Mixed reviews for “Life in a Day”
You may not remember what you were doing July 24, 2010, but you'll soon be able to see what hundreds of others around the globe were up to.
The film "Life in a Day" premiered Thursday, live at the Sundance Film Festival and online at YouTube.com on the Life in a Day channel.
I'd heard about the invitation last summer to submit video clips shot that day and sent five to the YouTube upload site for the film. One of my clips made the cut to the final 100 hours, but didn't make it into the film. It showed me feeding the four desert tortoises that call my backyard home.
After watching the film and learning that more than 80,000 clips that covered more than 4,500 hours of video were submitted from people in 192 countries, I'm humbled to have that one clip make it to the final 100 hours. Talk about crowdsourcing! Although some animals were featured in the movie, people interacting with pets is one theme left on the cutting room floor.
Only 90 minutes of clips are included in the film, which was produced by Ridley Scott, directed by Kevin Macdonald and edited by Joe Walker. They did a spectacular job tying together the randomness and unusual ways people showed the rituals and routines of life.
The question-and-answer segment at Sundance following the screening was also shown to Thursday's YouTube audience. Macdonald and Walker shared how they used the rising of the full moon to bookend the film, which featured scenes from 120 countries.
My favorite clips included one showing a skydiver during a free fall; people releasing lantern balloons; a young shoe-shine boy in Peru; and a finale showing a young woman summarizing her experiences of the day.
The film is expected to make its theatrical debut July 24, the one-year anniversary of the filming.
Not everyone gave the film high marks, as evidenced by this Salt Lake Tribune review:
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-review/sundance-review-life-in-a-day/
A blogger at the same publication gave it 3.5 stars:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogssundanceblog/51141942-50/building-footage-jan-shows.html.csp
Wired magazine approved:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/01/life-in-a-day-review/
Visit the "Life in a Day" channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday
Watch the teaser:
