Directors planning a video 'time capsule'

Hollywood directors Ridley Scott and Kevin McDonald are to pull together video footage from YouTube users for a documentary that captures for future generations a snapshot of the global community.

The documentary, called Life in One Day, will feature footage from 20 people around the world, who capture moments of their daily lives on 24 July. They will be credited as co-directors on the film and flown to its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. McDonald, who made the Academy Award-winning The Last King of Scotland, will direct the feature-length documentary and Scott, director of the Oscar-winning Gladiator and films such as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise will produce.

McDonald's documentary One Day in September about Israeli athletes taken hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics won the Oscar for best documentary in 2000.

"Life in a Day is a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010," McDonald said. "It is a unique experiment in social filmmaking and what better way to gather a limitless array of footage than to engage the world's online community?"

The documentary film is the latest venture between YouTube and groups working in arts and entertainment.