Macdonald, Scott make 'a time capsule' on film for YouTube

We know the Macdonald, Scott make 'a time capsule' on film for YouTube

Circle July 24 on your calendar. That's when YouTube and a pair of renowned filmmakers plan to change the way the world sees itself.
Citizens from around the globe are invited to participate in what is being called the first user-generated feature-length documentary by providing footage shot during the same 24 hours on that day. Titled Life in a Day, the experiment is being sponsored by the online clip site and involves directors Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) and Ridley Scott (Robin Hood, Gladiator), who will executive-produce.

The end result, with entries selected by Macdonald and a team of editors, will premiere at next year's Sundance Film Festival and will be available free on YouTube. The submission deadline is July 31, and a video gallery is scheduled to be posted in August.

"YouTube wanted to do something to mark its fifth anniversary and decided on a film," says Macdonald, whose non-fiction work includes the 2003 mountain-climbing adventure Touching the Void. "I came up with an idea that appealed to me as a student of documentaries, one that would only be possible with the new technology on the Web."

Why July 24? "Because it is symbolic and practical," he says. The date "stands for 24/7, or 7/24." As for timing, "it's after the World Cup, an enormous affair in many countries, but before the August holidays. And it's a Saturday, when people might have more time."

Macdonald would rather not have thousands of videos of cute animal tricks, popular fare on YouTube, though he would not discount them out of hand. His hope: "that people capture everyday life, from the banal to the important. It could be a journey to work, brushing their teeth, bathing children at night — something of significance to those who are filming."

He estimates that about 10,000 submissions will end up being uploaded, including those shot on several hundred cameras sent out to areas in South America, Africa and Asia that lack Internet access. "We want to lose the digital divide."

The final film will run about 70 or 80 minutes. "We don't want to make it a collage," says Macdonald, who will focus on 20 to 30 "star performers" with a few seconds culled from a couple hundred more. "We want it to cohere and be meaningful."

Ultimately, the goal is to deliver "something relevant about what it is to be alive on July 24, a kind of a time capsule." If all goes well, it could become a recurring event.

Coppied by 2010 USA TODAY,