On January 27, Google presented ‘Life in a Day’ documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. This crowd-sourced featured film by Kevin Macdonald was created from over 450,000 hours of footage, sent by 80,000 users from 192 countries. People from all around the globe were invited by YouTube to record their daily routines on July 24, 2010, to create “an emotional journey.”
“This is a theatrical film, not something for an art gallery or for online. I wanted to make something enjoyable, yet give something ordinary heft and weight. I actually feel quite reassured having seen this,” commented the director. “You can go out with a great camera for relatively little money, but it takes a director to put a structure and an emotional trajectory to it. A good film is all about content and the skill of the people making it.”
The idea of the project was to explore the whole planet, including its remotest places, and people’s lives just as they are, without any retouching. By showcasing people’s daily routines, it highlights different outlooks and views of cultures and societies.
«We sent out nearly 500 cameras to the developing world,” says Macdonald. «The one thing I would do differently is send less cameras out, and instead send someone trained in film-making with each camera to help people film themselves in these areas. For instance, someone in Northern India just does not understand the concept of an ego and self in the way we in the West do.» No matter how hard it might be for the contributors to create their piece of video, all of them did a great job, demonstrating another valuable perspective. What’s interesting, the day of taking the footage coincided with the full moon, and it is extremely exciting to see it in different parts of the Earth.
The 90-minute film, executive-produced by Ridley Scott, was also screened on the project’s YouTube channel on January 28, but now it has been locked—apparently, the creators want people, who missed the premiere, wait until the theatrical debut this summer. Still, users can watch 10 ‘Meet the Filmmakers’ previews to know more about some of the people, behind the feature. Users were also encouraged to ask a question about the filmmaking process here.