Bangkok, Tailand. Wuthisak Anarnkaporn Founder / Film Director at Factory 01
Tomilli: What excites the most about being a judge at international festivals?
Festivals bring great people from all over the world together. In stead of pure judging, we found it a process of learning. Every opinion, comment, explanation, and conclusion in a panel telling us where is the world heading toward, and where we really are in the map. And it’s never been the same in each show. We have to admit that in the world of filmmaking, a small country like Thailand is not a spearhead of the industry. We never have the latest technology or the biggest budget. Good thing is we all get used to that and we always find our own way to make some impact in our own style. Imagine a very lightweight boxer in a cage-fight with hundreds of heavyweight fighters, how could you not find it full of excitement in every single festival?
You will a jury member of the only global festival for independent agencies and producers, but how do you see the independent sector in Thailand?
All production companies in Thailand are independent since the beginning. But independent agencies become more and more common now. Many great people quits network agencies to start their own business, and Thai clients love that. The problem in terms of festival is, not every independent agency finds a trophy that could bring benefits to them as it used to when they are in networks, at least for now. Social media creates a new segment in communication market which is SME and they are getting big and bigger. What Thai SME is looking for, might be different from classical big brands. By the way, “independent agency of the year” label is the key magnet that every local festival has.
The era of advertising mega-productions will not return?
I don’t think it would be easy for mega-production “era” to comeback. But there are always mega-production projects once in a while, if people still believe in branding. And when the world goes cheaper, counter strategies are always the easiest way to make impact. And frankly, for those who bring projects to produce in Thailand occasionally, is well known that a proper budget in your country is already a mega one here. It’s a classic joke that no-one in Thailand laughs about.
How have the production companies adapted to the new reality of budgets?
The process that we are using now was created since the film era. Not only budgets that need us to adapt, timeframe is also a big issue. And to fix both, clients, agencies and production companies need to rearrange the new teamwork structure together. Everyone should be working on that. We are working on that.
How diverse is Thailand in commercial production locations?
As I know, 99.99% of Thai commercials are produced in Thailand. And 100% are produced by Thai production companies. Very simple, it’s cheapest and fastest.
Where are better stories told, on the Internet or on television?
I found they have their own strong points. Their structure is totally different. TV is one way communication while online is two ways. We used to be scared of TV remote control so bad. Now we face a tougher threat on social media. But with online algorithm, we can create a specific way of story telling to a specific kind of audience. We don’t need to make one size fits all shoes anymore.
What’s next for Factory 01 in 2021?
We will explore how to make video by getting more engage using minimum resources. Then we will launch our new services to our royal clients first within 2021.