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Chameleon VR: A 360-degree glimpse of Asia on your smartphone

Get to the centre of some of the best stories about the region with this 360-degree video app

You have probably snapped 360-degree photos on your smartphone using a photo app or 360 camera. And you've most likely viewed fun 360-degree videos on social media channels such as Facebook.

Now, how about going on a haunting, virtual trip through one of Thailand’s most infamous ghost towers, or taking a 360-degree look at the grime and poverty in one of Manila’s slums? The crippling symptoms of dementia, when experienced through the virtual eyes of special cameras, also promise to be an emotionally gripping affair.

A 360-degree look at Asia
Experience these stories and a world of other quality content from Asia in a creative, immersive format with the Chameleon VR app for iOS or Android devices. Chameleon VR is the brainchild of Mr Vitaliy Nechaev and VOSTOK VR, a virtual reality film production company the tech entrepreneur founded in 2015. The app is a showcase of intriguing, Asia-focused 360-degree films and experiences produced by the Singaporean firm in collaboration with film-making professionals from around the region.


Run To The Water (above), a 360-degree video available on Chameleon VR, showcases the talents of dancers from Karpenko Gymnastics Academy (Singapore). 

Chameleon VR is free to use and requires no subscription. Its creators have lowered the barriers to enjoying engaging 360-degree content by offering content that can be viewed on most devices – from budget to high-end. Users can also download videos to their mobile devices instead of streaming them over mobile data or WiFi. No more having to put up with pixelated images or endless buffering when internet signals are spotty or unavailable. Download the high-resolution videos in your preferred quality — good or best — beforehand, and you can enjoy an immersive, 360-degree viewing experience even when Internet connections become spotty. 

Viewers can use the app on its own, or with any virtual reality headset.


Happyland (above): Eking out life in a slum on a giant landfill on the outskirts of Manila.

Asian content on your smartphone
Mr Nechaev, 30, who aims to change the view that the 360-degree medium “is only for gimmicky videos”, created Chameleon VR in 2015 to fill a gap in the VR content scene. Happyland, his acclaimed 360-degree film debut from the same year, is testament to his beliefs. Filmed over three days in a slum on the outskirts of Manila, the movie gives viewers a taste of eking out a living on a giant landfill.

The visual story-teller also hopes to offer the app as a platform for collaboration between his team and film-making talent from the region.

“There are many stories told using VR in countries such as the United States, but very few 360-degee videos created by Asian filmmakers featuring Asian content,” said Mr Nechaev. “I hope to be able to motivate other professionals to come on board to create high-quality videos that can be delivered to anyone in Asia.”

Abandon traces the story of a woman who follows her ex-boyfriend on his last journey to the top of the abandoned tower in the middle of Bangkok.

Ghost of a building
Abandon, a 360-degree short film that was recently released on Chameleon VR, saw Mr Nechaev working with Singaporean poet, Marc Nair. Mr Nair took on screenwriting duties for the fictional dramatisation of the events behind the 2014 suicide of a Swedish backpacker in an abandoned skyscraper in downtown Bangkok. Sathorn Unique, a never-completed high-rise luxury condominium project, fell victim to the Asian financial crisis in 1997. This crumbling ghost building is now etched in the city’s skyline.


Abandon features new filming techniques from Mr Nechaev and his team.

New 360-degree video genres
The experimenting continues for Mr Nechaev in another two upcoming 360-degree film projects backed by Channel NewsAsia. The first, a documentary, places viewers in the mind and body of a dementia patient, offering a virtual experience of disease symptoms such as tunnel vision. The second is a darkly humorous, action-packed piece about a man who uses cyberattacks to thwart the dating efforts of his ex-girlfriend. Directors from the Asia-focused news channel helmed both short films using specialised equipment from Mr Nechaev and his team, who also provided post-production support. The videos are slated for release on Chameleon VR in April.

“Having Channel NewsAsia take a creative lead on these two films introduces new angles and different opinions in Chameleon’s fast-growing catalogue,” said Mr Nechaev. “And that’s what makes the app interesting.”


Kamchatka VR, set in Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, is aother 360-degree movie to watch out for on the Chameleon VR app. 

Produced by the TODAY Special Projects Team

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