Animation: Highly skilled but in need of support

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Animator Deswara Aulia and his colleagues from dementiA Animation got a good talking to from American animator Larry Feign when they met at Animation Super Pitch, Asia's first animation pitching competition held last year in Singapore.

"I'm not going to be nice with you. You know what, Asian animation really sucks. It lacks creativity, the animators are copycats, have no self-confidence and are easily satisfied," said Feign from STVDIO production house based in Hong Kong.

After the competition, however, as Feign won first place and dementiA took third, he approached Deswara again.

"I'll take my words back just for you. You're the best Asian animators I've ever met," he said.

Both parties are now working together on a project for a French television series. But their success is not representative; Feign's harsh description pretty much describes the situation in the local animation scene.

There are plenty of animators, like prospective young animator Wahyu Aditya, whose works include the video clip for rock group Padi's hit Bayangkanlah (Imagine) -- reminiscent of British group Gorillaz's videos -- and short animation film Dapupu Project.

There are also several production houses focusing on animation aside from dementiA, such as Bandung-based Red Rocket Animation, Asiana Wang and Castle Production.

Still, according to Dwi Koendoro, senior animator and creator of popular comic strip Panji Koming, local animators are highly skilled but not creative.

"They lack the deep knowledge on cinematography, observation and orientation. They could care less about social problems, what happens in society," he told The Jakarta Post.

With their good skills, Indonesian animators often receive projects from other countries. DementiA once produced TV series and commercials for Australia, for instance, and Red Rocket Animation has worked in Singapore, Malaysia, Europe and North America.

"But they only act as in-between executors, the same as a tailor. They lack a conceptual mind," said Dwi, whose Panji Koming has been in existence for over 20 years now.

For the project with Feign, while dementiA handles some 90 percent of it, including character, story and cinematography, the concept still came from the American.

"It is easy to find animators with good skills. Learning the technique is easy. But those who understand a script and storyline are difficult to find," said Deswara, or Adez, 27, dementiA's producer who also teaches at Digital Studio College here.

Due to the obstacles, dementiA's big screen project Robie, The Quest for Bracelet, which won third place in Singapore and earned compliments from Feign, is still incomplete.

Earlier this year, a big screen animation feature, Janus Prajurit Terakhir (Janus the Last Soldier), directed by Chandra Endroputro, was released, but failed to gain commercial and critical success.

Technically accomplished, with 3D animation like Toy Story, the movie lacked good characterization and storyline.

However, Dwi said, animators were not the only ones to blame for their stagnant status, as the problems were rooted in the culture and mentality of Indonesians.

"This is a very heterogeneous country, with a long history of colonization, and over 30 years of authoritarian rule. This has influenced the education system, and the mentality of Indonesian people," he said.

Animators should join forces in promoting the development of the art, he said, but instead each wants to be the star of the show.

"Even in the United States, Pixar and Disney worked together (to produce this year's hit Finding Nemo), while the former is doing 3D and the latter specializes in 2D. Indonesian animators still can't work together," said Dwi, 62.

"There was once a group of animators called Kampung Animasi (Animation Kampong), but it no longer exists."

The local animation scene lags far behind its regional neighbors; in Giannalberto Bendazzi's One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation, Indonesia receives a scant nine lines of coverage, compared to extensive analysis of the scenes in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, India and even Vietnam.

An external factor thwarting efforts to find clients is public distrust of local animators' skills, with companies looking instead to foreign animators.

"Local animation work is still paid a small amount of money," he said.

Adez confirmed that the local market for animation was still limited to TV commercials amid the persistent doubts over ability.

"Even if we show our resume, to show them that we've won competitions abroad and have done projects for other countries, they still don't believe in our skills," said Adez, adding that dementiA was the only Asian finalist for the 2001 CG-Char animation competition in the United States (the rest were Hollywood animators) and this year's Taiwan International Animation Film Festival.

He found people in other countries were more supportive and respectful of their work, which has led them to look overseas for jobs.

"We're still far from financial security. In fact, we're still bleeding to death. If we rely on the local clients, we'd soon go bankrupt," Adez said.

Dwi urged people to take a long-term perspective for the local animation scene to improve.

"Animation can become a gold mine. All we have to do is improve the education, and give more attention to animators. There has to be some rich people who can bring the animators together and take good care of them," he said.