When a book is made into a film, readers often come out of theaters unhappy.

With the help of technology, makers of the recently released film, Filosofi Kopi (Coffee Philosophy), have attempted to change that.

Claiming to be the first user-generated film, the movie'€™s producers invited people to decide artistic aspects of the movie.

Prominent director Angga Dwimas Sasongko understands that readers are often disappointed when their favorite book is brought onto the silver screen.

When renowned writer and singer Dewi '€œDee'€ Lestari granted him the permission to make a film adaptation of her Filosofi Kopi short story, Angga did not leave Dee'€™s book fans out.

He said they thought they should tap Dee'€™s huge fan base by creating an interactive forum.

'€œThe idea was to provide a space for her fans and the short story readers to share their imagination about the movie'€™s visual concepts,'€ he said.

Angga and his wife Anggia Kharisma, with whom he designed the film production, initiated a Filosofi Kopi application '€” a forum where he could discuss with more than 5,000 people who had downloaded the app on their Apple and Android gadgets.

The movie revolves around Jody (Rio Dewanto), a diligent young man who turns his late father'€™s grocery store into the Filosofi Kopi café, and his best friend Ben (Chicco Jerikho), an ambitious barista. Together, they embark on a quest to find the perfect cup of coffee.

Through the application, the app users '€” or digital producers as Angga calls them '€” got the chance to decide the wardrobes of Ben and Jody; the coffee shop'€™s design and logo; even Jody'€™s car and Ben'€™s motorcycle models.

'€œWe couldn'€™t follow everyone'€™s suggestions, so we held a vote where people could pick one of the choices given by us.'€

Angga, who directed the Citra Award-winning Cahaya Dari Timur: Beta Maluku (Light from the East: I'€™m Maluku), and his production team then went to great lengths to bring the app users'€™ imagination to life.

They hired a handful of architects and interior designers to build a café with glass walls and barista station at the café'€™s center '€” as described in the story, and fill the space with wooden furniture and paint the walls in brown and white tones '€” as wished by the majority of app users. It took four months to construct the café in Melawai, South Jakarta.

'€œOne of the complicated things was Jody'€™s car. Around 75 percent of voters made their choice a white Land Rover Defender. We found someone who had one, but he declined to rent it. My art director could not find another one in the market. So we bought a green one and painted it white.'€

Courtesy of Filosofi Kopi

Building the café from scratch, finding the exact film props and creating the app did not come cheap. The movie cost nearly Rp 10 billion (US$760,344) for production and promotion.

The app was also transformed into a talent search by singer Glenn Fredly, the film'€™s co-producer and musical director.

Around 100 singers and musicians shared links of their performances on the app in the hope of being selected as part of the movie'€™s soundtrack, putting them alongside established musicians, like Maliq and D'€™Essentials, Dewi Lestari and Glenn.

'€œWe curated their performances and found the Svarna band. I love the vocal character and folk music of the band. There are very few folk bands in Indonesia. It is great to see a new generation of musicians born through this project,'€ Glenn said.

Svarna was recently initiated by Kristian Dharma, a jazz bassist who has performed with popular singers like Marcell, Andien and Syahrani.

'€œThe application is unique because it opens up a chance for people to collaborate on the movie. We are thrilled to be a part of such a great movie like this,'€ Kristian, who uploaded the band'€™s performance after being informed about the app by his friend.

The four-man band, alongside singer Natasha F. Attamimi, performs '€œRindu Sesaat'€ (Longing).

'€œIt was cool to work with Glenn in the recording process. He did not change our concept.'€

The app is also an effective promotional tool, giving the users the sense of belonging long before the movie even hit theaters.

Users are ranked based on the number of suggestions they made on the discussion threads as well as their activities in spreading the word about the movie on social media sites, such as Instagram and Twitter.

Two of the most active users were granted the chance to watch the shooting process. Among them was Citra Kameswara, a 19-year-old from Bandung, West Java.

'€œThe movie is great. I can see some elements taken from our suggestions. During the shooting process, I could see that the crew worked hard to realize this movie, I truly appreciated them,'€ said Citra, who spent three days observing the shooting in Jakarta.

Filosofi Kopi may be not as radical as other user-generated productions, such as Paul Verhoeven'€™s Tricked that brought together 3,500 fans to script ideas and video for the movie or Kevin MacDonald'€™s Life in a Day, a 90-minute menagerie derived from 4,500 hours of footage sent by people around the globe through YouTube.

But, through the app, Filosofi Kopi offers a fresh take in the film industry '€” listening to the audience.

'€œSome filmmakers do not really appreciate their audience. Some movies screened at theaters are disappointing and make the moviegoers feel they have wasted their money. That should not happen,'€ Angga said.

'€œFilmmakers, including me, should work to make quality movies that make the audience feel their money is well spent.'€