Mobile Computing News

Photo: Alex Guerrero / Wikimedia Commons

Okay, though that title is somewhat misleading but not untrue, legendary film producer and director Ridley Scott as well as director Kevin MacDonald are developing a documentary, as part of a YouTube experiment, titled ‘Life in the Day’.

Chronicling your life

The film will showcase footage of 20 people’s lives, as lived on 24 July 2010, from a range of submissions. Those who are selected will be flown in to the film’s worldwide premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and will also be credited as co-directors.

Social filmmaking

MacDonald explained in a statement that ‘“Life in a Day’ is a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.’ He continued, saying ‘It is a unique experiment in social filmmaking, and what better way to gather a limitless array of footage than to engage the world’s online community.’

Cultural significance

Photo: YouTube

Outside of the bearing this Youtube experiment has for budding filmmakers, this project reaffirms how important YouTube has become in contemporary society. Pretty much anybody can grab a flip cam and share their experiences with the world on a variety of services, but how many people (or services) have the opportunity to share credits with people as accomplished as Scott and Macdonald, the director of the critical darling Last King of Scotland? Exactly.

Everbody join in

Submissions are open to all YouTube users, by simply uploading a video to www.youtube.com/lifeinaday. ‘Why not?’ we say. It will make for a fascinating experiment and getting co-director credits next to Ridley Scott is no joke. The guy did Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Alien and the ultimate sci-fi classic, Blade Runner. Yep, a significant piece of film history as envisioned by one man. This is huge.

Who knows. Perhaps you can tell your grandchildren ‘what it was like to be alive on the 24^th of July 2010’ and to get to make a film with Ridley Scott. Sure it’s a fun Youtube experiment and activity for some, but it could be some budding filmmaker’s impressive debut, too.