2,400 students create one-take lip-dub video
Lip-dub videos are sweeping the web and students at Spring-Ford Area High School joined in the fun last week.
About 2,400 students in grades 9- 12 lined the hallways Friday afternoon for a one-take music video mixed to the Katy Perry song “Firework.” The finished video is scheduled to be po sted on the district’s website this Wednesday.
Students lip-synced to the song, while walking backward in front of a camera, with classmates lining the halls on either side of the camera cheering and showing lots of school spirit. These students represented their sports team, music or instrumental group, extra-curricular activity and/or academic program.
Seven students in the broadcast production II class worked for months planning the route the video would take, recruiting stu--
dents and perfecting the one-take video. The route went through the lower level halls and culminated inside the school’s gym. Everyone
involved was assigned a “zone” or section along the route before the finale.
Cheryl Murgia, TV broadcast teacher, who oversaw the project, called the video shoot one of the best, most school-spirited experiences of her 25 years at SpringFord.
“It was an absolutely crazy and wonderful event,” she said.
The project had been in the planning stages for the past 18 months. Originally the goal was to create the video to support the school’s mini-THON event back in April 2015. When that fell through Murgia and others went to the administration last September to approve it for the end of the year. When the administration signed off on the project it was full steam ahead.
A true one-take video is equivalent to live TV. There are a few mistakes in the video, such as one female student backing into the football team by mistake, Murgia admitted. Yet these imperfections are what make the video fun and those viewing it for the first time won’t likely be able to spot the mistakes.
When it all came together it was one of the biggest undertakings the
school has ever attempted.
“We have not all been together since the pep rally in October,” Murgia said. “We almost never have ninth graders in our building. It was so big. We had everybody. It was just incredible.
Hopefully we left these kids with lasting memories.”
Murgia thanked her right hand man, Steve Bonetz, TV technology specialist, for
all of his help throughout the process. She also gave a gushing thank you to Spring-Ford Principal Patrick Nugent.
“He was so involved he bleeds blue and gold,” she said. “He was the final impetus to get everybody so jazzed up. I graduated
from Owen J. Roberts, but I’m proud to be a Ram. If it weren’t for him the whole thing wouldn’t have happened.”