CityNews – Are you one of the 300,000 people who have watched “The Deepest” in the past three months? If not, then get onto Facebook or YouTube and join the masses.
The Deepest is the first sci-fi short film produced in Thailand and was created by a young Chiang Mai producer. Nipan Chawcharernpon, in his late twenties, is an independent film maker, producer, VFX and video editor who has inspired many independent film makers in Thailand by his various pieces on YouTube. Originally from Chiang Mai, Nipan graduated from Woodburn Arts and Communications Academy in the US. After graduation, he came back to Thailand and worked in video production for a short while and eventually began to making his own short films and visual effects, mostly acted out by himself and friends.
“The Deepest”, released in April, began to rock social media within weeks of its release, garnering great acclaim for its computer graphics and special techniques. Recently the film was selected to be a part of Cannes Film Festival 2015. What is remarkable about this film is the astonishingly low budget it cost to produce. Using his own equipment and bringing in friends to help, Nipan was able to produce incredible professional results with very little budget.
“I picked up the sci-fi genre because I think it’s new and it challenged me to cross the boundaries of Thai film circles since no one had ever tried to do this kind of film in Thailand before. Most people think that a sci-fi film requires massive budgets and complicated work. I just wanted to prove that Thai people also have the potential to make successful films in our own way even though it’s just the first step when comparing to other Hollywood films,” said Nipan.
“The Deepest” is a story of a space journey with Thai and American astronauts. The captain of the spaceship has to bring his crew through a galaxy by using warped drive. Unfortunately something goes wrong and the team have to break all the rules and try to return to their loved ones by holding on to hope, faith and love alone.
The most striking element of the film is the vivid depictions of outer space that encapsulate the crews ship. Without knowing the story of Nipan and his home studio, you’d never know that such a realistic environment was created with so little.
Nipan has created many short films including ‘The Silence’, ‘Drift’, ‘On the Way’, with most of them receiving good critique. He has also made behind the scenes and tutorial videos which you can also find online. He is currently working on another spaceship themed film which will soon be released.
Nipan’s ambition is to inspire other independent film makers in Thailand to pursue their dreams and dare to do things that they think they cannot do. He believes that there is nothing to limit human potential and he wants to contribute to society by pushing forward people’s inspirations to create great works.
Update: Some content of this article was removed at request of the producer.