video

Tomorrow is July 24, and with the exception of a few notable events -- the return of Apollo 11 to Earth; the day the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to surrender the Watergate Tapes; or the day Lance Armstrong "retired" after winning his 7th Tour de France in 2005-- it's an otherwise unremarkable day in the history books. However, July 24, 2010 marks what could amount to be a fascinating and unprecedented day in the land of user generated video content.

A new experiment hosted by YouTube, “Life in a Day,” will attempt to document one day, as seen through the eyes of the 6.7 billion people spread out across our globe, each of whom have a unique story and perspective to share.  From the mundane to the extraordinary, over the course of the next 24 hours professional film makers and amateurs alike will attempt to capture a snapshot of their lives from sunrise to sunset.

Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director of The Last King of Scotland, 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, and Thelma & Louise.  The film will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and if your footage makes it into the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director and may be one of 20 contributors selected to attend the premiere.

Want to take part and learn more? Here’s what you need to do.

1. Visit the “Life in a Day” channel and learn more about the project. Be sure to read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video(s). Also check out some of the sample videos for inspirational ideas.

2. On July 24, capture your day on camera.

3. Upload your footage to the “Life in a Day” channel any time before July 31.

Regardless of whether your footage makes it into the final film, your video(s) will live on in the “Life in a Day” channel as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010.

If you participate, we’d love to see what you capture – please share a link to your video in the comments below.

With video recording and publishing readily accessible through smart phones, flip cams and even the “old-fashioned” digital camera -- nonprofits are finding new and low cost ways to create compelling stories of their good work.  

1. Go to "edit" your video: and fill out the fields in the section marked “Call to Action Overlay”
2. Click “save,” cross your fingers, and the overlay should appear on your video

• Last month the Chronicle of Philanthropy hosted a very rich online chat called Using Video to Spread Your Nonprofit's Message and Mission.
• Nancy Schwartz offers her picks of 6 Nonprofits Who are Putting Great Online Video to Work along with links to the videos.
• Michael Hoffman at See3 Communications offers readers his 11 Tips for Using Online Video to Raise Money
• Need a camera? Flip Cam is giving cameras to eligible nonprofits through their Flip Video Spotlight Program.