A group of boys that likes to watch movies. Every time they see a barrage of scenes, they observe it to its small details, and sometimes think to imitate it in real life. In going through everyday activities, they have to do things that are effective, whether it is in dire situations or not. That type of obsession kept on going and meddles with their life quite significantly.
Things like that are what 3Tiga Films (“3Tiga”) face. They are comprised of Damar Jalu Purboyo, Agustinus Wibi Arya, and Selando Naendra Radicka. The three of them are students from the department of Communication Studies batch 2017. “3Tiga” spawns suddenly in their minds and became the name of the film enthusiast community that they made. In October 2018, 3Tiga won a film competition “Kinema” hosted by UPN Veteran Yogyakarta.
In that competition, 3Tiga Film came out at first place with a movie titled “Tempuran Kulon”. The film is played by Anindya Ayu – more commonly called Ayu, a student also from the Department of Communication Studies. In the filem, Anin plays Laely, a women that willingly becomes a prostitute to make a living for her family. Last Frisay, we had the chance to talk with Damar (Director of Photography) and Selando (writer and director) in the movie.
Tempuran Kulon talks about the practice of prostitution that is positioned near train rails, a life of the marginalized citizens of Yogyakarta that is not well-known, even by native Jogja citizens. The story of the film is inspired by Selando and Wibi’s discussion on the existence of Bong Suwung, a place of prostitution that exist along the rails near Tugu Station.
To Selando, Wibi talks of how the transaction between the “customer” and the sex worker in Bong Suwung is always done the same time as when the trains occassionally pass. Noisy, untidy, and gross, that is the impression that is imagined by Selando after hearing Wibi’s story. From that, with his friends, he seeks to tell the tale about noise, untidiness, and grossness that he envisions through filming. “We are passioante to storytell. Even to tell a story to a lot of people, we don’t have anything besides combining a series of pictures, sound, and scenes that are deliberately made up. That is how a film is,” explains Selando.
According to Selando’s story, the shooting process of Tempuran Kulon went for 4 days, the duration is actually does not make sense for the scale of a short movie. The length of the shooting process is caused by the limitarion of resoures and technical skills by 3Tiga team that is still minimum. “We have never made a film. When we went shooting yesterday, we did a mistake because we chose shooting locations that were far from one another. Gunungkidul and Lempuyangan Station,” tells Selando. That is what caused the shooting process of Tempuran Kulon to become long.
Storytelling from films, is an option that is often not taken by UGM FISIPOL students, even by students of the Department of Communication Studies. The class lectures provided them with poitical theories and media. While the technical skills in making a film receives lacking attention. Starting from Tempuran Kulon, Damar and Selando admits that they – and 3Tiga – wants to continue to tell stories. “We talk a lot, but not that much that we have good verbal skills. If it is like that, then what can be the more correct option that we can do besides making films?” explains Damar when closing the discussion, inquiring the question to himself.