How would you like a video that you made of your life to be added to a feature film which will be directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Ridley Scott? Sounds like a dream? What if we told you that the film will premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival?
Life In A Day was initiated as part of YouTube Originals and made into a feature length documentary in 2010 with crowdsourced footage, and is set to unfold once again this year.
An open call has been placed for participants to film their day on July 25 and upload it on YouTube. Submissions from across the world will be stitched together and made into a feature documentary. In 2010, 80,000 clips were submitted from 189 countries. A 90-minute feature film was made from over 4,500 hours of footage and the film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This film was directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Liza Marshall.
The footage can be shot using a phone camera or a regular camera. In addition to asking for participants to record their regular day, the organisers have also asked them to answer the following questions: “What do you love? What do you fear? What would you like to change? Either about the world, or your own life and what’s in your pocket?” Submissions can be made between July 25 and August 2. Participants whose footage will feature will be contacted later this year. Filming requirements can be found on this link.
Ridley Scott, known for films like Thelma and Louise, Alien, The Martian, Black Hawk Down and Blade Runner. Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald is known for films like One Day In September, Touching the Void and more.
Life In A Day has inspired other such initiatives. Notable among those are India in a Day directed by Richie Mehta and produced by Jack Arbuthnott that released in 2015 and was made with over 365 hours of footage.