TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Arvin Miracelova: Film making for all

As a boy, M

Dina Indra Safitri (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, July 18, 2011

Share This Article

Change Size

Arvin Miracelova: Film making for all

A

s a boy, M. Arvin Miracelova gazed in fascination at the lights of Broadway in New York. Decades later, he is trying to share the thrill of show business with the youth of his home country, Indonesia, through affordable — and sometimes even free — methods.  

“I lived with my parents in Princeton then… we used to go back and forth to New York. We would pass Broadway and I was amazed at the abundance of theater complexes there. That was probably the beginning,” he said of the origins of his love for music and theater.  
Courtesy of Arvin Miracelova

During high school, he learned more about music, drama and videography. Despite his formal education in economics, after his return to Indonesia Arvin still kept a special place in his heart for his earlier interests.

He would hang out with musicians all night, sometimes giving in to his hobby of singing in the process. He would also make friends with people in the movie business and other artistic fields.  

The idea that the art of moviemaking was still considered an expensive activity despite the abundance of young people who might have hidden potential became a concern for Arvin, who has a soft spot for youth.  

One day, when watching a music television program, he became interested in why the video jockey (VJ) in the show was so happy. “Maybe that VJ was excited about being involved in the studio’s activities,” he said.  

But, Arvin was also concerned that the show was “purely entertainment”. He wanted something between entertainment and education.  

This curiosity eventually led Arvin, who is also the director of QB Productions, to found Student Music Television (SMTV) in 2008, a group that helps children and teenagers learn about video and moviemaking. And, it is free.

“I came up with the idea of a television station for the two communities [musicians and students] to become both learners and consumers,” he said.   

Through SMTV, students can direct and make videos for aspiring musicians for free, and the musicians donate a certain amount of money in the process.  

“I call it artists’ CSR [corporate social responsibility]. I think CSR or community development does not exclusively belong to companies but also to artist management. These musicians can allocate some of their promotion budget,” Arvin said.

Sometimes, the musicians can only pay a limited amount of money. But, he said a clip can be made even on a starting budget of Rp 5 million (US$585). “They get free promotion for the students as well,” Arvin said, smiling.  

Aside from getting funding from musicians, SMTV’s clip-making projects are sometimes funded by corporations and the country’s tourism agency due to the television station’s commitment to promoting tourism in the country.  

SMTV’s business runs on a “golden triangle” concept of student participation, musician participation and nation-building, Arvin said.  

“SMTV’s episodes must contain messages to support Indonesian tourism, culture and history, or ‘go green’ [movements], the environment and humanity,” he added.  

Currently, almost 80 artists and over 100 schools have participated in SMTV programs.

Aside from making videos, the company also produces episodes of movie series as well as full-length movies.

They are aired at outdoor movie screenings (layar tancap) and on the station’s website as well as on local television stations.  

To attract students, SMTV visits schools. “Most often, we send official letters to the schools… Students will also send messages online,” Arvin said.  

The cooperation with schools can take various forms. “Sometimes we come into the school with knock-down special studios, equipment and the musicians… the students pick the scripts and from stock footage databases,” he said.  

The television station is currently focusing on producing content, Arvin said.  

“People will change their behavior to watching television through an iPad TV and IPTV. We are sure of that. So we are concentrating on producing content. Content will always be usable despite the changing of broadcasting technology,” he said.  

Arvin added that his goal was to have local television stations be part of the production process instead of merely airing SMTV projects. “We want them to use our SOP [Standard Operating Procedures] in their work. We will carry out the post-production, then we will redistribute [the content] to the whole network,” he said.  

This plan will strengthen SMTV as a community-based entity and help to establish regional SMTVs, Arvin added.  

Aside from SMTV, Arvin also runs the Talents on Screen (TOS) Academy, which offers affordable training for youngsters to learn about being part of the television business, including lessons on how to be a host as well as behind-the-screen tasks.  

“We want to erase the image of subjects like videography, filmmaking and broadcast as very expensive education,” he said.  

A package for elementary school-age children costs around Rp 350,000. High school student packages include lessons on managing a television station’s control room.  

Arvin’s initial passion for theater is also still alive and kicking. He currently teaches English-language theater for children at the Miracelova Theater and the School of English Drama (Sched).   

Nyanyian Tujuh Pulau [The Seven Islands Song], one of SMTV’s full-length movie projects, tells the story of a band with members coming from different islands of the Thousand Islands, north of Jakarta.

SMTV came up with the basic storyline and Arvin directed the movie, but most of the field work, such as the video shooting and script writing, was done by the high school students involved in the project.  

The movie’s scenes have several imperfections, which are also evident from SMTV’s somewhat chaotic community website, which is managed by the student as well.  

Nevertheless, the film succeeded in capturing the landscape of the islands, especially Tidung Island.

Arvin remains optimistic that what he is doing — imperfections and all — is providing basic knowledge and motivation for children and teenagers to be future players in the industry.  

“They often come out [of the projects] with big dreams to become film directors, filmmakers and so on,” he said.  

Some of those who participated in SMTV’s projects also ended up working for Arvin at the TOS Academy, which can help with jobs for graduates of broadcasting vocational schools, he said.  

“It’s hard for those graduates from vocational schools to compete with those who graduate from colleges,” Arvin said.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.