Prachya, Pantham lead masterclasses at Technicolor Asia

This week, Bangkok's Technicolor Asia held a masterclass that was attended by 80 students from Bangkok University as part of the Thai-U.S. Creative Partnership Project.

The details that follow are all from a press release sent yesterday by Technicolor Asia's PR division.

The classes were led by two Thai directors – Prachya Pinkaew (Ong-Bak, Chocolate and the recent Hollywood production Elephant White) on September 7 and Pantham Thongsang (Midroad Gang, Ai Fak) on September 9. They lectured on “Elements of International Filmmaking”, each from their own perspective.

Also on September 7, U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney visited Technicolor Asia, where she had a firsthand look TA’s role in the international film industry and to meet and congratulate the students on their participation in the Thai-U.S. Creative Partnership Project.

She also met managing director Sergio Bosso, who was appointed as the head of Technicolor's Bangkok facility last October. He had previously been TA's general manager. He's been with Technicolor since 2004, first as European engineering director and then as operations director of Technicolor Rome.

Technicolor Asia, which began in 1977 as CineColor and became Technicolor Thailand in 2004, is the largest post-production facility in the Asian region, making film prints for distribution (including Hollywood films). The facility also offers sound and digital services for local and regional filmmakers. Many Hollywood productions filming in Thailand use the services of Technicolor Asia – as did Warner Bros.' The Hangover Part II last year.

Recently, historical rivals Deluxe and Technicolor entered into a pact to service each other’s clients due to an overall decline in the film print business caused by the increase in digital projections.

Deluxe, which previously printed at Kantana's Oriental Post labs, now sends all its Asian film-print work through Technicolor Asia.

Another recent development by TA has been the introduction of the Technicolor 3D lens. Offering an less-costly alternative to converting to full digital projectors, the lens can be retrofitted on an ordinary 2D projector.

With India at No. 1 in Asia for deployment of the Technicolor 3D lens, Thailand is second in the region with 35 installations and fourth worldwide in deployment of the T3D lenses.

Techicolor Asia is also expected to announce shortly about a tie-up with the makers of the first 3D Thai film, Mae Nak 3D, which will be released in October.