With Life in a Day just five days away, it’s time to start pre-production.
This coming Saturday (July 24), you’ll have 24 hours to capture a few minutes of your life on camera and upload it to YouTube for consideration by Oscar winning directors Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott for inclusion in the first ever feature-length film to be created from YouTube content.
To help you get in touch with your inner director, we’ve pulled together a few tips to help you create your Life in a Day submission.
Shoot your own life
Go out and film very personal and very creative footage about your own life. Specific is better than general. Show the world what it is like to be you. For more guidance on what to shoot, Kevin MacDonald is asking participants to answer the following four questions through their videos:
- What are you afraid of?
- What do you love?
- What makes you laugh?
- What’s in your pockets?
High-resolution video is good but not required
The videos will eventually be edited into a feature film, so higher resolution will look better on the big screen. That being said, users with mobile phones are equally capable of capturing riveting footage, so don’t hold back if you don’t have access to high-quality equipment.
No music, but good sound is a must
Don’t use music in the background of your clips. Instead concentrate on getting the best sound possible from your camera. Beware of background noise and wind, and don’t touch the microphone. Use the video camera’s internal mic only if the subject is three feet away. A few video clips on producing better sound on your videos can be found here and here.
Don’t worry about editing
The directors want to see raw footage when they pick the best clips so don’t spend too much time editing your footage. If you need to trim or combine clips, you can use YouTube’s online Video Editor.
Make it social
Plan a “film up” on July 24, during which you and your friends can meet up and film together. Before that, see what other users around the world are planning by subscribing to the Life In A Day channel. Make videos about what you plan to film, and post them to your own YouTube channel to get feedback.
More tips from Kevin MacDonald and Ridley Scott can be found on the Guidelines page of the Life in a Day Channel. And you can also check out this video by Campbell Live regular, the Fully Sick Rapper, to see how he interpreted the theme and presented a day in his life.
Time to get rolling!
Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube team
