On July 24, 2010 thousands of people around the world woke up in different places, picked up different types of video cameras and videotaped different aspects of their daily lives all for the same purpose – to capture life in a day.

On that date, YouTube launched this global experiment to create a user-generated feature film. It’s a documentary that is shot in a single day, by people all around the world.

“We’re trying to explore in a serious way what it’s like to be alive today, or what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July,” Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald (“The Last King of Scotland”) said in a video interview posted on Youtube.

“With all the pain and violence and horror but also love and happiness and hope and expectation that was present in that day, that is present in every day.”

For the past six months, MacDonald and a team of editors have sorted through over 80,000 clips (and more than 4500 hours of footage) and compiled them into a 90-minute film that gives a glimpse of what a human life is like in a day.

“The things most striking to me watching all the clips are how similar we are all around the world,” MacDonald said.

Google announced the project on July 6, 2010, which is executive-produced by Ridley Scott, the director behind “Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.”

People who submitted footage that makes the final cut will be credited as co-director in the documentary.

Life in a Day will be broadcasted live on YouTube for the world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival at 7 p.m. on Thursday.