National Film Day, March 30: The Future Of Indonesian Films In The Hands Of Gadgets

National film history exhibition at the Ministry of Education and Culture Building, Jakarta to commemorate National Film Day 2019, Saturday 30 March. (ANTARA/Revelation Putro A)

JAKARTA - The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic storm on the film industry has forced film actors to find common sense. The pandemic forces the industry to innovate so that the film market exists and is maintained. In addition, the prolonged pandemic has also paralyzed film workers. A story without a screenplay on National Film Day which falls on March 30.

According to filmindonesia.or.id data processed by VOI, Indonesian films in 2017 reached 118 film productions, in 2018 there was an increase to 146 films. There was a decline in 2019 with a total production of 130 film productions.

The hurricane of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the industry very hard, as in 2020 only 58 films could be produced. It was recorded that 26 films were produced from the January-March period, three months later after the beginning of the pandemic in Indonesia, namely April 2020, the vacuum film industry.

In August 2020 the film industry tried to rise by producing 27 films. And 2021 will not increase much, only 21 film releases.

A quiet cinema during the COVID-19 pandemic. (AMONG)

Thousands Affected

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association of Film and Television Employees (PKFT) noted that of its 7000 members spread across Indonesia, 2500 of them have lost their livelihoods due to film production being halted during the pandemic.

However, the thing to be grateful for is that there is always an opportunity that can be exploited so that the film industry can rise. One of them is through movies on digital platforms, both free and paid.

Through a consumer behavior survey issued by McKinsey & Company, it is stated that people like digital entertainment, including movies. Interest in digital entertainment increased by 20 percent over the April to November 2021 time period.

In 2021, hundreds of Indonesian films will be recorded on digital screening services. The last six-six-month poll noted that 56.3 percent watched via free digital platforms, and 36.5 percent watched via paid digital platforms.

Consumption Pattern Change

However, the actual consumption pattern of the audience for film products is nothing new. Because since 2017 there has been an increase in Netflix digital streaming services in Indonesia.

Netflix has experienced a surge in subscribers in the past four years, from 93,000 subscribers in 2017 to 850.000 in 2020. This shows that before the pandemic hit, people had looked at streaming services as an alternative to watching movies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the era of watching streaming movies happen faster. Previously, watching digitally was an alternative, but now it is the main choice.

McKinsey also noted that 93.8 percent of people enjoy movies online. Only 4.5 percent said they watched movies in theaters in the last half-year. The public's desire to consume entertainment outside the home, including going to the cinema, fell sharply by 33 percent in the same time period.

Cinemas began to open by enforcing health protocols. (AMONG)

However, this change in consumer behavior is not accompanied by the ability or willingness to pay for content. Nearly 43 percent of the public are only willing to pay less than IDR 50,000 per month to watch streaming services.

This shows that public awareness is still low to appreciate films as works. Not surprisingly, many people are streaming on online channels illegally.

The survey also shows that 56 percent of the public enjoy free films through legal intermediaries such as Youtube or illegal free film sites.

The position of Indonesian film industry players is currently awry, due to the increasingly narrow physical space for showing films and the low level of public appreciation for films in the digital space. It is also impossible for film actors to force open cinema screens because of the ongoing pandemic.

Thousands of films in hand can be accessed for a month, it is not an easy thing to persuade people to go to the cinema.

Post-pandemic

However, there are still 20 percent of people who miss watching Indonesian films in theaters after the pandemic, namely those who are 30 years old and under. The sensation of watching a big screen with an advanced sound system is definitely different from streaming.

In the long term, maybe we will see unconventional cinemas such as drive-in cinemas with the experience of watching movies from a private car.

There has also been a shift in the film industry, which is no longer dominated by large production houses. Independent production houses now have access to show their films.

Netflix experienced a tremendous surge in subscribers during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Unsplash)

Their collective movement can give birth to their own digital platforms such as the cinemaonline.com page. During the pandemic as many as 30 Indonesian film titles can be watched on digital streaming platforms.

The future of the Indonesian film industry is greatly influenced by handling the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but a legal umbrella is needed for copyright protection so that cases of piracy can be minimized, so that the digital space is more friendly to films.

With a healthy digital atmosphere, people's expectations for the improvement of the Indonesian film industry in the future are not dreams that cannot be fulfilled. Happy National Film Day.