Filmmaker Ridley Scott on board for global film experiment


7 Jul 2010

Filmmakers Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald are asking people around the world to help them create the first user-generated feature-length documentary film shot on a single day – on 24 July 2010.

‘Life in a Day’ is a historic global film experiment that enlists the global community to capture a moment of their lives on Saturday, 24 July and to upload that footage to www.youtube.com/lifeinaday.  

Academy Award-winning director Macdonald (State of Play, Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void) will direct, bringing together the most compelling footage into a feature-length documentary film. 

The project will be executive-produced by Ridley Scott (Robin Hood, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) and produced by his company Scott Free Productions. 

Individuals whose footage makes it into the finished film will be credited as co-directors and 20 of these contributors will be flown to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for the film’s world premiere.

Pushing the boundaries

‘Life in a Day’ forms a part of YouTube’s attempts to combine online video with the traditional arts. Previous attempts include the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and the recently announced YouTube Play partnership with the Guggenheim.

“’Life in a Day’ is a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24 of July 2010. 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,” said Macdonald of the project.

“Over the past five years, YouTube has changed the way media is created and consumed,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, YouTube’s parent company. “We’re thrilled to give our community the opportunity to work with Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott and are grateful to our long-term partner, the Sundance Institute, for their support of this global initiative. I can think of no better place to premiere ‘Life in a Day’ than at next year’s festival.”

“A vital part of our mission is to support individual storytelling around the globe and to provide a platform for expression and experimentation,” said John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival. “This is a great way to engage the YouTube community and to also provide festival audiences with something new and unexpected.”

Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com