Soon this experience could be yours thanks to collaboration between AIS Future World and a group of Thai movie directors who are working to develop a new hi-tech movie.

The 360-degree film will be available for viewing at the mini 360-degree theatre at AIS Future World, located at the fourth floor of Siam Paragon in Bangkok.

Somchai lertsutiwong, vice president of AIS's Wireless Service Business, said AIS Future World had been working with three local film producers on this new experience.

AIS has poured in Bt5 million establishing its first 60-seat 360-degree cinema. "The 360-degree theatre here is the first one in the country and the first in the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration with Thai movie producers is our attempt to develop many more 360-degree movies to present at our 360-degree theatre," said Somchai.

He said the 360-degree movie was one of the company's technology showcases, which it hopes will demonstrate what the future holds. Somchai added that the company had no plans yet to launch the concept as a real business.

Offering a unique chance to create and view your own 360-degree movie, AIS has teamed up with Fat Radio to launch a contest to find young potential producers to produce a short 360-degree film. The competition will run for the next two months.

Somchai said there were three different ways to produce a 360-degree movie. The first is to use eight film-cameras to record eight different scenes separately. The second involves using computer graphic technology, instead of producing a movie using a traditional film-camera.

The final technique involves local know-how, using a single camera and the reflection technique.

However, with this technique, the resolution of the film is somewhat lower.

Three pilot movies - a 360-degree music video, "Street Martial Arts", and "Motion Graphic" - have already been demonstrated in the theatre.

"The three pilot movies have been used with these three different techniques in order to show how they differ and to encourage people to try various techniques," said Somchai. He said the short-film contest was an attempt to jump-start the new technology and make Thai film producers aware of it.

The company anticipates full-length 360-degree movies will be available at the cinema in the near future. In the pilot test, a group of reporters experienced the 360-degree theatre first hand.

After watching a 360-degree movie at AIS's Future World, one person said she was very excited by the experience.

When the first demonstration short - the 360-degree music video - was shown, there were eight people singing the same song in eight different places. She said she had the impression all of them were gradually moving around her.

The second movie, produced with computer graphics, gave the feeling the viewers were spinning faster and faster and gave one reporter a headache.

"My eyes couldn't catch the pictures as they zoomed around in 360 degrees too quickly. I think this may be because of the limited area in the theatre. I think a 360-degree theatre should be wider so you can watch the film from a suitable distance," the female viewer said.

She added that the last movie, produced using the reflection technique, also made her head ache due to the low-resolution quality.

However, one expert said that for people to enjoy a 360-degree film, the theatre's screens should be about 25-feet (eight metres) high, and the theatre should be 125-feet wide.

Overall, it was such a convincing experience that the viewers, who

were all standing, leant together as the image tilted from one side to the other.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation