There’s social networking, social media, social shopping, social fitness, and now, thanks to YouTube and an Oscar winning director, social movie making.  Google announced today the “Life in a Day” project that will combine footage from average people around the world into a feature length documentary film.

On July 24, people from around the world are encouraged to film a small portion of their life and upload it to YouTube’s “Life in a Day” channel.  The video can be of just about anything.  Academy award winning director Kevin Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott will then parse the footage together into some semblance of a documentary film.

“Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director of films such as The Last King of Scotland,Touching the Void and One Day in September, will then edit the most compelling footage into a feature documentary film, to be executive-produced by Ridley Scott, the director behind films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and Robin Hood.”

While all the videos collected on the “Life in a Day” YouTube channel will not be used in the final video, the creators of video clips that are selected for use in the film will be credited as a co-directors.  Up to 20 of these co-directors could be flown to the movie’s premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.  Videos must be uploaded by July 31.

It’s going to be really interesting to see if Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott can take what could amount to thousands of mundane video clips and put them together into a compelling movie.  I’ll have to wait and see if their final edit of the film keeps me awake.  If it does, I think another best director Oscar nod is in order.