User-generated content has its share of controversies, from being proclaimed the death of quality content to heralded as the second coming where old media goes to sacrifice itself on the digital altar. But whatever your opinions of Web 2.0 are, it’s certainly brought about a dramatic change in the way we consume and create media. You could say we’re living through the end of days period, or an early experimental phase where anything goes and freewheeling creativity reins. Rising from the ashes of this fin de siècle is: Life In A Day, a documentary shot in a single day by users of YouTube. On the 24th of July, you can record footage, upload it, and wait to see if your clip is deemed inventive and interesting enough to make the cut for a feature length film produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald that will premiere at Sundance 2011. If you want to get involved, check out the video above and the YouTube page. It should be an entertaining experiment and it’ll be interesting to see what results it yields.

It will also be interesting to compare that film with another project called One Day On Earth, which was started back in September 2008. The aim of that project is also to document a single day in human history by getting users to film themselves and others across the world over 24 hours on October 10th, 2010, otherwise known as 10.10.10. Once that date has passed and footage has been filmed, the creators of One Day On Earth will release a 120 minute documentary showing the diverse macrocosm of the human experience as seen through the microcosm of that single day. You can check out the trailer below and website for more info.

Somewhat along the same lines is the Star Wars Uncut project. Created by Casey Pugh, a developer at Vimeo, the original film’s been split into 473 15 second clips, which users can then claim and refilm in whatever ways they see fit, from stop-motion LEGO to cardboard box Millennium Falcons, animations and beyond; the only limit being the re-filmers’ budgets and imaginations. The results are then stitched together for an odd yet affectionate take on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The choice of movie seems appropriate given the level of fandom that surrounds it, but this aims to be the first of many so check out their site if you want to get involved in future projects with different, but equally adored movies.