Hollywood blockbuster 2012 and the Mayan prophecy turned Dec 21, 2012 into doomsday - however, for all living creatures life still goes on.

A woman dressed as a parrot and a man as a leopard perform at a park in Copan Ruinas, Honduras, to mark what some called the end of the world on Friday. ORLANDO SIERRA / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

For Weng Xiangyu and Wu Zhiduo, it was more the start of a new life than the end of the world.

On Thursday, the day before the "crack of doom", they released the first episode of their online documentary detailing others' last words.

"My life changed the day I decided to do the documentary. Even if I die on doomsday, I have no regrets because we've made it and there is a big audience," Weng said.

More last words will soon follow on sohu.com.

At the end of November, they finished a one-month trip to 31 cities in China to record the lives of 108 people, who donated 22,700 yuan ($3,640) to support them via demohours.com, a popular crowdfunding website in China.

"It's only the first step for me to change myself. All of us want to make a change to our lives, but it's difficult to start. There are rare opportunities to do so and I'm lucky I got one," she said.

According to Wu, it's more about finding an answer. Life is fragile and human beings can die at any time. It's important to figure out what one really wants to do and what one is doing.

"Why are many people satisfied with things as they are? Because they think there's always hope tomorrow. But what will one do if there is no tomorrow at all?" Wu said.

They planned to interview a 24-year-old man who wanted to be a writer and was going for treatment for chronic leukemia in Beijing.

"He passed away the second day we started the project. I felt so sad. We never expected the chronic disease would take him so quickly. If only we arranged the interview earlier," she said.

The interviewees have shared many touching stories and last wishes with them. For example, an ICU doctor wanted to write a book about people's feelings before death, so that people can understand such feelings.

Wu said some interviewees changed their lives because of the interviews, which encouraged him and Weng to live in accordance with their beliefs.

"Many interviewees struggle to see a different side of life, but most just thought about it and never acted due to social norms. They clearly distinguished life and ideals," Weng said.

She said many interviewees, who were not living with parents, wanted to accompany their parents in their last days.

Other people, however, took Friday as an opportunity to express love to families and friends, and to have a party and relax after work.

Xu Tianzhuo, 22, a university student from Changchun, Jilin province, flew to her boyfriend's hometown in Hainan province to spend Friday with him, but ended up observing the day alone because both of them had something else to do.

"It's a great pity for me not to be with my parents or boyfriend. I will drink some wine alone at night and call my family to say I love them," she said.

Li Yanfang, 29, from Shanghai planned to marry her boyfriend on Dec 22, the first day after "doomsday".

She held a bachelorette party with her girlfriends on Friday night. They all dressed up and took photos to celebrate "doomsday", as well as her upcoming marriage.

Xu Yongxiang, chief of the Social and Public Administration School at East China University of Science and Technology, said scientifically speaking, there's no doomsday at all.

"People have to do something meaningful, whether the day exists or not. The interpretations about the date reflect people's attitudes toward it, and most are optimistic," Xu said.

"Despite negative factors, China-US relations will arduously move ahead after the leadership transition," he said.