[ This article features a former employee not currently associated with Aalto Studios ]
Every now and then, we’ll share a little bit about the team behind Aalto Studios. Today, we introduce you to Helena Bäckman, our producer at Aalto Studios. Helena joined us in the past year from Yle, and has been hard at work partnering with customers all over campus and beyond. Without further ado, here’s a brief interview with Helena.
What do you do at Aalto Studios?
Helena: I’m a producer and production manager. I work with audiovisual projects and events, and I manage the different resources we have available at Aalto Studios.
What brought you to Aalto Studios?
At Aalto Studios, as part of Aalto University, you have access to all forms of art and audiovisual expression, resources or equipment. Aalto Studios is open for all departments to use, and that will certainly create opportunities for some cross-production projects. The overall mindset is experimental and open to new ideas in developing the audiovisual field. I am able to put my earlier work experience to use, and I have possibilities to learn more and be more closely involved with the production of these forms.
What’s the most exciting idea, initiative or project you have going on at the moment?
Most of my ongoing projects relate to how we make lectures digital. This is accessibility to content that wasn’t earlier accessible. I’m also personally quite excited about Aalto Studios’ motion capture facilities.
What is your philosophy in life and how do you apply it to your everyday working methods?
You have to try it, at least! I think my attitude toward my job is: we have to first try it, then we will know. If it doesn’t work, what is the best workaround?
Aalto Studios, the media center of the future, goes live in 2021 and is going to have amazing facilities for film, media, VR and sound design. What would you include in the new building dedicated to media?
I really like the idea of fab labs. The first time I walked into the space, I was thinking “Who’s here to take care of this? And how do you pay for the materials? And am I allowed to touch anything?” So I would like to have something to do with media in the same attitude as fab labs. I would like to have some very, very open demo spaces, where, even if you’re 12 years old, you could walk in and experiment, for instance, with VR.
Where do you see your own work going? What might it become?
I see myself as a kind of satellite. Taking in signals of all the wishes and hopes for some kind of production, and then sending it out to get resources, and teams. I hope to figure out my optimal place in orbit.