Thai Cultural Capital in Short Animation Films by Media Arts students at King Mongkut's University from 2014 to 2022

Currently, the animation industry has grown significantly in line with the expansion of the streaming entertainment industry. It is also found that cultural capital has been widely applied in animated films. Of all short animation works of animation students registered at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi from the year 2014 to 2022, six works that applied Thai cultural capital to convey stories through animation received national awards. In 2014 the animations named “Circle” used Bangkok-specific Thainess, and “Spirit of Ship” incorporated the beliefs and lifestyles of people in southern Thailand. In the year 2015, “Festival Rush” portrayed the beauty and liveliness of temple festivals in Thailand, and “Bua-Tong” presented beliefs in ghosts and Lanna culture in the northern region. In 2020 “Small Puppet” showcased the beauty of small puppet shows, and “Guardian” depicted Srivijaya lifestyle and culture. From the study of the creative process of the six films, it was found that the students must have researched the origin of the story, way of life, belief, and faith which are a set of intangible data and also studied the tangible information from the architecture, paintings, sculpture and others. This study therefore examined the model of using cultural capital in animation films in order to develop cultural capital to have an impact on the country's creative industries.