A documentary TV series is published about the everyday life of three adult tutors in eastern Finland, who are now surrounded by machines. The series, which will be broadcast on Yle Arena next week, will star Timo Juvonen as YouTube’s Metsa Man.
Small farmhouse at the end of a sandy road, surrounded by fields and woods.
Juvonen, 54, is a professional broadcaster. The videos on his “Metsa Man” channel are mostly made here, in the yard of a small forest farm in Tuusniemi. Juvonen tubetes from deep in the Savon korve, and it interests large audiences.
Metsa Man has almost 48 000 subscribers on YouTube. The channel was born when Juvonen wanted to make a model video of a mini digger for the video service and decided to make the video himself.
– Originally, I thought about conquering the world when I started tube about ten years ago. But nothing came of it since I don’t know English. That’s why I came back to the Savo dialect, says Juvonen at his homestead.
Juvonen’s videos tell about forest work, repairing machines, cats and life in the countryside. Videos have been remixed on Tiktok. Juvonen has made some Tiktok videos in addition to YouTube himself.
– You can’t script these in the middle of forest work. The camera goes with you at work. A lot of working hours can be wasted on these videos.
From burnout to entrepreneurship
For Juvos, making videos was initially a hobby, but at the beginning of the year, tubbing finally became his main job.
Juvonen was working as a product manufacturer at Berner’s Heinävesi factory, but quit due to burnout. He had dabbled in it before at the same time tubing, was a full-time employee and also did forest work.
– Burnout forced me to rethink things. I have openly talked about it, as well as bullying at school and workplace bullying. Every time you dare to talk about them, it gets easier, says Juvonen.
Tubbing has made Juvose more open than before.
In Juvonen’s opinion, the video was worth making if, for example, talking about burnout awakens someone else to seek professional help.
Breaking down stereotypes of rural men
Talking about feelings and life’s pain points is brave, and the theme will also be seen in the series about the men who are tubed from Eastern Finland. Amidst the repair of machines and the smell of gasoline, sensitive, open sides emerge from the men.
– It is a myth that a middle-aged man in the ravens’ dens is somehow dumb, stupid or uncivilized, or that it would be difficult to find a connection with him. For example, you can find great self-irony in them, which you can’t do without good self-knowledge or honesty, Tohka says.
– Openness is a market advantage in social media and social media influencers, for example, use this in their work. However, this series is about people whose masculinity and certainly also media technological skills are associated with a lot of stereotypes, so here is an opportunity to break them, Lehto sums up.
According to director Tohka, the series brings out the often silent and invisible people of the Finnish countryside. Through making videos, the dumb engineers have found a deeper way of being in the world.
– The series is also a growth story from a shy boy bullied at school to a popular tube player. When a person dares to be himself, it resonates with others. There is no limit to when or at what age a person can find their own voice, Tohka sums up.
Weekly fan mail, but also haters
In the end, Mehtonen didn’t think long about going into the documentary series.
– These opportunities don’t come around often. I could have regretted it if I hadn’t gone along with Timo and Arto. An interesting experience, Mehtonen reflects.
The Kone Man channel has more than 11,000 subscribers on YouTube. Tubing is a hobby for Mehtose, along with construction work.
With the release of the series, the attention received by Savo’s trumpeters may increase. Timo Juvose receives fan mail about every week, but there are also haters.
– The comments have somehow become worse with the corona. However, I have also found friends and a like-minded community through tumbling. You have to focus on the good, says Juvonen.
Even if the video camera goes with you in everyday life, the realities of life in the country, such as the coming winter, remain firmly in your mind.
– It’s getting cold already. It’s about to snow again and it’s time to create visvoo, says Juvonen in his Savo dialect, looking at the sky.
It means that soon you will be able to work in the snow again.