After creating animated TV series such as Dracula Tok and Power Kids, director Natthaphong Rattanachokesirikul, along with his 30 other crew members at BeBoyd CG animation studio, recently made their big screen debut with Nak.

Why Nak?

Prachya [Pinkaew, Chocolate’s director] introduced us to Sahamongkol and we got a chance to present our four-minute trailer of Cyburger. But they suggested it would be better if we can do an animation with legendary ghost Nak as the main character. It’d be easier for them to promote the film and it’s a great chance for us to finally make a feature animation. So Nak it is.

Nak has appeared in countless of films already. How does your interpretation differ?

We don’t want to reinforce the traditional image of Nak as scary and frightening. We want Nak to be a new superhero, who has to leave the countryside to rescue a boy kidnapped by villainous city ghosts, inspired by all those Asian horror flicks like The Ring and Ju On.

How was it like switching from TV series to full-scale motion picture?

It was a completely different story. It took us over three years to complete Nak. Watching Thai cartoons, I find it hard to relate to characters because they tend to aim only at kids. The characters are usually either one-dimensional or too cartoonish. The most difficult part for me is to figure out how to make all characters in the film, lifelike.

What should the audiences expect when they come see Nak?

To be honest, I don’t want them to expect anything, especially if elaborate CG scenes are what they look for. We aren’t Pixar. Everyone in the team picked up animation techniques ourselves.

What about you? What do you expect from Nak?

We want to prove that with a tight budget you can still make a good animated film. If people have fun watching it, it’s enough of a success for me.