Cinta Fitri sinetron (NOVA)
Dian Kuswandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
What’s in a name? For the makers of sinetron TV soap operas, a trend.
If you happen to sit for hours watching what television in the evening, you know what they mean – most sinetrons have titles taken from the main characters’ names.
The list is long -- Rafika, Sekar, Yasmin, Alisa, Wulan, Intan, Azizah, Aisyah, Candy, Diva to Cinta Fitri (Fitri’s Love) and Melati Untuk Marvel (Melati for Marvel).
This trend is reminiscence of the Latin soaps, known as telenovelas, which were popular here years ago.
You may still remember how Indonesian audiences –- young and old – watched Isaura, Maria Mercedes, Marimar and Paula with great enthusiasm. Even now some us can still recall characters and stories from those soaps.
People behind the scene admit that the use of names as sinteron titles has regained popularity recently.
“Audience easily recall the sinetrons if we use the name of a character as the title. This way we can keep them watching,” Manoj Punjabi, the owner MD Entertainment, one of the biggest production houses in the country, said.
“For us, a title like Kalau Cinta Jangan Marah (Don’t Get Angry if You Love) and similar ones are just so yesteryear. We don’t want to use them anymore,” he added.
What’s in a name? For the makers of sinetron TV soap operas, a trend.
If you happen to sit for hours watching what television in the evening, you know what they mean – most sinetrons have titles taken from the main characters’ names.
The list is long -- Rafika, Sekar, Yasmin, Alisa, Wulan, Intan, Azizah, Aisyah, Candy, Diva to Cinta Fitri (Fitri’s Love) and Melati Untuk Marvel (Melati for Marvel).
This trend is reminiscence of the Latin soaps, known as telenovelas, which were popular here years ago.
You may still remember how Indonesian audiences –- young and old – watched Isaura, Maria Mercedes, Marimar and Paula with great enthusiasm. Even now some us can still recall characters and stories from those soaps.
People behind the scene admit that the use of names as sinteron titles has regained popularity recently.
“Audience easily recall the sinetrons if we use the name of a character as the title. This way we can keep them watching,” Manoj Punjabi, the owner MD Entertainment, one of the biggest production houses in the country, said.
“For us, a title like Kalau Cinta Jangan Marah (Don’t Get Angry if You Love) and similar ones are just so yesteryear. We don’t want to use them anymore,” he added.
Manoj said that the use of the names would also help the story create a strong main character.
Back in the mid 1990’s, Indonesian sinetron –short for sinema elektronik (electronic cinema) – went through a trend of using the prefix “ter” in the titles. This includes Tersanjung (Flattered), Tersayang (The Loved One) or Terpesona (Enchanted).
Later, in around 2005, the trend of using the titles of Indonesian folklores had its turn. No matter how “old” the title sounds – like Malin Kundang, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah and Gatot Kaca – the story’s plot is always the same – depicting modern lives that show good versus bad; love versus heartbreak and all the bittersweet experiences around us.
Manoj called this, “life drama” and says it reflects the audience’s everyday life.
“We believe that this ‘life drama’ is something everlasting and will never bore the audience because the audience can always relate with what they’re watching,” Manoj said.
“We all know how TV series like Desperate Housewives can keep the audience glued to the screen even after hundreds of episodes.”
“American audiences don’t get bored with it because the producer split the story into several ‘seasons’. This gives the audience a chance to take a break.”
By applying the same concept, Manoj believes his company will be able to keep the loyalty of the audience of Cinta Fitri, which has aired hundreds of episodes on n SCTV.
“So, it’s all about how we, producers, package the (same) story so that audience will always stick with us,” he said, adding that Cinta Fitri has remained favorite even in its third season.
Season three of Cinta Fitri was the most watched show in Indonesia January 2009. According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, with some 3 million viewers, the show got the top rating of 6.6 percent.
Andini Wijendaru, communications executive of AGB Nielsen Media Research, said that “life drama” sinetrons have gained momentum in the past three years.
“2004 and 2005 were marked with soaps with religious and mystical themes. Meanwhile, after around 2006, soaps with ‘life drama’ themes started to regain their popularity,” Andini said.
“Life drama” soaps, she added, could be packaged different; some adapt stories from Japanese or Korean series.
According to her, the trend of Japanese or Korean adapted sinetrons started in 2006.
In that year, the adapted Indonesian sinetrons sparked outcry from Korean and Japanese movie lovers. They wrote letters to newspapers, magazines, tabloids and online forums to urge producers to stop imitating their favourites.
Fans of popular Korean dramas One Liter of Tears, for example, made strong statements against Buku Harian Nayla (Nayla’s Diary) over allegations of copycatting. Meanwhile, Pura-Pura Kawin (Fake Marriage) and Benci Bilang Cinta (Hate But Say Love) were accused of imitating Korean dramas Full House and Princess Hours, respectively.
However, no matter how negative the perception of sinetrons is, they have remained the most anticipated shows on Indonesian screens.
Sri Wahyuni, a fanatic sinetron watcher, said she just did not care about the bad perception of sinetron.
“I watch them just for fun; I don’t take them seriously,” the 38-year-old housewife, said.
“My daughter always said, ‘mom, don’t watch those stupid things’. She’s educated enough to categorize good and bad shows, but not me. I don’t care that much,” Sri laughed.
In the past weeks, Sri has spent her evenings, from Monday to Sunday, zapping her remote control to watch her favorite sinetrons: Lia, Rafika and Sekar on RCTI.
RCTI is the trendsetter of “stripping sinetron” -- a term used to described a sinetron that is aired everyday.
Working with Sinemart, one of the biggest production houses, RCTI began airing its first “stripping sinetrons” in 2005, with Liontin (The Pendant), followed by Cincin (The Ring). TV stations have followed this trend ever since.
Aside from the common trend of titles taken from charters names and a common airing time, one very important thing can not be missed from sinetrons: the soundtrack.
Pop band Letto, for example, gained popularity with their song “Cahaya” (The Light), which used by a sinetron with the same title, which centers around the story of a girl named Cahaya.
Recently, the song “Kepompong” (Chrysalis) by the band Seind3ntosca has became popular after it was used as the soundtrack for the sinetron of the same name.
It seems like the new old sinetron is here to stay.
Sidebox
High cost, less viewers
Sinetron TV series are very popular among Indonesian viewers. But has the popularity gone up or down? The latest AGB Nielsen Media Research data reveals that sinetron ratings have decreased.
Nielsen communications executive Andini Wijendaru said the highest rating of sinetron in 2007 was 9 percent, but in 2008, this dropped to around six percent.
With Nielsen sampling some 46 million viewers, it means only 6 percent of the number, or some 2.76 million people, watched the highest rank sinetron in 2008. To compare, the highest rated sinetron in 2007 attracted some 4.1 million viewers.
Andini said the number of sinetrons and their duration also decreased in 2008.
"In 2007, there were around 480 titles, while 2008 saw some 370," Andini said, adding the numbers were recorded from 11 national and nine local TV stations.
Meanwhile, "The total duration of sinetron was some 12,000 hours last year, a decrease from some 14,000 hours in 2007," Andini said.
According to her, SCTV had the most hours of sinetrons last year, airing some 2,700 hours of the programs. RCTI and TPI, which aired sinetron for some 2,500 and 1,900 hours, respectively, followed.
The declining popularity of sinetrons, unluckily, is unequal to the soaring cost of making the dramas, according to one behind the scenee insider.
"The budget of one episode of a sinetron is between Rp 50 million and 300 million. But the cost has been increasing now because of the financial downturn," said a finance staff at Sinemart, on the condition of anonymity.
According to him, from the total budget, the main actresses or actors are paid up to Rp 30 million for each episode.
"Stars like Naysilla Mirdad and Dude Harlino are paid some Rp 25 million for one episode," he revealed. "A main supporting actor can get more than Rp 10 million for one episode, depending on his or her popularity."
The payment, however, is bad for those who play smaller roles.
"Sometimes, I feel sorry for those figurants. They are paid some Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000 for one episode," he said. "Most of them, I can say, are school students looking for pocket money."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/07/high-cost-less-viewers.html
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/07/it%E2%80%99s-name-game.html
Back in the mid 1990’s, Indonesian sinetron –short for sinema elektronik (electronic cinema) – went through a trend of using the prefix “ter” in the titles. This includes Tersanjung (Flattered), Tersayang (The Loved One) or Terpesona (Enchanted).
Later, in around 2005, the trend of using the titles of Indonesian folklores had its turn. No matter how “old” the title sounds – like Malin Kundang, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah and Gatot Kaca – the story’s plot is always the same – depicting modern lives that show good versus bad; love versus heartbreak and all the bittersweet experiences around us.
Manoj called this, “life drama” and says it reflects the audience’s everyday life.
“We believe that this ‘life drama’ is something everlasting and will never bore the audience because the audience can always relate with what they’re watching,” Manoj said.
“We all know how TV series like Desperate Housewives can keep the audience glued to the screen even after hundreds of episodes.”
“American audiences don’t get bored with it because the producer split the story into several ‘seasons’. This gives the audience a chance to take a break.”
By applying the same concept, Manoj believes his company will be able to keep the loyalty of the audience of Cinta Fitri, which has aired hundreds of episodes on n SCTV.
“So, it’s all about how we, producers, package the (same) story so that audience will always stick with us,” he said, adding that Cinta Fitri has remained favorite even in its third season.
Season three of Cinta Fitri was the most watched show in Indonesia January 2009. According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, with some 3 million viewers, the show got the top rating of 6.6 percent.
Andini Wijendaru, communications executive of AGB Nielsen Media Research, said that “life drama” sinetrons have gained momentum in the past three years.
“2004 and 2005 were marked with soaps with religious and mystical themes. Meanwhile, after around 2006, soaps with ‘life drama’ themes started to regain their popularity,” Andini said.
“Life drama” soaps, she added, could be packaged different; some adapt stories from Japanese or Korean series.
According to her, the trend of Japanese or Korean adapted sinetrons started in 2006.
In that year, the adapted Indonesian sinetrons sparked outcry from Korean and Japanese movie lovers. They wrote letters to newspapers, magazines, tabloids and online forums to urge producers to stop imitating their favourites.
Fans of popular Korean dramas One Liter of Tears, for example, made strong statements against Buku Harian Nayla (Nayla’s Diary) over allegations of copycatting. Meanwhile, Pura-Pura Kawin (Fake Marriage) and Benci Bilang Cinta (Hate But Say Love) were accused of imitating Korean dramas Full House and Princess Hours, respectively.
However, no matter how negative the perception of sinetrons is, they have remained the most anticipated shows on Indonesian screens.
Sri Wahyuni, a fanatic sinetron watcher, said she just did not care about the bad perception of sinetron.
“I watch them just for fun; I don’t take them seriously,” the 38-year-old housewife, said.
“My daughter always said, ‘mom, don’t watch those stupid things’. She’s educated enough to categorize good and bad shows, but not me. I don’t care that much,” Sri laughed.
In the past weeks, Sri has spent her evenings, from Monday to Sunday, zapping her remote control to watch her favorite sinetrons: Lia, Rafika and Sekar on RCTI.
RCTI is the trendsetter of “stripping sinetron” -- a term used to described a sinetron that is aired everyday.
Working with Sinemart, one of the biggest production houses, RCTI began airing its first “stripping sinetrons” in 2005, with Liontin (The Pendant), followed by Cincin (The Ring). TV stations have followed this trend ever since.
Aside from the common trend of titles taken from charters names and a common airing time, one very important thing can not be missed from sinetrons: the soundtrack.
Pop band Letto, for example, gained popularity with their song “Cahaya” (The Light), which used by a sinetron with the same title, which centers around the story of a girl named Cahaya.
Recently, the song “Kepompong” (Chrysalis) by the band Seind3ntosca has became popular after it was used as the soundtrack for the sinetron of the same name.
It seems like the new old sinetron is here to stay.
Sidebox
High cost, less viewers
Sinetron TV series are very popular among Indonesian viewers. But has the popularity gone up or down? The latest AGB Nielsen Media Research data reveals that sinetron ratings have decreased.
Nielsen communications executive Andini Wijendaru said the highest rating of sinetron in 2007 was 9 percent, but in 2008, this dropped to around six percent.
With Nielsen sampling some 46 million viewers, it means only 6 percent of the number, or some 2.76 million people, watched the highest rank sinetron in 2008. To compare, the highest rated sinetron in 2007 attracted some 4.1 million viewers.
Andini said the number of sinetrons and their duration also decreased in 2008.
"In 2007, there were around 480 titles, while 2008 saw some 370," Andini said, adding the numbers were recorded from 11 national and nine local TV stations.
Meanwhile, "The total duration of sinetron was some 12,000 hours last year, a decrease from some 14,000 hours in 2007," Andini said.
According to her, SCTV had the most hours of sinetrons last year, airing some 2,700 hours of the programs. RCTI and TPI, which aired sinetron for some 2,500 and 1,900 hours, respectively, followed.
The declining popularity of sinetrons, unluckily, is unequal to the soaring cost of making the dramas, according to one behind the scenee insider.
"The budget of one episode of a sinetron is between Rp 50 million and 300 million. But the cost has been increasing now because of the financial downturn," said a finance staff at Sinemart, on the condition of anonymity.
According to him, from the total budget, the main actresses or actors are paid up to Rp 30 million for each episode.
"Stars like Naysilla Mirdad and Dude Harlino are paid some Rp 25 million for one episode," he revealed. "A main supporting actor can get more than Rp 10 million for one episode, depending on his or her popularity."
The payment, however, is bad for those who play smaller roles.
"Sometimes, I feel sorry for those figurants. They are paid some Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000 for one episode," he said. "Most of them, I can say, are school students looking for pocket money."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/07/high-cost-less-viewers.html
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/07/it%E2%80%99s-name-game.html
