Most 'sinetron' are inferior productions

JAKARTA (JP): Simple and shallow screenplays, pretty faces in sexy dresses, handsome heroes, a touch of romance, a blend of comedy and violence here and there. Welcome to the world of Indonesian sinetron (television miniseries).

Notorious for its awful miscasting, illogical stories and rambling plots, the locally produced TV melodramas, slapstick comedies and bad-tasted Hollywood-style actions have unfortunately dominated Indonesian television.

There is the action-thriller Gelang Besi (The Iron Bracelet) and Jackline in which beautiful heroines delight the bloodthirsty audience with their violent actions. Or there is the tacky horror-comedy Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (Sweet Lady of Ancol Bridge), Tuyul dan Mbak Yul and Jin dan Jun. The themes of love and betrayal dominate Selendang Sutra Biru (A Blue Silk Shawl), Kupu Kupu Kertas (Paper Butterflies) and Istri Pilihan (The Chosen Wife).

With approximately 3,000 sinetron production titles this year, it would have been easy to sort out the best at the annual Festival Sinetron Indonesia (FSI).

In fact, FSI's selection committee members found it hard to select productions that met the standards.

Wina Armada, a committee member, said that most miniseries are low-rated productions and lack variation of themes.

"They lack understanding about the difference between making movies and TV productions. They abandon techniques, neglect plots and disregard reality," he said.

Zoraya Perucha, Corporate Communications Manager of ANteve and a member of this year's FSI judging panel, lamented the lack of professionalism.

She said most production houses only have a few skilled human resources to handle the production and promotion of television productions.

"There is a lack of talent, especially among scriptwriters, to generate fresh, unique concepts and creative ideas to boost the television industry and set the trends. More importantly, there is an infiltration of moviemakers (who have moved to television) and their attitudes have drastically changed the face of the TV industry," she said.

The movie directors and artists violate television standards and guidelines, she said.

"They do not think television, they think movies. With movies, you shoot for three months, and then the actors go on holiday for one month until another contract comes along. This just does not work in television," she said.

Sinetron episodes have to be run at a given time, she explained. Television stations cannot wait. She said actors sometimes arrived late on set, while on other occasions people from production houses had to deliver the video cassettes late.

"There are at least 13 episodes to any sinetron televised. For example, we have to broadcast an episode at 7.30 p.m on Wednesday, but the video cassette itself comes to our desk at 5 p.m the same day," she said.

Ratings

Unless producers, artists and all parties involved in the sinetron industry improve their professionalism, it would be hard to expect quality work. "We encourage production houses to create high quality yet sale-oriented works since most of all private televisions have to rely on advertisers and ratings," said Zoraya.

ANteve, for instance, declines to air shows that will not get the desired ratings, she said. As sinetron depends wholly on the body conducting the rating, Survey Research Indonesia (SRI), ratings are extremely important in determining their future.

It takes only five to six episodes or as long as three months for ratings to determine the "good-bad" status of a miniseries.

Zoraya said it was difficult to define quality.

"Quality from whose point of view? What is good quality to us, might not be liked in the eyes of other people," she said.

Raam Punjabi, founder of PT Tripar Multivision Plus, which has a 90 percent hold on TV time allotted for sinetron, said ratings are like tickets that get sinetron, and ultimately the production house, better seats in a cinema hall, although there is no proper method of recording ratings.

"Whatever we get, we take it at face value yet we cannot run away from ratings. We have to be confident that our product will fetch the desired ratings. If ratings are not there, it'll wipe out the programs," Raam said.

Director Teguh Karya believes, however, that the rating system contributes nothing to the development of television productions. It is a fact that television films might get lower ratings than the low quality sinetron.

Teguh Karya is one of a few fine Indonesian directors who are still able to work outside the grasp of television commercialization.

Teguh Karya, Slamet Rahardjo and Garin Nugroho in collaboration with Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia (TPI), John Hopkins University, and the National Family Planning Board, are trying to uphold cinematic standards in their television productions.

Teguh Karya's Perkawinan Siti Zubaedah (The Marriage of Siti Zubaedah) Garin Nugroho's Angin Rumput Savana (Wind in the Savanna Grass) and Oh Ibu dan Ayah Selamat Pagi (Good Morning Mom and Dad) by Slamet Rahardjo are just some examples of high standard productions in terms of cinematic stories and techniques.

Although these works are loaded with measures from the government -- that is to increase people's awareness of the high mortality rate among women in childbirth -- the three directors have smartly packaged their creations as art forms rather than propaganda television dramas.

"I work in television film because I feel it conveys the message without bringing people to the cinema. They can get it right at home," explained Teguh whose Perkawinan Siti Zubaedah earned several FSI nominations this year.

As filmmakers, Teguh said, they have to convey messages, something they have not done for a long time.

"Being an Indonesian, I know what Indonesians want. Why give them something foolish to watch, when I can give them what they should understand and learn from, with a touch of entertainment to make it something people would want to watch and enjoy?"

Teguh said that currently there are just too many imitations infiltrating the film and television industry. "We have the Indonesian Tarzan, the local version of 007 agent, but no original characters that can be identified with Indonesian people and their culture. That is what I want to achieve in my creations," he said.

According to Garin, most Indonesian sinetron deal with subjects that are alien to the majority of Indonesians who live in rural areas.

"Many local sinetron makers center on the lifestyles of urban people and concentrate mostly on indoor scenes -- either in luxury houses, hotels, or offices. Do they know that Indonesia has abundant places with wonderful scenery?"

In Angin Rumput Savana, Garin exploited the beauty of Sumba's panorama and the rich culture of the Sumbanese society which faces a dilemma in fusing tradition and modernization.

Ishadi S.K., TPI's operation director said its collaboration with the three filmmakers, was aimed at encouraging other television stations to produce high quality works. "We really miss good television productions."

Peachy television dramas are now rarely seen on local television. For local TV stations, running television dramas means risking their chance of getting high ratings and advertisers -- which also means losing money.

"But as long as we can convince the advertisers that we have a good program ... then there is no problem for us to run first rate productions," Ishadi conceded.

Such enthusiasm might bring a new hope for television audiences who are eager to watch quality sinetron. (raw/02)