Get Ready, Get Set, and Start Filming in Indonesia!

When you watch a movie what would be your point of attention besides the actors? Right, the movie set. The good set, along with acting, music, story and plot speak louder than words to give you that combination of satisfying cinematographic effect that will give the moviegoers the ultimate fulfillment of one-of-a-kind movie experience.

I mean, what would the Lord of the Ring movie trilogy be without the spectacular New Zealand scenery? Wouldn’t the movie have got much fame without it? What would have been the Sound of Music (1965) without the breathtaking mountainous landscape of Salzburg and Bavaria? The movie wouldn’t have been as popular as it is now. Although ironically, popularity and fame is also what you get in Borat (2006), a satirical mockumentary comedy film that when you think of it, you cannot detach Kazakhstan from your mind.

What I have in mind is to invite these creative Hollywood minds to shoot movies in Indonesia and to use its natural beauty and cultural asset as the movie set. Air New Zealand, the New Zealand’s national airline and flag carrier, painted their fleet of Airbus A320 to help promote the Lord of the Ring movie series. But what Indonesia intends to do is the other way around; we will be using a Hollywood movie to help promote the country. Smart?

Indonesia has a lot to offer: from the metropolitan cities such as Jakarta, the beautiful supervolcano lake of Toba, the staggering Tengger desert, the world biggest Buddha’s temple of Borobudur, the marine park of Bunaken and Raja Ampat, the panoramic mountain of Bromo, up to the eternal snow at tropical climate of the Jayawijaya summit, and mind you that this is a non-exhaustive list. The more you stay in Indonesia, the more you will be surprised of what the country has to offer!

And I think the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy—the government’s institution responsible for tourism activity—concurs with the idea. Hollywood movies act as a multiplier effect and this can obviously be seen after the release of Eat, Pray and Love (2010), a drama film starring Julia Roberts based on a best selling memoir of the same name in which it depicts a woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia. The movie generates a general rise in Bali tourism, an increase interest on the Ubud area—where the movie was shot--, in yoga, healers and spirituality.

A spike of Korean visitor was also noticed when Memories of Bali (2004), a Korean soap opera was released. What all this means is that, there is a strong relationship between the movies shot in Indonesia with the growing number of foreign tourists flocking to the country.

 

Tourism promotion is what Indonesia certainly needs especially after Badan Pusat Statistik, Indonesia’s national statistics center shows that the number of foreign visitors entering Indonesia on July 2012 dropped to 5,94% compared to July last year. The stats troubles the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy worrying that it will not reach the eight millions foreign tourists target by the end of 2012, a slight increase of 3,89% of the already reached target of 7.7 million last year.

Drawing Hollywood’s interest to shoot movies in Indonesia certainly requires a lot of sweat and it is certainly not an easy task. It needs a concerted and coordinated support from various ministries, from among others, convincing them to come to the country, to establish direct flights, and to do away with all red tape bureaucracy at home. Secondly, it also needs support from the local infrastructure, logistics and the skills of the local creative industry to support the movie shooting.

If realized, it will give Indonesia a competitive edge over the neighboring countries in Asia Pacific. It will give a room to breathe to survive in the world of economic crisis, especially when we are in trade deficit with our main trading partners. To foreign tourists, Indonesia will be their one-of-kind experience, where they can find what is good for their body, mind and soul, just like Julia Roberts did!

And soul-seeking or spiritualism might just what the foreign tourists are looking for. Marketing guru Hermawan Kartajaya, President of the World Marketing Association, said that marketing now is not just selling, in fact, Marketing 3.0, a new era of marketing as he claims it, is about approaching customers as whole human beings with minds, hearts and spirits. Not only do they look for functional and emotional fulfillment but also human spirit fulfillment in the product and service they choose.    

   

Furthermore, this is also part of Indonesia’s foreign policy, which is soft diplomacy: building the image of the country. The kind of image that Indonesia wants to be perceived. It is about how we are going to build relationship with other countries; it is about increasing international political influence, and combat negative stereotypes. It is about nation branding.

But the most important this is what the common people, like you and me, can benefit from it. Of course the inward-bound tourism will boost Indonesia’s economy and increase economic growth, creates more jobs. But the truest benefit, I am telling you,  is that  for us to realize that the country’s natural beauties as well as its cultural heritage are assets that Indonesians have to be aware of, that we are aware of the values, and how we need to further appreciate and conserve them more. Something that often left for granted.

I am done with the writing here and l invite you to start imagining.

Okay, to begin with, picture this: a sequel of the Twilight Saga in Indonesia. Well, I know that vampires do not quite fit in with Kuntilanak or Leak, the local ghosts. But hey, if you are looking for an alliance against the werewolves, you may want to keep all the options on the table.