One day on Earth in thousands of videos
Sunday Herald, The, Jul 25, 2010
COMING soon to a cinema near you: Jen Davies’s epic voyage to the greengrocers on Great Western Road. Or if that doesn’t grab you, how about Michael Richardson’s heroic quest to view a flat in Glasgow?
Citizen Kane they ain’t, but these everyday tales of Scottish life are set for the big screen as part of a groundbreaking documentary from Hollywood veteran Ridley Scott and Glaswegian Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald.
Three weeks of build-up came to a dramatic climax yesterday as filmmakers worldwide united for the historic project, which sets out to capture a comprehensive snapshot of one day in the life of planet Earth.
Backed by Google and its video-sharing website YouTube, the scheme will capture submissions from tens of thousands of movie fans across the globe, each documenting their experience of life on July 24.
Clips are expected to pour in from today onwards, with a hefty bundle originating in Scotland – the home of director Kevin Macdonald, best-known for The Last King Of Scotland and the Academy Award-winning One Day In September, about the 1972 Munich Olympics.
With adverts running on the Google homepage, the two directors have been given an unprecedented chance to tap into billions of web users worldwide, applying the new phenomenon of “crowdsourcing” to silver screen production.
While some users were preparing to capture major events, including the Inverness Highland Games and a world music festival at the National Museum of Scotland, others were drawn by the apparently mundane facets of existence.
Jen Davies, 27, communications director at the Glasgow Film Theatre, was putting together footage of her day of “mooching” in Glasgow’s west end.
She will showcase her morning trip to the grocers, with video of her and her friends relaxing around town later in the day – outwardly unremarkable scenes, but events which she hopes will prove fascinating to viewers in sub-Saharan Africa or the Australian outback.
“I like the fact that it’s just one day, and it’s all over the world,” Davies said. “It’s an interesting experiment, a picture of the world at one certain time. I think that’s what’s wonderful about it, that people could be watching it worldwide.”
Her friend Michael Richardson was expecting to upload footage of his hunt for a flat in the city.
Gerry Reynolds, organiser of the Inverness Highland Games, was delighted when Google approached him to suggest his guests take part.
“It’s a great honour,” he said. “Inverness is such a beautiful city, and they won’t just be filming a day in the life of the games – anyone walking past will become part of it.”
Those uploading content to the site had the chance to win one of 20 passes to the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where the finished product will be screened next January, and every participant who makes the cut will be given a credit as a co- director.
Speaking in a documentary made alongside the project, Macdonald said he was thrilled to think he could be producing a time capsule that could be of use to future generations.
He likened the scheme to the Mass Observation Project, a scheme begun in the 1930s that recorded details of everyday existence in the form of diaries and notes
build a website