Thailand Location Series: The Northern Beauty

Thailand is increasingly becoming a popular destination for the productions from all over the world. In one of our last blog, we covered reasons for shooting in Thailand despite the lack of incentives. In this new series of blogs, we cover locations from each part of the country.  Many might already know of the locations we will cover. A few we believe are unknown to many of the international location scouts. The series will show that there is more to the country than the notorious nightlife and the beautiful beaches.

We begin with the Northern Thailand. The north of Thailand is geographically a hilly area. There are many national parks, indigenous villagers and rare wildlife and plants. The area is often hailed as the most culturally significant part of Thailand. Chiang Mai is the largest city of this part of Thailand in addition to being the second largest city of the country.

Below are few of the locations

Doi Inthanon Chedi

Doi Inthanon National Park: Imagine for a moment. A beautiful location populated by beautiful waterfalls. All around you can see the source of the rivers. And this location is located at the highest point of the country, at 2,599 meters to be exact. This is Thailand’s most well known national park and one whose beauty make your work more than enjoyable.

Doi Mae Salong plantation

Doi Mae Salong: The area’s plantation doubled for many local and international productions notably American Gangster (2007), Ridley Scott’s helmed project starring DenzelWashington and Russell Crowe. It is however a beautiful tea, coffee and fruit plantations and not drugs as depicted. It has also been featured in many productions for romantic backgrounds.

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang: This particular location is very popular for local productions for many reasons. The main reason is its location among the beautiful hills. The second is the long staircase with what is believed to be the most beautiful man made methodological serpents rambling from the entrance of the chapel to the door, on both sides of the staircase. For a shoot that covers exotic Thai temple not flanked by the usual skyscrapers of Bangkok, this is total ideal.

Doi Phu Kha

Doi Phu Kha National Park: If you have watched a little known movie titled “The Elephant King”, this location’s beauty will not be of a surprise to you. The pink flowers are in here in this park, Chomphu Phu Kha to be exact. They are in full bloom during February. This location has been a favorite for both local and international productions alike. Permits can be applied for and accommodation services inside the park are available.  

Some of the international productions shot here in Northern Thailand included American Gangster (2007), Rambo(2008), Rambo 3 (1988), Surf Ninjas (1993), Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), TheElephant King (2006), Somewhere (2004), Hot Potato (1976) and Sniper 3 (Video2004).  Northern Thailand has also been featured in the famous TV series “The Amazing Race”. Lost in Thailand(2012), the highest grossing Chinese movie was also shot around in the area. 

In the next series, we will move downward to cover the beautiful locations in the north western.

Note From A Friend: Ashvin Kumar

Hi there,

My film Little Terrorist was the first short film from India to be nominated for an Academy Award® and also the most recent Oscar® nominated film from India. Two days ago, it became one of few shorts in the world to be selected by Apple iTunes and made available to the wired world for download.Little Terrorist has been shown at over a 120 film festivals around the world, picking up 15 top honors in them. Now, with a click of a button you can own a copy of it, on your computer and iPod. It has got a five star rating from all its viewers. In a single day (yesterday) it moved from the number 16 to the number 11 spot out of the top 100 on iTunes.If you like what you see, please write your own review and rate it; you could also forward this email to your friends and associates and help change the way the world watches movies.

GO TO - the USA version of iTunes music store
GO TO - movies
GO TO - short films or short films just added
CLICK ON - SHORTS (yellow) button, award winning short films.
OR click on the link below which takes you to the site directly.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovie?id=212781411&s=143441

More on Little Terrorist

Many thanks!!

Ashvin.

********

Benetone Films had the pleasure of being appointed the Online Producer - Thailand for Dreyfuss/James Productions production of Ashvin Kumar's The Forest which was partly shot at the Khao Kiew Open Zoo. For more of Ashvin's thought on The Forest, his film and saving the tiger check out his blog -

AshvinKumar: The Forest, my film and save our tigers

THE FOREST: A thriller feature film set in the Indian jungles of Kumaon, TheForest is currently in post production. Watch the trailer now!

To read more about Ashvin, The Forest & Little Terroist please visit: http://www.alipur.com/

Production Stills: Tiger TVC - Neo Sports

Production stills of TVC titled "Tiger" for Neo Sports Channel of Nimbus Communication to be aired in India during a Cricket Tournament between India & Sri Lanka. The main lead for the film is of course the Tiger. Its a Siberian male tiger aged 1 year 2 months old.

Stills Photography Campaign: Killer Jeans

A Still photography campaign for Killer Jeans. The apparel company is from India. The production was done in Thailand by Benetone Films. There were all together three situations. We shot in a forest about 2 hours away from Bangkok, in a pool of a really neat house and a beautiful public park in Bangkok. The concept of the campaign was fantasy with play on Angel of Death as the brand is "Killer" Jeans. All the model was cast in Bangkok by Benetone Films.

The photographer was Prasad Naik, anther leading Fashion, Celebrity and Lifestyle photographer from India that Benetone Films had the chance to work with. You can check out more of Mr Naik’s portfolio at http://www.prasadnaik.com