Thailand Location Series: The Western Thailand

In our previous blog, we mentioned the scenic locations of the Northern Thailand. It is geographically a hilly area and boasts of many National Parks. We selected four locations which are popularly used as a background in many local and international productions. Few of the movies shot around the area have also been mentioned.

In this blog, we take you to the Western part of Thailand. The area is characterized by high mountains, steep river valleys and major dams. The area is also the beginning of the Tenasserim Hills (known in Thailand as Thio Khao Tanaosi) a natural barrier between Burma and Thailand. Western Thailand is important for its history and mining industry. It is also the least disturbed part of Thailand.

We selected few of the locations that would interest any location scouts.

Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary: If you are looking for thick jungles with rushing streams, this UNESCO World Heritage site would be the most ideal. Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary is linked with the Thung Yai Naresuan, Huay Kha Kaeng Reserves, Khlong Lan and Mae Wong national Parks. Together these form South East Asia’s top virgin forest. It also boasts of the country’s largest waterfall, Namtok Thi So Lu.

Sukhothai Historical Park: Fans of the Mortal Kombat movie series can easily recognized this location. It is the ruins of old Sukhothai, the capital of Sukhothai Kingdom which flourished in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. It served as a location for the popular Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997). Interesting Fact: famous Thai actor and martial arts expert Tony Jaa worked as a stunt double in the movie.

Utthayan Mueang Kao Pichit: A famous historical remains of an ancient town dating back to more than 900 years. There are scores of chedis scattered around the site. This location served as a backdrop for song sequences in many Bollywood productions and is also very popular for the local productions.

Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park: A beautiful location with a tragic history, this national park is popular for its vast plain of rocky formations. Its uniqueness makes it ideal for productions that would look for deserted and exotic locations, possibly double up for other planets!  

Thung Salaeng Luang National Park: This location can easily double up for Savannah any day. It is vast grassland against a backdrop of high mountains, endowed naturally with pine trees and wild flowers.

This part of Thailand has not been featured extensively in international productions. Few of the international productions shot in Western Thailand include The Man with TheGolden Gun (1974), Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn (2007) which starred ChristianBale, Vinyan (2008) and both of the Mortal Kombat movies.   

In the next series, we will cover the Eastern and North Eastern Thailand.

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.

Benetone Films to line produce “Its Entertainment” starring the Khiladi Akshay Kumar

Bangkok, Thailand – Benetone Films announced that it has been chosen to line produce Akshay Kumar’s next starring venture, “Its Entertainment” which will be directed by the debutants Sajid- Farhad and produced by Ramesh Taurani. The movie pairs the Khiladi with TamannaBhatia and will begin shooting around various locations in Bangkok by the end of June.

This is not a first time that Benetone Films has had an opportunity of working with Akshay Kumar. Over the last few years, the production house had line produced big budget Akshay starrers such Chandni Chowk to China, Housefull 2, Blue and Desi Boyz. In fact, a couple of months back Benetone Films also line produced soon to be released BOSS which is directed by Anthony D’ Souza, the director of Blue.

More information will be updated by the company on its website here and also on its social presence at Facebook.com/benetonefilms and Twitter.com/benetonefilms

“Marty Press Play”, its time adults listen

Benetone Films is proud to announce its patronage of “Marty Press Play”, an upcoming project bought together by a group of young students. “Martin Press Play” is about a 7 year old Marty who lose his father to a horrific car accident after which his mother, terribly scarred remarried Frank who treat him cruelly. But what the step father doesn't expect is that Marty is looking to get rid of him and it won’t be an accident. The project owners are currently raising funds to the total amount of US $ 2,300 on IndieGoGo, one of the largest global crowdfunding platform.

“Marty Press Play” addresses, through the eyes of the young Marty, frustrations faced by the children who are often hold responsible by the adults for the troubles that they haven’t create. Ultimately, the frustrations bottled up for long exploded and young Martin proceeded to do something which involves the title of the film.

“Martin Press Play” starred a young new talent, Nicky Jaques as Martin, the beautiful Colleen Ann Fleischmann as Mom and Ryan Preimesberger as Frank. The first look of the movie with messages from the director and the young lead can be viewed here. 

The project has so far raised US $ 1,962 and has still 16 days left on the campaign. You can contribute to the project at http://bit.ly/12alKGF with many rewards available depending on the amount of funds that you will support the project.

The other members of the team include Tom Byrnes (Assistant Director); Jeffrey Men, Mia Christo, Adithep Narula (Producers); Sean Kiely (Sound Mixer); Steve Russell (Director of Photography); Michael Sheptock (Assistant Camera) and Andrea Massaad (Production Designer). 

Top 5 Tips For Filming Abroad

The original post is by Nia Genelis of Global Media Desk for KFTV

As anyone in this industry knows, filming can be a complex business, with obstacles and hurdles to overcome even for the shortest project. Shooting in another country can present very specific challenges as well as rewards, with plenty of research to be done ahead of time.

When done correctly however, venturing beyond your borders can be a once in-a-lifetime event. So how do you ensure a drama-free shoot in a foreign country? The experts at Global Media Desk have put together a list of tips, tricks and advice to make your shoot a complete and total success.

1. Plan ahead

When arranging crews, permits, visas, travel, hotels and other services, book as far in advance as possible. Booking ahead of time will ensure that you get the best rates and save a lot of money.

Also, don’t forget the time difference. If you’re reading this during the daytime in the United States, it is already evening in Europe. And in Asia, it’s already tomorrow. So, if you happen to be organising a shoot in either of these regions, and you’re based in Berlin, you’re already a day behind.

You can look at the KFTV country guides to find time zones of 149 countries around the world, or visit sites such as the Time Difference Calculator.

2. Things you need before you travel

Some countries require visas to be obtained in advance. This process can take anything from one week to one month to complete. KFTV has details on specific visa requirements and where to find them listed country by country. Or you can refer to VisaHQ.

Another vital point to remember before you travel is that voltage and power outlets vary around the world. You should have the right plug adapters and power converters before setting off. Most plug adapters do not convert the power.

Laptops and video cameras usually have built-in converters, but you will need to buy a separate power converter for all other devices. If your voltages don’t match you could end up blowing a fuse. You can find a list of electrical systems around the world here.

3. Go local

By working with local film crews in the country or region you are shooting in, you end up killing two birds with one stone.

First of all, you reduce or eliminate travel expenses considerably, and save on having to ship in large amounts of equipment. This can often incur customs fees, not to mention the hefty extra baggage charges at check-in.

Secondly, and most importantly, you will be working with people who know the local terrain, language, and customs. This kind of local knowledge is the single most effective way of reducing potential problems, because your locally based team will know how to avoid country-specific risks.

4. Know the local laws, customs, do’s & don’ts

Imagine your reaction if your production had to be shut down because you did not get the right permit, or decided to shoot on a major local holiday when everything was closed? What would happen if you chose to shoot on a forbidden location, or didn’t follow the specific local shooting code?

You can spend quite a lot of time researching the filming laws in your destination country, checking with the local film commissions and other government organisations.  Alternatively, hire a local fixer, scout or production assistant who knows the right people and permits, and who can take care of everything prior to your arrival, thus saving you valuable time.

5. Have fun

Don’t forget what a gift it is to travel and to have the opportunity to discover new places and people. If possible, schedule some time to get out there and explore a little.

Your local crew will probably have some great advice on places to visit in the area. Enjoy yourself; you won’t regret it

Why shooting in Thailand without incentives is still an attractive option

In our last post, we mentioned the importance of incentives and how Thailand loses a lot of potential businesses from the big international studios for the lack of it. Yet, there is no denying that the country is still attracting filmmakers from all over the world who find other factors prevalent in the country to be attractive. In this post we will highlight these factors. 

During the one day seminar of the Thailand International Film Festival 2013, many of the guests agreed that Thailand is one of the best places to shoot a movie and some including Mr. Daniel Zirilli and Mr. Andrew Pfeffer (Bangkok Dangerous, Running Scared and etc.) shared their wonderful experiences of shooting their projects here. During their stories, they repeatedly highlighted some of the factors that make Thailand an attractive place to shoot. In this post, we will detail each of the factors and share the experiences from the filmmakers to illustrate how without the incentives, Thailand is still one of the most appealing place to shoot.

Hard working and experienced crew: Daniel Zirilli recounted an incident on one of his earliest shoots in Thailand when heavy equipment was urgently required for a shoot on top of a hill and it was proving to be difficult due to some unforeseen problems. One of the crew members solved the dilemma by lifting the equipment and went all the way to the top without once complaining. This story is one of the many examples of hard working attitude of the locals who are not afraid of working hard and are always ready to brave any kind of situation. Additionally, with many upcoming film production services in the country, more and more people are gaining the valuable experiences and thus become what one of the guests said “the most attractive workforce for film production in the region.”

Locations: When the Chinese government suddenly revoked the permit to film a week prior to shooting, Weinstein Company’s ambitious project Shanghai ran into trouble. They had to walk away from an expensive set and find a new location in a short time. Fortunately for them, Thailand has the locations that can double up for the historical time China and at a lower cost. In other instances, Thailand’s beautiful (and the popular notorious side) beat out Rio to be featured in Hangover 2; and of course the beautiful paradise for Leonardo Di Caprio in TheBeach. The country is no short of having beautiful locations and has in fact been a favorite for many Bollywood filmmakers who increasingly using it to double up for places such as New York, Bahamas, to name a few.

Low cost of production: Thailand as mentioned above was used to double up for many other locations primarily not only because of its beautiful locations, but also of the low cost of production. The production services down here are not only reasonably priced but other factors including logistics and accommodation are among the best and cheapest in the region. Moreover, sets construction is admittedly by many of our clients one of the cheapest at the highest quality in the region. This all contribute to the lower cost for the filmmakers and thus saving costs to a large extent.

Excellent Infrastructure: Thailand’s infrastructure is undeniably one of the best in the region. Many filmmakers find it easy to shoot in Thailand and easy to transportation of the equipment or the crew to locations quickly. In fact we have had finished shoots that take place at 3 different locations in a single day itself!

Professional Production Services: The guests had praised highly of the professionalism of the production services in Thailand and this made us proud. We at Benetone Films had strive to be the best of the crop and we value transparency and honesty highly when servicing the clients.

Friendly atmosphere: Thailand is popularly known as the land of smiles and this is always pleasant for the filmmakers who come back to Thailand again and again to enjoy the hospitality and joy of working with the locals. Moreover, Thai people are gracious and go out of their way to make sure the visitors are comfortable. Mr. Kulthep Narula representing Benetone Films in fact shared how during the 2010 Thai political protests,  the shoot went on without any trouble a mere distance away from the protests. Moreover the protesters were handling out water or refreshments to the crew.

The above factors are one of the other many others to make the filmmakers choose Thailand despite not having incentives. In the end, we welcome you to experience the country for yourself and for any assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Bottom Line: Incentives - Thailand International Film Festival 2013

This post follows our earlier post on Thailand International Film Festival 2013 highlights. This is an expansion of that blog on the issues discussed during the seminar with incentives being the primary concern. You can read the earlier post here.

Attractive locations, hard working crew, high quality production and lack of tax incentives and other factors came into discussion at the one-day seminar of Thailand International Film Destination Festival Bangkok, 2013. The seminar as mentioned was headlined by two of the leading location managers from Hollywood and international filmmakers with experience of shooting in Thailand. The guests collectively provided interesting insights into the factors that determine studios’ decision to choose a location and shared their experiences of working in Thailand

In both of the sessions, as challenges of shooting in Thailand were discussed, the discussions of course inadvertently turned to the lack of incentives.

Incentives for those who do not know are usually something that motivates an action to occur. In the context of filmmaking, incentives (known as Movie Production Incentives) are usually tax rebate, co-production treaties, government grants and other attractive packages like free transportation for the cast and crew and etc. These attract the filmmakers to come to the locations where they can enjoy the incentives and help them lower the cost of the movie productions.

Despite being in the spotlight for many movies being shot here, Thailand unfortunately have had no incentives. Regardless, many foreign movies continue coming to shoot here for there are other reasons such as low cost of production, hard working and experienced crew, exotic locations, excellent infrastructure, availability of equipment and etc. making it one of the most attractive in the region.

However, many big budget movies are reluctant to come and shoot here for the executives running the studios behind those movies consider incentives as the most important factor while considering a location to shoot. Moreover, their time is limited and thus if there is no incentives, other details of what Thailand has to offer is of no interest. The issue of not having the incentives thus makes it difficult for Thailand to be on the shortlist of locations for only the countries with incentives and so deemed cost effective will be more favored.

We do understand the importance of incentives however, in the same discussion other factors of Thailand were too highlighted which made it attractive. In the next post, we will thus explore those factors and how without incentives, Thailand is still very attractive place for filmmakers to come.

Stay Tune!