Tourism is one of Thailand's most successful economic sectors. That shouldn't be surprising, considering that the Land of Smiles is world famous for its hospitality, rich heritage and traditions, as well as offering a wideranging selection of popular tourist locations. Recognizing this, more and more international production and film companies are heading Thailand's way, and not necessarily in search of what they used to call 'exotic locales'. These days, film directors and TVC makers are beginning to view Thailand as a onestop shooting location.

What that means is, instead of crisscrossing the globe to capture, mostly iconic landmark, shots from various countries and places, Thailand can stand in as a cheaper substitute. From balmy beaches to neon-lit cities; densely populated tropical rainforests to open stretches of paddy fields; Thailand offers all these unique Southeast Asian sceneries, and more. With professional outfits like FastTime (FT), a local production facility that provides specialized support for foreign crews filming in Thailand, the possibilities are endless.

This January, the Bangkok-based company worked on a project that became one of their biggest productions of the year, not to mention one of the most versatile showcase of what the company can do, to date. When UK based production company Amarillo Films decided to shoot their 60-second automobile TVC, The Man You Could Be, in Thailand, they wisely roped in the services of Fast Time.

According to Fast Time producer Sutacha Ratanont, or Good, as she is known to the industry, what started out as a piecemeal project soon expanded into a full-fledged, large-scale production outing for the company. The brief was rather straightforward, but the actual delivery was something else. Basically, the TVC had to exhibit the allterrain driving traits of the Land Rover Freelander 2, and does this by showing the car traveling to different locations like the city, jungle, beach and a snowy region.

The ad begins at a restaurant, with a Caucasian man seeking advice from a female Chinese fortune-teller. Speaking in Mandarin, the lady predicts that the man will meet a stranger, and they will be traveling together. She adds that they will do extraordinary things together, however, lets on that the stranger will change the man, and make him "see new things". With that, the scene cuts to montages of a busy Chinatown street. The man turns to see an automatic garage door open to unveil the Land Rover Freelander 2. The man, enthralled, begins to picture himself driving the four-wheeler, as it transports him to a variety of locations in different countries. Inter-cutting shots of the man at the beach with his car and in diving gear suggest an outdoor spirited lifestyle. Scenes of the hero vehicle come to an abrupt end, and cut back to the restaurant. The fortune teller looks at the man, still enchanted by her prediction, and asks cheekily, "or maybe you prefer a nice quiet life."

As the co-production support team, Fast Time's main objective was to supply the UK crew whatever local support was necessary. Working with director Rob Sanders from Amarillo Films, Ratanont and her assistant Surachai Sae-Tia (Chai) provided the full spectrum of support from the casting of talent, location scout, lighting, grips and camera equipment, local production designer and art direction team, special effects team, sound unit and equipment, wardrobe stylist, make-up artist and hair stylist, local assistant director and other Thai crew, transportation, accommodation and telecine at The Post Bangkok.

The shoots were divided into six main locations: Bangkok's Chinatown was used in the restaurant scene as well as for night shots of the streets. Bangkok's expressway was used to depict the city roads; while the flood scene was shot at the capital's business centre. The beach, jungle and Russian winter scenes were all filmed in Chonburi province.

In terms of cameras, the Arri 435 and 535 were used. The director shot in 35mm to capture the rich and full colours in the environments. The 435 was used for high and normal speed shots; while the 535 was reserved for shots that needed to record and sync the voice of the talent.

For one of the scenes, the director wanted a Russian winter setting. After careful deliberation, the Fast Time team suggested to shoot in a rock mine located on a mountain in the Chonburi province. To create a dramatic shot, the team mounted the camera on a crane and manipulated the shot via remote control system. Wind and snow machines were deployed to simulate the blizzard effect. Russian sculptures and walls had to be erected to lend a more authentic Russian look.

One of the more memorable shots for Ratanont was the final one. "It was the final night of a five-day shot with many challenges before and we had to shoot after midnight and didn't wrap until four in the morning. Everybody was tired and sleepy but knew that this was the last shot and this project will be one to remember."

That last scene showed the vehicle moving across a mini flood. "We had to flood the small parking lot of a business centre with three to five inches of water. It took us over two hours to set up for this scene, with the use of sand bags and water trucks. Special lighting equipment was also used for this shot. The team floated three balloon lights - hot air balloon with internal lighting - to simulat street lighting in the parking lot.

Ratanont recounted the camaraderie on the set, following a grueling 5- day shoot:

"By the end, when the director called 'wrap', everyone was clapping and enjoying refreshing cans of beer. "We knew that we had made one of the best TVCs ever."

Rate This Article

Excellent
Very Good
Good
Quite Good
Poor

  Rate This Article

Related Stories

DMC exchanges intercom for Riedel Artist system - 1/9/2010

Amsterdam, Netherlands - The Digital Media Centre (DMC), one of Europe's leading providers of channel playout services, TV distribution and content delivery, has upgraded its intercom system with a co [...]

Evertz enhances broadcast monitoring for Digital Nirvana - 1/9/2010

Newark, California - Digital Nirvana, Inc. and Evertz Microsystems have developed an enhanced interface for Digital Nirvana's MonitorIQ Broadcast Monitoring System to support Evertz's VistaLINK PRO an [...]

Fujifilm launches LTO-5 data cartridge - 18/8/2010

Sydney - Fujifilm has launched their unique LTO-5 data cartridge with a 3.0TB capacity (at 2:1 compression; 1.5TB native). The LTO-5 data cartridge utilises multi-channel recording technology and achi [...]