BBC project aims to capture portrait of Britain in one day
People invited to submit pictures on 12 November for documentary to be broadcast as part of Cultural Olympiad
The BBC project takes its inspiration from Kevin Macdonald's award-winning feature film Life in a Day.
The BBC is to ask members of the public to turn their cameras on themselves on a single day this year to help create a self-portrait of Britain that will be broadcast as a feature-length documentary on BBC2 in 2012.
The director Ridley Scott, whose films include Gladiator and Bladerunner, is working with the BBC on Britain in a Day, which aims to provide a snapshot of the country on 12 November. The documentary will form part of the BBC's Cultural Olympiad, which will showcase British life and culture during the year when London hosts the Olympic Games.
The BBC said it aimed to create the "definitive self-portrait of Britain today". The project will be officially launched on The One Show in late October.Scott said: "Film-making has always been about just picking up a camera, getting out there and doing it.
"Our aim for this new project is to get everyone behind the lens and give us a window onto one day in Britain."
Britain in a Day was inspired by the award-winning feature film Life in a Day, a similar project by Scott's production company, Scott Free London, the award-winning feature film Life in a Day. Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald edited more than 4,500 hours of footage submitted by people all over the world into a 90-minute documentary, which premiered in US cinemas in July.
Macdonald will be executive producer on the UK equivalent. It will be directed by Morgan Matthews, whose work includes The Fallen, BBC2's three-hour, Bafta-winning 2008 documentary naming every British serviceman and woman killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Matthews "will use the rich trove of material submitted to craft a single, coherent story that captures the variety and vibrancy of life in Britain today", according to the BBC.
The BBC wants the public to film something that captures the intimacy and singularity of their lives. Contributors will be asked to upload their footage to YouTube, which is supporting the development of the Britain in a Day film.
Charlotte Moore, BBC commissioning editor for documentaries, said: "The Cultural Olympiad feels like an ideal opportunity to take a mirror to ourselves and capture something of the kaleidoscope of life that thrives in Britain today. I hope that the fresh approach we are bringing to the production process will allow us to preserve a moment in time in a compelling and truly inclusive way. This is a bold project, hugely ambitious in scope and scale, and the BBC is in a unique position to deliver it with real impact."
BBC Learning, which makes educational programing, is funding the project and holding a series of film-making workshops across the country to encourage communities to get involved. The BBC will also work with film schools, societies and charities.
The BBC will launch a promotional film to publicise Britain In A Day featuring celebrities including Ann Widdicombe, John Humphrys, Raymond Blanc, Terry Pratchett, Fiona Bruce and Stephen Fry.
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