Life in a Day (2011)

In early July of 2010, Kevin MacDonald and Ridley Scott announced that they were teaming up with the video-streaming website YouTube, to create a piece of experimental film-making called Life In A Day. Sponsored by LG, the project was a simple concept: capture events from around the world of a single day on the planet Earth. The day they picked was July 24th, 2010, and the filmmakers challenged everyday people to pick up a camera and film what happened during their day, then upload their footage onto YouTube. These various clips would then be edited together to create a complete film.

YouTube executives initially told the filmmakers they would probably get a submission of around 15,000 or so users. Instead, the project garnered 80,000 uploads, rounding out to between 4,500 to 5,000 hours worth of footage. In order to sift through all the footage for the best pieces to use, multiple outside people including film students and friends were given footage to view, then offer a star rating to each as well as tag each clip with keywords for quick referral.

The process of making the film has been extensively documented using the video web service YouTube through behind-the-scenes footage as well as video diaries that detail the process of concept, editing, and more. On December 8th, 2010, Kevin MacDonald posted a video diary stating that the film was picture locked, and once they finished in post-production, they would be completely finished. On January 4th, 2011, a teaser clip entitled "Slim Up" was added to their YouTube channel.

The completed film premiered on January 27, 2011, at the Sundance film festival, while also simultaneously being streamed live on YouTube. A Q&A panel after the screening also took questions from people around the world via the web. A DVD release is slated for release by National Geographic Films later in the year, and will include bonus footage that didn't make it into the final cut of the film. A theatrical release is also planned, currently scheduled for July 24, 2011 (exactly one year from the start of the project).

Some have accused Kevin MacDonald and Ridley Scott of misleading people in believing that the film project is "truly unique" and has "never been done before". The general idea follows very closely to that of A Moment on Earth, the 2004 movie that saw sixty filmmakers capture sixty seconds of footage a piece across the world to capture one exact moment.

The 15,000 user-submitted clips are all still available for viewing on YouTube.

On November 1st, 2011, the film became available to view for free on YouTube.