Variations on a Theme

HIS NAME IS probably not known to the large majority of Thai film fans but there’s little doubt that all would recognise his music. Chatchai Pongpraphan, the composer behind haunting scores for such films as “The Letter” and “Shutter”, recently talked about his fascinating career and how his music has reflected the transition in Thai cinema over the years at the Bangkok Music Forum hosted by the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
Chatchai started his career 15 years ago when he composed the score for Nonzee Nimibutr’s “Nang Nak”. The film followed hot on the heels of Nonzee’s successful crime drama “2499 Antapal Krong Muang” (“Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters”), which is often regarded as the film that launched modern Thai cinema.
Chatchai, who like most youngsters of the time, had been pushed away from a music career by his parents, studied the hotel and tourism business at Rangsit University before rebelling and moving to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he learned about music technology.
Sadly though, his degree didn’t land him a job on return and he remained unemployed for a year before finally being taken on by Boop Records, an indie label whose artists included Kidnapper and See Tao Ther.
“I had the ideas and the technique but I didn’t have a chance to put them into practice until ‘Nang Nak’,” says Chatchai.
“Nang Nak” was the first movie to earn Bt150 million at the box office and also marked the first time that the industry noted the extent to which a score affects appreciation.
More work followed and soon Chatchai was honing his skills on such movies as “Bang Rajan”, “Monrak Transistor” and “Shutter”.
He names “Bang Rajan” as the film that reassured him he was on the right career path.
“With ‘Bang Rajan’, I discovered I had fallen in love with the work and there was nothing else I would rather do,” says the composer, who also crafted the scores for “Jan Dara,” the animation “Khan Kluay” and last year’s blockbuster “Pee Mak Phra Khanong.”
Chatchai’s role in any film starts by a thorough reading of the script. He then sits down with the director to brainstorm on the theme.
“The first thing I do is suss out the sound of the film and that’s based on the story, the mood and the tone,” he says, citing “Jan Dara” as an example.
“It’s a sad story that’s full of disquiet but at the same time erotic. I immediately identified the violin as the key sound for the soundtrack because it’s an instrument that can relate to all the emotions in the film,” he says.
The theme score settled, he then breaks it down into 20 or 30 musical pieces or theme variations.
Nonzee says that the score plays a pivotal role in completing a film. “Chatchai once told me that good music in film should come and go without anyone noticing and it’s true,” says the veteran director, adding that he once tried watching his movie by muting the sound. “It was awful,” he laughs.
“So that’s why people say that a movie score is not for listening but to feel,”
Chatchai adds that his job is to make the music “unnoticeable” while subtly driving the mood of the movie. “A music score is not for the composer to show off. Instead it’s like he’s hiding behind the curtain,” he says, adding that the process of creation is lonely work. “I stay in my studio and work on the score for a month or two. Fortunately though, I love working alone and enjoy working on one project for several days.”
Chatchai also stresses the importance of being in synch with the director even when locked away.
Banjong Pisanthanakun who has worked with Chatchai on each of his projects, says the composer understands the language of the movie, which means he is not just able to write an excellent score, but one that also completes the film.
“I am very demanding and worry that I will end alienating my co workers. Chatchai is the opposite. He knows instinctively what I what and makes my films a lot better,” he says.
Chatchai has also worked with Asian directors, scoring the soundtrack for Peter Chan’s “The Warlords” and “Wu Xia” and winning recognition for his work at the Hong Kong Film Awards
He says the toughest task in his 15-year career was writing the score for the 2006 animation “Khan Kluay”.
“It was like a final examination. Unlike ordinary films, animations have no emotion in their movement, so the music has to be created from nothing, The score is also very important to the characters’ movements. I worked solidly on the project for almost seven months,” he says.
However, Chatchai reckons that Thai movies don’t require such an intricate score as their Hollywood cousins.
“In general, the film score relates to the size of the movie production. A Thai film doesn’t warrant an entire orchestra for the soundtrack,” he says.
And while the market for film scores isn’t huge, he says there is more than enough work to keep 10 composers busy.
“My dream is to share my experience with young people who are interested in movie scores by holding classes or perhaps even opening a school. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do it now but up-and-coming composers are more than welcome to share their work with me on Facebook. If I’m not too busy, I will listen and discuss ideas,” he says.
 On the Web:
Facebook.com/pohchatchai