Life in a Day, a collaboration between National Geographic and YouTube, was born from a mix of high-concept ambition, low-fidelity tools, and the networking possibilities of the web's global community. Officially directed by Kevin Macdonald, the film is, in fact, shot and performed by nonprofessionals from around the world using everything from high-end video equipment to flip cameras to smartphones. What unifies the footage is that it was all created on July 24, 2010, and each piece used in the final film relates to the way we live our lives. Macdonald and editor Joe Walker sorted through 4,500 hours of video received from more than 80,000 people from 192 countries to get down to about 300 clips (totaling about 90 minutes) from 80 contributors, organized by both time (moving through a 24-hour cycle that begins at midnight) and theme (“What do you love?” “What frightens you?”). What emerges is not so much a documentary as an impressionistic montage of images seen through the lenses of folks with cameras and a desire to share their experience and express themselves. And while there are moments of sadness and emotional trials (as well as minor profanity and brief scenes of animals being butchered), it's mostly an upbeat portrait of humanity and the global village. DVD extras include deleted scenes (a mere sampling of footage that wasn't used) and a “making-of” featurette. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Axmaker)
Life in a Day
(2011) 80 min. DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99. Virgil Films (avail. from most distributors). Volume 27, Issue 1
Life in a Day
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