In the last summer, I started my internship as a marketing intern at Tuotanto Filmi Katse Oy for its film production Muistojeni Kahvila. For me, this internship offered a rare opportunity to be part of a film production and closely observe the seemingly mysterious film industry.

During the six-month internship, my tasks differed in the pre-production, production and post-production stages. At the beginning of the internship, understanding the ‘product’—i.e., the film—was the priority. I therefore engaged myself in reading the film script while brainstorming the potential marketing strategies for the film. During the actual filming, I was assisting the communication specialist to take photos and short videos, and to create corresponding content for the film’s social media account (mostly the Instagram account: @muistojenikahvila). My role as a marketing intern ended with a marketing plan specifically for the Chinese market.

What I had experienced in the internship was, of course, more than that: organising catering to satisfy the stomach of everyone in the production team during filming, and even making my big screen ‘DEBUT’. Through active participation in the entire process of film production, I not only had a better understanding of the film, which helped the subsequent development of marketing strategies, but also knew how a film is actually “produced”—it definitely requires efforts and coordination among all players in the production, including the director, actors, cinemaphotographers, sound engineers, costumers, make-up artists, set designers, and so on.

I always find film industry interesting yet difficult to grasp its operations in reality. I therefore felt lucky to work in Tuotanto Filmi Katse Oy as a marketing intern to gain relevant knowledge and experience. At the same time, working in the film production company offered great networking opportunities in the fields of fashion, photography and (interior) design, for instance. Now the film is approaching the end of post editing. I am looking forward to seeing the film and its performance in different markets.

Written by Wei-Hsin Eugenia Lin
Editor: Trang Dang