Indonesia's animation industry growing steadily

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian animation industry is still in an infant stage, but this year it has taken its first baby steps with the screening of Janus, Prajurit Terakhir (Janus, The Last Warrior), a combination of 3-D animation and live action.

Janus's flop in movie theaters last June, though, should not deter other movie makers in exploring this new medium, instead it should become a case study for future animators about the importance of the right balance of form and content in animated movie making.

"The biggest problem with Janus, is that the filmmakers seemed so exhausted from the efforts required to put together all the animation that they neglected other important issues," The Jakarta Post's movie columnist Joko Anwar once wrote about the movie.

These "other important issues" he meant included a mature storyline and rounded characterization. Great form -- technique and execution -- without a strong story will only make the film hollow, on the other hand, a great story executed poorly will impede clarity of expression and make a poor movie.

Industry veteran W. Paterson Ferns, from Canada's Banff Television Foundation, once said that an animation should work for audiences, not for the animators themselves.

Unfortunately, not many Indonesian animators seem to be aware of this.

"Our animators are excellent in technique, but they lack depth. They have little knowledge of social conditions, history or culture," noted cartoonist and animator Dwi Koendoro said.

Or perhaps they are aware of such things, but for many reasons do not employ other experts and resources to share complement their work.

Dwi likened the animators' tendency to "go it alone" to the break up of major political parties that create small offshoots at the whim of egotistical individuals. "Which is why I am impressed with America, they are capable of bringing together different elements (to create a movie)," he said.

Nevertheless, any start is better than no start at all, and despite everything, Indonesians are for the first time put in the spotlight instead of working behind the scenes of animated movies.

Indeed, Indonesian animators are well known for their work as "inbetweeners" -- artists who fill in the action between key drawings.

PT Asiana Wang Animation was the inbetweener for well known animation films such as Doraemon, Sailor Moon and Johnny Quest. And Indonesia's Castle Animation is the creative artist behind Spain's primary-school edutainment series The Adventures of Carlos Caterpillar.

Indonesian animators, with their short films, are also no stranger to international accolades. Dementia Animation's Robie, Quest of the Bracelet, for example, won third place at the Asia Animation Super Pitch 2002 held in Singapore. It also participated in the Taiwan International Animation Festival this year with No Plan No Gain!. The company's executive producer, Deswara Aulia, was invited to speak at this year's Animation Super Pitch conference.

Meanwhile, local animation production and distribution are also growing, including Red Rocket Animation's Dongeng untuk Aku dan Kau (Stories for Me and You) for private TV station RCTI, and Penangkaran Bening Studio's animated local legends such as Keong Mas (Golden Snail), Calon Arang, and Cindelaras distributed on VCD.

Riding the coattails of a growing advertising industry, Indonesian animation has come a long way since the first animated cartoon Si Huma in the 1980s.

The entrance of private television stations in the 1990s followed by demand for state-of-the-art TV commercials helped spur the country's animation industry.

Indonesian artists of all types can also thank all those who helped topple Soeharto in 1998 for the kind of freedom they enjoy today.

"Reformasi has been a good thing, it allows us some freedom to grow, to move. It allows wider room for cultural expression," Dwi said.

In a way, software piracy has also helped the growth of this industry in Indonesia. Cheap, pirated versions of animation software ensured that they are readily accessible to university students and individual enthusiasts, who make up the bulk of new generation Indonesian animators today.

Studio Kasat Mata, whose members are mainly students from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, started off doing shorts from their campus computers.

"We used to sneak in at night when the computers weren't in use," Kelik Wicaksono from Studio Kasat Mata said. On the down side, because of the use of dubious software, the VCD of the studio's one-hour animation Loud Me Loud was banned in Singapore.

But thanks to Yayasan Kelompok Kerja Visi Anak Bangsa (YKKVAB) they are now putting the final touches on their, and Indonesia's, first fully animated 3-D feature length movie Homeland, scheduled for release at the end of January.

"Indonesia's creative talent has been able to produce more than 1,500 independent creations within one year. It's incredible, but they all still suffer a crisis in production funding that has held them back," YKKVAB's director Garin Nugroho said. The foundation has provided Rp 150 million (about US$17,657) as part of its annual Visi Anak Bangsa Award.

With help in cinematography from director Garin Nugroho, pop culture workshops with Bre Redana and Rizal Mantovani, and on scriptwriting with Ada Apa dengan Cinta?'s (What's Up with Love?) Jujur Prananto, Homeland looks to be a more promising production.

It is exactly this kind of collaboration that is lacking in the otherwise promising animation industry. That and support from television stations, that are more likely to purchase low-cost bulk animation films from Japan than pay higher for the products of struggling local animators.

All this will hopefully change in the next few years, particularly with the Indonesian Animation Film Festival (FFAI) giving more exposure to local animators' work.

The festival, organized for the second time this year since 2001, showcased 50 animation works from across Indonesia, as well as screening international creations from Germany, the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Mexico and Switzerland.

"It's a good opportunity for our animators to study the work of animators from other countries. A chance to observe and learn," Dwi said.