone´s throw away from the KGB´s cabin has always been interesting. It´s so near that you can see and hear the police going in and coming out with a few agents every now and then. Quite a window sight hu? Damn I miss those times when you had to be afraid of agent´s size and mighty. Rusty communism sickle and hammer ha ha. Go Vartp go!
Now that I´ve mentioned Vartp I can keep the subject alive and tell you how keen I used to be on football. Damn I hated losing to Wp35. Yes, both of these letter/number combinations are names of Varkaus football clubs. Vartp was the workers/communism kind of a team and Wp-35 more for middle class citizen. It´s actually funny to look back at those days, being a little ignorant kid rockin the red Vartp commie cap haha, delightful memories.

Ooh well and let´s not forget that skateboard thing. It´s been one part of this growing up for sure. After quitting the ball kicking I managed to sneak into the same classes with Ville, and that´s how I started this rolling wood thing.
Living in Varkaus as a skateboarder has been rewarding; Lacking good spots, we simply decided to make them up by either nicking wooden substitute benches off a football field´s verge, and screwing angle irons on them or dragging huge amounts of plywood with us to build a run up for a spot. I can still picture Ville´s dad grinding the angle irons rounder with his abrasive disc. Ha ha thanks for that Kari
Coping with the winters was a whole different ball game..Too much Royal Varkaus memories to share

How would you describe your style of filming and editing?
Gory,intense,splattered and guerilla styled.

Who are your favourite video geeks and why?
I would have to mention my father coz his camerawork is so imaginative and striking that it leaves no need for editing. For eg. old man doesn´t need editing sofwares, he cuts the flick in his mind during the filming. When the tape is full, the film is finished. Pure genius

And sure I wanna give an honorable mention to Daniel Magee who has helped me more than a lot. Cheers paskapää

Who do you enjoy working with the most on video projects? (skaters and filmers)
Well basically with the dudes who I`m friends and cool with. Ville,Richey boy,Lil Pete,Pulsonator,Eesu and Magee just to name a few.. (leave Eesu out and you have a list of the Varkaus skateboarding scene)

Do you have any video hatreds? (Filming methods / editing styles etc)
Sure I have this tailor-made one: Keep it simple and don´t fuck up the shots #

Do you still skate or are you a chubby videographer?
I´d love to skate, but the snow has settled and we lost our indoor park last spring. (We need you again Unstoppable !) Yeah, I know these are just excuses. Back in a day -25c´s meant nothing,amount of snow never was discussed, and everybody ripped in the parking halls. Quite hard to fathom that today although Ville still does that, for real. Haven´t been filming either. Guess I´m on my way to that chubby part.

How hard was it to put 'KOLOMA' together and do you have any advice for other filmers?
What´s up with these questions? Yes, Kolma took ages to finish because I slacked so hard. Are you happy now Dan? I wouldn´t say it was necessarily hard, more like a state of mind.

Advice eh? Vote for democrats !! Avoid of Wedding filming promises !! Wear pads for your camera and Do not blend bowl with cowberries

What's a perfect filming day? (Spots, face, food, after skate chill details)
The day when I wouldn´t have to film. Sky is blue, ice cream melts and everybody is in good spirit. Boat starts floating to somebody´s summer house. On location mate sets the midsummer pyre on fire by scratching a match. Sun sets and homies are hardly walking,eye browns are burned and massive amounts of Karhu bottles can be found from the grass. Sausages sizzle in the wrapped folios and girls are running into the lake from sauna. Steamed and Pissed people dancing at the veranda to Matti´s & Teppo´s hits till passing out one by one.. Lovely Finnish midsummer day as it´s finest