Ernest Lawson @ Savoy
31.12.2024 13:17
What do you get when you combine stand-up, music and a truly grande jazz orchestra? Well, you can’t help but smile! Erkku’s new venture combines humour and music, and works like a charm. Producer Elias Merenko says it was great to be able to realise Erkku’s vision and make it fit for TV:
“We’ve done a lot of other things with Erkku so it was easy to jump in. In the production itself, I was most interested in a new approach to the stand-up genre and combining music with it. The involvement of the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and other artists took the production planning needs to another level“, says Merenko.

Veikko Ruuskanen, a multi-camera director with a background in music, was excited about the new production method:
“With Livetek, we were able to implement a system that combines the best of broadcast production and single-camera production. The same functions familiar from live broadcasts were available, but the video was recorded in log format, allowing flexibility in grading. We also recorded the dress rehearsal separately from different camera positions to get better coverage of the band.“


“Elias is a great guy to work with. As a director myself, I’m mostly concerned in the end result in terms of video and audio, and Elias often takes care of almost all the practical arrangements. We did the preliminary research together and in record time we were able to outline the majority of the production needs, from parking to camera locations, schedules and logistics. Erkku handled all the content production, leaving us to handle the TV needs. A successful pre-production is as important to us as the end result; when the practicalities are taken care of, you can solely focus on creativity. This allows all parties to deliver the best.“, Ruuskanen sums up.
The program also ended up with an opening sequence created by Toast’s AI department, which after much testing ended up using the new LoRA model. Kari Mankinen from Toastr AI explains:
“In the title sequence, the goal was for Erkku to run around the world in 30 seconds. We filmed Erkku in front of a green screen, and some shots of the real Erkku were used in the final production. In the end, however, almost all scenes were realised using the LoRA model.
The LoRA model was trained with about 25 still images of Erkku, which allowed us to place him in any environment. With this technique, we brought still images to life – and perhaps made Finnish TV history in the process. This might be the first opening title made using this method.”, tells Mankinen.
Toast has long been involved in productions ranging from smaller studio productions to giant-scale projects. We have great flexibility to be where we’re needed, sometimes as co-producers, sometimes in post-production or, if necessary, we deliver a full turn-key service, as in this case.
“The choice of Toast as the production company was obvious as both the director and the best post-production expertise in Finland can be found under the same roof. I think Toast is a good home for programmes and creators,“, says producer Elias Merenko.