MALAYSIAN FILM GENRES AND PATTERNS OF AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION,
2010-2014
Introduction
Malaysian cinema has witnessed a variety of film
genres, from comedy, action, action-comedy, horror, horror-comedy, drama,
drama-comedy, romantic drama, musical, fantasy to romance, romantic comedy and
adventure. Nowadays, audience studies are important to identify the suitable
genre that may generate profit for film producers. According to Sonia
Livingstone (2007), audience reception depends on the content of the film and
the relation to the audience. The local film industry is struggling in the
event of globalization, which makes Malaysia a small competitor in the global
or even the local film market (Herwina & Zarith, 2012). However, the year
2011 marks the highest audience consumption for Malaysian films in cinemas
(Statistik Filem Malaysia from the Finas website, 2014). This fact should be
paid attention by producers to look for audience preference for local films.
This research attempts to identify widely accepted genres of the Malaysian film
industry.
Problem Statement
Since we have found the top grossing local film in March
2014, which is The Journey (2014), it shows good progress of a Malaysian
film to gain so much profit, so film producers need to pay attention to this phenomenon.
Audience consumption is very important to study. Recent information indicates a
decline in audience consumption in the year 2012 and 2013 compared to the year
2011. Moreover, the year 2012 and 2013 produced more than 70 films each, while
the prior, 2011, has only 49 films (Statistik Filem Malaysia from the Finas
website, 2014).
When the audience is studied, one
of the factors of study is the promise of what they will expect to see in the
movie, which can also be defined as a genre (Chandler, 1997). Genre studies
relates closely to audience studies which producers should take note of.
According to Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress (1988, 7) in Daniel Chandler’s
paper, genre can direct the producers’ behavior and the audiences’ expectations
(Chandler, 1997). Table 1 below shows statistics of the Malaysian film industry
for years 2010-2013.
|
Production/Year
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
|
Total
films
|
39
|
49
|
76
|
71
|
|
Production
cost (million)
|
RM 55.61
|
RM 70.682
|
RM 123.49
|
RM 139.02
|
|
Approx.
collection (millon)
|
RM 85.85
|
RM 126.49
|
RM 97.29
|
RM 85.34
|
|
Audience
(million)
|
9.24
|
13.13
|
9.80
|
8.08
|
Table
1: The statistics for local films from the FINAS website
Based on the table above, the production of films increases
year by year. However, the year 2013 shows the least amount of audience among
these four years. Furthermore, the year 2013 has no films in the top 10 list of
local film productions’ grossing, while it spent the most production cost
compared to previous years (Filem Cereka Top 30 from the Finas website, 2014).
When it comes to Malaysian audience, there are two
contradicting theories of how the audience resemble themselves. The first
theory discusses that the local audience is easily distinguished, while another
argues oppositely.
Based on a newspaper article by Aidil Rusli (2013),
the Malaysian audiences fall into a fixed group of categories. He argues that
there are three types of audience: first are the ones who do not watch local
films no matter how good that film is. The second are those who only watch
local films if they feel that it is worth the watch. The last type are people
who will watch local films no matter how good or bad the quality of the film
is. The third group often watches films that present their favorite actors and
they contribute to the collection of most horror-comedy and comedy films.
However, no audience study of the Malaysian locals has been made to support
this theory.
On the other hand, the second theory of the
Malaysian audience describes the less-predictable audience in the local film
market. “What do local movie-goers want?” This is a title of an online
newspaper article by Meor Shariman (2012). He argues that there are Malaysians
asking for a more intelligent film, which can challenge the way the audience
thinks and with high quality that will not make audience ask for their money
back, prior to Bunohan (2012). However, after Bunohan has claimed
recognition by international and local critics alike, it did not succeed in
attracting local movie-goers. On a side note, Bunohan, on collecting
only approximately RM780,000 in the local film market (Filem Cereka Tahun 2012
from the Finas website, 2014), achieves the award for Best Film in the 25th
Malaysian Film Festival (Festival Filem Malaysia Website, 2013). With this
highly acclaimed film being accepted by international and local filmmakers
alike, its total grossing shows the opposite of its glory.
Meor’s article (2012) illustrates why the Malaysian
audience can be unpredictable. The audience can watch anything they want and they
can change their minds when they are queuing for the tickets. We should at
least look into what kind of genres do most of the audience accepts. However,
this second theory also has no credibility to sustain its standing point.
According to Ho Yuhang, a local independent film
director who went to an international film festival, there are three types of
films that make money: horror, action and comedy (Steinhart, 2006). This has
been proven in Filem Cereka Top 30 from the FINAS website (2014) that films with
horror, comedy and action as well as drama genres dominate the top 10 of the
local films’ grossing. Hence, film producers should take note of these genres
and manipulate their functions for the audience.
The researcher finds it difficult to collect proper
data and literature in the local film context. Although research on film genre
exists, Malaysia still lacks academic writing and research on the indigenous
film genre and its relation with the audience. The existing research on horror
movies by Amirul Akhbar, Amelia Yuliana and Hani Zulaikha (2012) are close
enough to relate to this paper but it requires comprehensive materials to be studied.
Purpose of Study
Since there is lack of research into genre and
audience studies in the local film market, this study investigates genres that
are widely acknowledged. The problem lies in this study to find out the
preferable genre for the Malaysian audience. This study is also made to compare
the two theories surrounding the Malaysian audience and to find out the way
audience accepts a film
Research Questions
The following research
questions have been generated, they are:
·
What is the top grossing film genre in
Malaysia?
·
What are the influences of the economy
of the Malaysian film industry?
·
Why did the year 2012 and 2013 not
succeed as well as 2011?
Research Objectives
The objectives of this
study are:
·
To identify the widely accepted
Malaysian film genres
o
Hypothesis: There are a few Malaysian
film genres that are widely accepted
·
To examine the patterns of audience consumption
for a Malaysian film
o
Hypothesis: Malaysian films depend on
genre to gain audience
·
To determine the effects of Malaysian
film genre on the audience consumption
o
Hypothesis: To attract more audience, a
certain film genre must be used
Significance of Study
The local film market needs to know what kind of
film genre can really sell and how to attract more audience into theatres. This
study is to recognize and identify the genre trends in the Malaysian film
industry. Therefore, Malaysian film producers may know what genres Malaysians
usually watch in the cinemas.
Scope and Limitations of Study
The topic of genre itself is too broad. Therefore,
the study will only focus on the Malaysian film genre from the year 2010-2014.
The reason for this limitation is that the research is more focused on only
accounting to 5 years of the local film industry. The study suggests
discussions of what constitutes the consumer power of the audience to go and
watch local films. There will also be discussions of occasions that may affect
the local film industry. There are a few limitations to this study. The first
is the data collection for the local film productions, which was taken from the
FINAS website. The films listed in the website are dominantly Malay language films,
while films made in other languages also existed but not listed until the year
2012.
Literature Review
From the film industry in Malaysia, we can find out the
factors for the film market to flourish or to decline. The local film industry
has gained some attention from Malaysians, though there are still more work to
be done to develop the Malaysian film industry. The local film industry is
facing problems with globalization, small amount of audience and few
productions of film annually. Based on a research by Herwina Rosnan and Zarith
Delaila (2012), the government and the industry itself are responsible to aid
the development of the Malaysian film industry to the international level by
producing more quality films, improving the animation sector, venture the film
into a place where there will be less competition and improving locations for
film productions.
The study of the Malaysian audience and the local
film industry should also attend to the research on the Malaysian film genre. Based
on a study by Chandler (1997), he defines genre as the element for producers to
sell to potential audiences and to give a certain sense of expectation. Genres
also can be considered to “constitute particular conventions of content (such
as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are
shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them,” (Chandler, 1997).
According to a paper by Jane Feuer (1992, 144), mentioned in Chandler’s study,
a genre is something that does not practically exist in this world as it is an
abstract conception. With regards to this research on genre, another study has
been made about the local horror movies genre.
Film creates and reflects life. The illusion
represented in films does not actually mean that it is not real; the usage of
the illusion in any film reflects reality that occurs in the society. According
to a study by Amirul, Amelia and Hani (2012), film producers who carry this
message can produce more horror films that do not just offer entertainment for
the mass audience, they can develop critical minds and space for the audience
to look and ponder on how the horror film reflect their lives.
Based on all literature that the researcher has
collected, there are a few elements that need discussion.
There are two views of how the Malaysian audience is
distributed. One views the local audience as predictable and the other shows
unpredictability. The Malaysian audiences need to be studied thoroughly as
opposed to only justifications from two non-scholarly articles. These bases have
never mentioned that a proper research has been made. The researcher also finds
it difficult to find any paper that relates to the study of Malaysian audience.
Hence, the researcher will identify through this research of which theory is the
closest to the facts and data analysis.
Genre gives an audience a simple idea of how that
film is going to look like. The premise keeps audience occupied of the film
patterns according to previous similar genres. In 2006, three genres of the top
money-making films are horror, comedy and action. Currently, there is an
additional genre into that list, which is drama genre. In the making of horror
films, producers should begin thinking of making those guaranteed-to-profit
horror movies to help develop critical minds among the audience. The trend to
watch the drama genre is beginning in year 2014, the producers may look into
this observation.
The literature gathered helps the researcher to
study the varieties of genres while focusing on gaining more audience. Even if
the sources are inadequate, the literature contributes to the discovery of the
study which is Malaysian film genre from 2010 until 2014.
Research Design
The research focuses on the information and data
obtained from the website of an authorized government institution, National
Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS). Each local film will be
categorized according to specific genre.
There are many film genres in the Malaysian film
industry and there are many definitions to depict a certain film into a genre
category. The definitions for each genre was studied and centralized to
distinguish one genre from the other easily. Each film was categorized
according to these definitions and the data was collected from the website
stated to obtain statistics of the collection grossing for each film.
Films were compiled into genres and graphs were made
on a year-by-year basis to determine which genre gains the most audience in
each year. If there were sub-genres or combinations, those genres were
categorized based on the main genres stated.
Once the statistic for each year has been taken, the
collective grossing for each genre in 2010-2014 as of April was taken and an
analysis was made on which genre in these 5 years gains the most grossing for
local films.
Conclusion
The study of Malaysian film genres is essential for
the producers to determine what genre the mass audience will accept at certain
times. A well received movie from a particular genre can generate income for
the whole genre throughout the year. The power of mass audience shall not be
undermined as they are able to think for themselves. The only thing to do is to
produce a film with the correct timing for the right genre.
References
Adli,
R., 2013. Where did the audience go? The Malay Mail Online, [online]
(Last updated 6th July 2013). Available
at http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/aidil-rusli/article/where-did-the-audience-g
[Accessed on 7 May
2014]
Amirul, A.M.Z., Amelia, Y.A.W., Hani, Z., 2012. The
Potential of Malaysia’s Horror Movies in Creating
Critical Minds: A Never Ending Philosophical Anecdote. International Proceedings of Economics Development
& Research; September 2012, Vol. 48, p174
Bernama,
2013. Malaysian film industry rapidly progressing – Finas. Astro Awani,
[online] (Last updated 02nd February
2013). Available at < http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/malaysian-film-industry-rapidly-progressing- finas-6054?cp
[Accessed on 7 May
2014]
Chandler,
D., 1997. 'An Introduction to Genre Theory
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/chandler_genre_theory.pdf
[April 6, 2014]
Festival Filem Malaysia Website, 2013. Pemenang
Festival Filem Malaysia 25 (Ffm25). Retrieved
May 7, 2014 from http://www.ffm.my/pemenang.html
Feuer, J., 1992. 'Genre study and television'. In
Robert C Allen (Ed.): Channels of Discourse, Reassembled:
Television and Contemporary Criticism. London: Routledge, pp. 138-59
Finas, 2014. Filem Cereka Top 30. Retrieved
March 23, 2014 from http://finas.gov.my/index.php?mod=industry&sub=top20
Finas, 2014. Statistik Filem Malaysia.
Retrieved March 23, 2014 from http://finas.gov.my/index.php?mod=industry&sub=filemmalaysia
Finas, 2014. Tayangan Filem Cereka Tahun 2012.
Retrieved May 7, 2014 from http://finas.gov.my/index.php?mod=industry&sub=cereka&p=Filem2012
Herwina R., Zarith D. A. A., 2012. Film Business
in Malaysia: Challenges and Opportunities. International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science. June 2012, Vol. 2 (12)
Meor,
S., 2012. REELTIME: What do local movie-goers movie-goers want? New Straits
Times, [online] (Last updated 18th
March 2012). Available at http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/reeltime-what-do-local-movie-goers-movie-goers- want-1.62068
[Accessed on 7 May 2014]
New
Straits Times, 2014. The Journey to screen at FEFF. New Straits Times,
[online] (Last updated 28th
April 2014). Available at http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/tech/the- journey-to-screen-at-feff-1.580669
[Accessed
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Steinhart,
D., 2006. Interview at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved
from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&ved=0CC8Q FjABOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tft.ucla.edu%2Fmediascape%2FSpring06_Foste ringInternationalCinema.pdf&ei=sLVrU8aQAo6zrgfK8YHYDg&usg=AFQjCNGMGD mcEAX9Uet5nWpMONxEvshv8A&sig2=xC84vnlrpAbS65LUWHpY8g&bvm=bv.6633 0100,d.bmk&cad=rja
Appendices
Bunohan, 2012.
[Film] Directed by Dain Said. Malaysia: Universal Pictures.
KL Gangster,
2011. [Film] Directed by Syamsul Yusof. Malaysia: Skop Productions Sdn. Bhd.
Ombak Rindu,
2012. [Film] Directed by Ali Osman . Malaysia: Astro Shaw Sdn. Bhd.
The Journey,
2014. [Film] Directed by Chiu Keng Guan. Malaysia: Astro Shaw Sdn. Bhd.
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