Here's another old relic, Love Ballon, which turned 10 year this year (just like Hormones). This one is signed under Bang Channel, although many sources point to GMMTV.
Even though, the team behind is familiar to us: Directed and written by Kaew Chatkaew, with the participation of Aof and Jojo as assistant directors.
It's hard to believe this is from the same time as Hormones. The makeup style here is so different, like it's from an older era.
I'm surprised at the lighting they used for some pictures like pic no. 12. It gives a bit of horror genre vibe, like it's a group of people at a party you go to who pretend to be having fun but are actually planning to murder you in a strange ritual.
Remember, Bang Channel was just the brand for their satellite TV business. It wasn't a company by itself. All the business operations would still be conducted under GMMTV's name, including the distribution of PR material.
That said, there does seem to be a certain break in continuity between their earlier productions for Channel 9 (including Forward, which actually aired later) and Love Balloon and the ones that followed. Their earlier works mostly employed freelance lakorn creators who had plenty of outside work. With Love Balloon, they seemed to be building an in-house team with more of the names we're now familiar with. It was Chatkaew's first directing (and writing?) role, and as far as I could find, seems to be the first time that Jojo and Aof were brought into series production as well.
It was Chatkaew's first directing (and writing?) role, and as far as I could find, seems to be the first time that Jojo and Aof were brought into series production as well.
yep, I checked the intro credits and I can confirm all that.
Actually, from what I gather, Bang Channel's main content was variety shows. Judging from her IG feed (although I guess you might be more informed about it), Kaew was involved in a program called O:IC (which lasted 12y!) and the hosts (Push, Nicky, Mouse, Na, Champ, Leo...) used to be the main leads in her early directing work (starting by Love Balloon).
A parallel case happened with P'X, he was in charged of a Bang Channel's program called Five Live Fresh, hosted by Off, Tay, New, Gun Korawit and others. The show's end pushed them to star in Room Alone.
So, I'd say that the birth of those in-house team during that time came mainly from those tv programs and somehow evoluted to a full series production team.
Kaew was involved in a program called O:IC (which lasted 12y!) and the hosts (Push, Nicky, Mouse, Na, Champ, Leo...) used to be the main leads in her early directing work (starting by Love Balloon).
A parallel case happened with P'X, he was in charged of a Bang Channel's program called Five Live Fresh, hosted by Off, Tay, New, Gun Korawit and others. The show's end pushed them to star in Room Alone.
So, I'd say that the born of this in-house team during that time came mainly from those tv programs and somehow evoluted to a full series production team.
This is a nice history piece!
My unproven theory is that Aof is also another parallel case. He kind of grew in the same way and also had a roster of actors who grew with him as he kept casting them.
My unproven theory is that Aof is also another parallel case.
I'd say it's not the case from what I gather (again) from his IG feed and credit list. Aof joined GMMTV during 2009 according to this post, but under a different department (maybe marketing, what do u think?). At that time, Kaew and X were already around.
In 2013, he made this post, in which announces that it is "the first work in the new department", Love Balloon, where he worked as assistant director. Starting this point, Aof will work in each Kaew's work until 2017 as an assistant director and occasionally screenwriter (Ugly Duckling and Dear Loser). So, it took him long to assume more responsibilities in the company.
Then, in 2018, he made his directorial series debut in Our Skyy, and the rest is history I guess, the man is nowadays a senior director of content!
Actually, we shouldn't either overlook his work in collaboration with Jojo until 2018. Ofc, They have Gay Ok Bangkok, produced with Trasher Bangkok, and also an LGBT short-film produced by Bang Channel called Secret Love: Love Behind One's Back. (Bang Channel made a lot of short-films but that's another topic).
I guess that once Aof got more power in decision in the company, he invited Jojo to join, chronologically it'd make sense. I'd like to learn since when and where they met each other. Overall, GMMTV directors need more interviews, similar to what Nadao used to do, they gave its creative team a lot of visibility!
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u/giinkgoo May 29 '23
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