Postmodernism example-Life In A Day

Who made it?

Life in a day is a documentary/crowd sourced film which includes a series of videos selected from a number of 80,000 videos which were submitted from YouTube users to Youtube, an internet sharing website, the clips included within the film include respective occurrences from around the world on a single day, which was the 24th July, 2010. The film debuted at the Sundance film festival and lasts for 94 minutes and 57 seconds. on the 27th of January 2011and the film has been directed by Kevin Macdonald and is produced by Ridley Scott.

How was it made?

It was made through the partnership between Youtube, Ridley Scott Associates and LG electronics. Kevin Macdonald also stated that some of the footage was gained through Youtube users, advertisements etc while, other camera footage was gained through sending camera's to developing countries. The filmmaking team attached to Youtube, were allowed to tap into a pre-existing community of people around the world. The team were also able to use Youtube's ability to collect all the material and had students go through the footage. Walker indicated that a team of roughly two dozen researchers, chosen both for a cinematic eye and proficiency with languages, watched, logged, tagged, and rated each clip on a scale of one to five stars.Walker remarked that "the vast amount of material was two stars," and that he and director Kevin Macdonald reviewed the four-star and five-star rated clips. In addition to the star rating system, the editing/selecting team also organized the 80,000 clips according to countries, themes and video quality as part of the selection process, and further had to convert from 60 different frame rates to make the results cinematic.

When was it made?

The video clips from Youtube where received by the 24th July 2010, but was released on the 27th January 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Whats it about?

I would say that the narrative of the film, "Life In a Day" director Kevin Macdonald explained the narrative is about focusing on events consisting within one day because he saw it as the building block for human life. He also explained its as a film that consisted of the non conventional narrative structure but it has thematic movement and has recurring characters. I would also say that the film, is about people being able to connect with a number of people around the world. I would also say that the film, is about traditional film-making, which is shaped by the internet. It has also been used to connote how through viewing these videos, we are are able to connect with people on a virtual level but I would also say the film is also about combining traditional media with modernized digital media so in a way its about adapting to our technological world but also trying to retain some traditional pieces if media which we can benefit from and is a reflection of the traditional world coming to grips of our new technological dependent and how we as human beings are only able to communicate interactively while only being able to find some kind of existence/purpose through our virtual existence.


What are the themes that are used in Life in a Day:

• Human life
• The internet
• Immediacy
• Unexpected intimacy etc

How can it be described as a postmodernist film?

I would say that the film, can be described as postmodern as it includes many intertexual references to other pieces of life such as through the consumption of these video clips promote.It also doesn't have a traditional narrative structure, as the majority of the videos have no relevance to one another and also has a lot of narrators. The references also include references to a number of events within people lives. In the film it also includes loss of context because when we view the film, their isn't just one type of story being told or explained to the audience but it makes the audience be able to interpret the media text any way they want while also questioning their own, cultural beliefs or ideologies. Another reason why it isn't postmodern as it doesn't occur the traditional recurring/conventional characters, that people are able to appeal or connect with. Another reason, would be that the director, Kevin Macdonald uses the video clips as a way to demonstrate generic blurring such as their is a combination of genres include within the video, which is used to display how the director is using the film to almost criticise the rules and features within film and uses the videos clips as a way to connote how human beings have become situated in implosions, hyperreality and simulation as a way to convey to the audience how they need to recognise that they are only able to find a sense of purpose/existence through recognising or even becoming aware of their own reality.