Have all the films you've made revolved around Star Trek?

There were some Indiana Jones fan films as well :) They were pretty much my first movies.

How long has In the Pirkinning taken in total?

Seven years of hard work. The last years were very demanding for all of us. From 9am to midnight...So it wasn't just a random hobby. It was like a real job - without a paycheck :) It's a good thing that the social support is really good here in Finland :) I was basically unemployed during the last year of the production.

What was the budget all told over those seven years?

The budget was roughly about $12,000. Upgrading computers and software took about 90% of the budget. Operating on a zero budget really demands patience and faith in your vision. You must ask people work for free with no guarantees of any kind. The most demanding task was to find common spare time - this movie was filmed only during weekends basically, although I worked on the CGI every day!

Have you had much response around the world to "In the Pirkinning"?

Yes, there has been a huge response, which is nice of course. It's always great to receive feedback, especially when people really liked it. Our fans really praised the movie a lot but we also received positive feedback from non-sci-fi fans, which was really nice as well - many said "I usually hate all sci-fi movies, but this one was quite watchable".

What was the biggest scene you worked on?

The biggest scene was no doubt the collision scene. I had particles and debris so much that even the OpenGL preview took about 15 seconds per frame to render. It also took very long to render, about two months or so :) I really reached the limits of my PC and LightWave - if I had added one more piece of debris, it would have crashed :)

Have you had any work from Star Wreck yet?

No job offers. But the CGI industry here in Finland is very small. I started my own firm for future productions. I don't even know if there are any other 3D gurus here in Finland except me and Eki Halkka :) I might have a job to offer soon - if you're good enough :) Although modelling tasks could be handled outside Finland as well.

Now that you have the experience necessary to make a feature-length film, what's the one bit of advice you'd give to someone wanting to do the same?

Be prepared to do everything by yourself. Count on no one if you can't pay money...:) And pre-plan everything! Cut the movie before shooting (with story boards and cgi previews), like Lucas did...

Do you still watch Star Trek now?

Yes, I've seen all the episodes. But I wasn't sulking when they cancelled the show. I would have done the same probably. I think the prequel concept could have worked if it had been executed correctly but it was a rehash. It really doesn't change anything if you rename "shields" to "hull plating" etc.

What is your most-prized Star Trek memory?

I guess the first battle sequence in Star Trek II. I was crying out loud when I saw the Enterprise hit so bad :) The whole movie was very moving when I saw it back in the 80s. And still is.

Did you go through an animatics phase, or did you view your scenes in LightWave and then proceed to final rendering?

I usually started doing the final scene right away in LightWave. For more complex scenes we had story boards, like the collision scene.