The Gauntlet Has Been Dropped.
December 18, 2009 1:03 PM   Subscribe

Last week students of Shorecrest High School (Shoreline, WA) posted a video of their 'one-take' lip dub of Outkast's hit "Hey Ya" and then challenged their crosstown rival, Shorewood High School, to beat their video. Shorewood accepted the challenge and posted their 'one take' lip dub -- filmed in reverse -- to the Hall and Oates hit "You Make My Dreams Come True" (recently highlighted as a dance sequence in this past summer film '500 Days of Summer [autoplay muisc]. ' Debate is raging online about whose video came out on top, but there's no doubt: Shorewood rose to the challenge."
posted by ericb (157 comments total) 109 users marked this as a favorite
 
What happened to meeting in an abandoned lot with knives and bike chains?
posted by GavinR at 1:10 PM on December 18, 2009 [13 favorites]


These are so adorable! Seriously, I could watch this sort of thing all day. I think it's that look on everyone's face - the acknowledgment that they are doing something basically frivoilous, fun and difficult. Youth.

When I was in high school we showed school spirit by stabbing each other with switchblades behind the hockey rink.
posted by dirtdirt at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


teenagers are just so neat sometimes.
posted by The Whelk at 1:12 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


I'd prefer if the kids at my girlfriend's high school for the arts did this instead of breaking out the switchblades. Whenever they do that, Leonard Bernstein shows up and things get ugly.
posted by cimbrog at 1:15 PM on December 18, 2009 [8 favorites]


I was expecting to be annoyed by these kids today but these were really really charming. Yay kids today!
posted by the dief at 1:16 PM on December 18, 2009


SHOREWOOD RULES!!!!
posted by banannafish at 1:17 PM on December 18, 2009


In related news: some are wetblankets when it comes to kids having fun. Just yesterday:
"EMI has sued video site Vimeo for copyright infringement, alleging that the company goads users to post video clips of themselves lip-synching songs by musicians like Billy Idol and KT Tunstall."
posted by ericb at 1:17 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


Some of those Shorewood kids are better at walking backwards than lipsynching.

Color me impressed!
posted by ghharr at 1:17 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


I triple dog dare the RIAA to step in.
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2009


Awesome.

Can someone explain the logistics of doing it backward? Is it:

* Set up extras on a path.
* The cameraman is walking forward.
* The singer is always walking or moving backward.
* The singer is lip-synching to the song being played in reverse?
* Everyone else is reacting to the backward-walking person when that person reaches their spot in the line.
* The first shot of the car arriving is actually the last thing you film, and the car pulls away from the curb by going in reverse.

???
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


I also was preparing to hate it and I have to take my hat off to all of them, it was lovely...
posted by therubettes at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2009


The Outkast one is good, but you're gonna need something better than Andre 3000 if you expect to eclipse Hall & Oates.
posted by past at 1:19 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


I think it's abundantly clear which one is better.
posted by fire&wings at 1:26 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


These kids can come hang out on my lawn.

Just don't step on my wife's flowers or she'll be pissed.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 1:26 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Thank you for posting. I loved watching those videos, even though it felt like peering in on a strange, alien world.

I went to a comprehensive in England. As was traditional, our school spirit was White Lightning.
posted by somergames at 1:27 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


Damn - they cracked through my icy heart of cynicism. I did not expect to favorite this.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:27 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


Goddamn I hate that stupid Outkast song.

Wait, you hate these lyrics?
If what they say is "nothing is forever",
Then what makes love the exception?
So why are we so in denial
When we know we're not happy here?
...Y'all don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance.
Or do you just hate that "rap" junk?

The Outkast song outshines Shorecrest's video. It makes their dancing look comparatively stupid. But Shorewood took a pointless, goofy song and made it into an amazing video. I think they deserve a lot of kudos for that foresight in direction.
posted by shii at 1:27 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


This kind of wholesome light-hearted fun would never have flown in my high school. I bet these kids get away with saying meep, too.

Kids these days, I swear.
posted by empyrean at 1:27 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


The Hall and Oates one was great. Lip Syncing was off but everything else was grand.

When I was in high school there was no way in hell this kinda thing coulda been organized.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 1:28 PM on December 18, 2009


Sometimes I think that the kids born in the 1990s is the greatest group of humans ever.

And then I'm overwhelmed by cynicism... but it's a nice feeling while it lasts.
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 PM on December 18, 2009 [8 favorites]


Lord, that's adorable!
posted by rtha at 1:31 PM on December 18, 2009


I guess they chose the Hall and Oates video because of the movie, but kudos for their choice and creativity. I could listen to Daryl Hall sing all night long.
posted by rudy26 at 1:36 PM on December 18, 2009


The Outkast song outshines Shorecrest's video. It makes their dancing look comparatively stupid. But Shorewood took a pointless, goofy song and made it into an amazing video. I think they deserve a lot of kudos for that foresight in direction.

I'm sorry, did you just defend Outkast and then call "You Make My Dreams Come True" a "pointless, goofy song" in the same post?

Wow.
posted by vorfeed at 1:37 PM on December 18, 2009


Both were great. And I didn't even see one emo haircut!
posted by naju at 1:37 PM on December 18, 2009


Cool Papa Bell -- here's a version of the Shorewood video in reverse [starting at 02:12 -- i.e. it shows the actual filming.
posted by ericb at 1:42 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


Shoreline? Shorewood? Shorecrest? If they don't name the next school Shorenuff, they have no reason to continue that town.

What is a "gautlent"?
5 seashells, same as in Shoreline.
posted by joaquim at 1:42 PM on December 18, 2009 [12 favorites]


The singer is lip-synching to the song being played in reverse?

It appears that way. You'll notice that the only lipsyncing seems to be the refrain: "You make my dreams come true." Those who had the line seem to have learned the lip movements in reverse for those six syllables.
posted by ericb at 1:44 PM on December 18, 2009


During my high school days, I'm certain that I would have organized a collective mocking of anyone who got involved with something like this.

I've matured since then.
posted by davebush at 1:45 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


I stand corrected -- some of the students towards the begging sequences lipsync much more than just the refrain. Impressive.
posted by ericb at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2009


Another reason the internet was invented has just been realized. Thanks for posting!
posted by not_on_display at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2009


ah man I know this isn't a popular sentiment round these parts but I really miss high school.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2009


This is a great example of just how far a dose of good-natured enthusiasm goes with me. I would not change a thing about either one. The world is run by lovable goobers; I'm so pleased that these schools are both apparently lousy with them.

It's probably too much to hope that such a tiny sample size means anything like "It's slightly less horribly bruising to be a goober than it used to be," but I choose to embrace that feeling anyway. As others have noted, the sheer number of kids who participated seems heartening.
posted by FrozenTundra at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


The enduring legacy of Touch of Evil's opening scene. Not bad. Not bad at all.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Thanks for posting that.
posted by zzazazz at 1:58 PM on December 18, 2009


This was the first lip dub I ever saw. I can't imagine the time it takes! LIPDUB
posted by Sottovoce at 1:59 PM on December 18, 2009


Can I just say: I'm partial to that rap junk, and I dunno what it is about OutKast, but that song totally sets my teeth on edge. I mean, I'm aware that it's technically a good song -- we're not talking about "My Humps" here -- but it just irritates me. It's so...happy?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:01 PM on December 18, 2009


Can I just say: I'm partial to that rap junk, and I dunno what it is about OutKast, but that song totally sets my teeth on edge.

See, it's funny. I normally hate rap, and as an extension, most r&b. I used to live in Atlanta, and the musical choices people I ran with drove me insane at times. 95.5 the Crap, AMIRITE?

But Outkast? Sorry, Miss Jackson. I can eat that shit up all day long. I love me some Outkast. Then again, I enjoy other "pop" rap like Coolio's Gangster's Paradise and Emenim.
posted by jmd82 at 2:14 PM on December 18, 2009


But Shorewood took a pointless, goofy song...

Uh, you mean the song that reached #5 on the Billboard charts in 1981 and was written/performed by (according to Billboard magazine) "the best selling duo of all time?" The song has been sampled by numerous contemporary musicians, as have many other songs/hits from their vast catalog.

H&O have been embraced as significant influences by such current artists as Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes), Chromeo, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Jimmy Wayne, etc.

Ultimate fandom: McCoy has Hall and Oates tatooed -- one on each of his hands.

And Daryl Hall (sometimes with John Oates) has been doing live collaborations in the past two years with artists such as: Travis McCoy, KT Tunstall, Chuck Prophet and Mutlu, Nick Lowe, Monte Montgomery, Chromeo, Finger Eleven, Eric Hutchinson, Kevin Rudolf, Company of Thieves, The Bacon Brothers, Matt Nathanson, R. Krieger and R. Manzarek of The Doors, Parachute, Plain White T's, Smokey Robinson, Todd Rundgren, Diane Birch and Jimmy Wayne.

To each his own.
posted by ericb at 2:16 PM on December 18, 2009 [6 favorites]


ah man I know this isn't a popular sentiment round these parts but I really miss high school.

Wait a minute. Are you accusing the rest of us of being nerds?
posted by TG_Plackenfatz at 2:26 PM on December 18, 2009


Whenever they do that, Leonard Bernstein shows up and things get ugly.

To be fair, he has been dead twenty years.
posted by Sparx at 2:26 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


What is a "gautlent"?

A typo. Iv'e contacted the mods to change it to it's proper spllengi.
posted by ericb at 2:28 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


Regarding haters on the Outkast song... have you heard this cover? That's not a happy song. It's also a pretty great song, lyrically at least.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 2:32 PM on December 18, 2009 [9 favorites]


it's proper spllengi.

teh fizxed!
posted by jessamyn at 2:35 PM on December 18, 2009


That was one of the happiest, most life-affirming things I've ever seen.

I will have to adjust my (jaded, angry) conception of what public school can be.
posted by chronkite at 2:43 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'd be okay if YouTube was simply used for settling high school rivalries with Hall & Oates.

No, really.
posted by AloneOssifer at 2:44 PM on December 18, 2009 [7 favorites]


Outkast: rap safe enough for white folk.
posted by shen1138 at 2:45 PM on December 18, 2009


Two questions:

1) Why doesn't the camera man ever walk backwards? The actors/lip dubbers could preform more naturally like this and make a better video.

2) When will there be a MetaFilter lipdub to put these punks to shame?
posted by peeedro at 2:46 PM on December 18, 2009


I don't care for either song... but that is pretty beside the point, the videos are not about *US*, and what we think of the merits of a given pop rap/pop song. The videos and the kids on both sets are awesome x100, simply because they do a great job with it and look like they are having a blast. It reminds me of that wedding video a month or two back... in both instances these are people having unabashed fun in a way that hurts no one and actually makes the world just a little bit happier.

good job Shore$, and as an aside kudos to the school for letting them do it as well.

all sorts of win here.
posted by edgeways at 2:47 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


When will there be a MetaFilter lipdub to put these punks to shame?

It would be a 20,000 person version of "Numa Numa".

*shudders*
posted by GuyZero at 2:49 PM on December 18, 2009 [7 favorites]


The Shorewood video is effin' brilliant!
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:53 PM on December 18, 2009


I don't miss high school, but I might think of it fondly at least sometimes if we did stuff like this.
posted by Kimberly at 2:57 PM on December 18, 2009


Outkast: rap safe enough for white folk.

Umm... you mean Outkast: Pop catchy enough for all walks of life. No easy feat. It's a fun song. Doesn't 70% of "gagsta-rap" sell to suburban white kids anyway? Let's get past this. Pretty fun videos from both sides.
posted by JBennett at 2:57 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


GOD DAMMIT GUYS WE NEED TO STOP ARGUING ABOUT WHICH OF THESE SONGS ARE BAD AND START ARGUING ABOUT HOW WE'RE GOING TO KEEP THESE DAMNED KIDS OFF OF THE LAWN
posted by MidAtlantic at 3:03 PM on December 18, 2009 [6 favorites]


Excellent. Between this and the "Surprised Kitty" Youtube video, I am sufficiently fortified against the holiday blues. Bring on the humbug, i am immune!
posted by darkstar at 3:03 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


peeedro: Two questions:

1) Why doesn't the camera man ever walk backwards? The actors/lip dubbers could preform more naturally like this and make a better video.
I think you're missing the point. The cameraman walked forwards not to make it easy on him, but because it was easier to do that, and lip sync in reverse, than to have the rest of the student body repeatedly violate the basic laws of physics by doing things like causing randomly strewn cards to leap off the floor and into their hands. For example.
posted by hincandenza at 3:05 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


Both of those are great songs. If you don't think so I feel bad for you as you're missing out!
posted by cell divide at 3:09 PM on December 18, 2009


nitpick: someone may point out that cards leaping off the floor at random into a perfectly formed pack is not against the laws of physics, but just extremely, extremely unlikely. Having said that, the point still stands: it probably was hard enough to do this in one take as it was, without adding in the nearly infinitesimal combinatorial odds of water balloons reassembling from scrap rubber, confetti leaping to the ceiling, students leaping back into their chairs from a standstill, and cards reassembling themselves into a pack.
posted by hincandenza at 3:09 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


"
peeedro: Two questions:

1) Why doesn't the camera man ever walk backwards? The actors/lip dubbers could preform more naturally like this and make a better video.
"
Erm... In the Shorewood video, the cameraman is walking backwards...

posted by potch at 3:09 PM on December 18, 2009


Wow, look at all those guys in the second video just running around in speedos. I don't know if it's "times they are a changing" or if kids are different or if my lawn, it is so terribly crowded....

I enjoyed both of these a lot.
posted by jessamyn at 3:10 PM on December 18, 2009


gah <em> fail

the cameraman is walking backwards...
posted by potch at 3:11 PM on December 18, 2009


Great songs. Great kids. Great videos. You're all familiar with the movie Russian Ark, are you not? It's an hour and a half of this sort of thing, set in the Hermitage in the 19th Century.
posted by Faze at 3:11 PM on December 18, 2009


Oh, and I forgot to add: that's what I like about these freshman girls: I keep walking backwards, and they keep staying in the same place!
posted by hincandenza at 3:11 PM on December 18, 2009 [3 favorites]


potch: gah <em> fail

the cameraman is walking backwards...
But again, he isn't (except in one segment, I think). He mostly walks forwards, the lipsyncer in focus is walking backwards and lipsyncing backwards. When played in reverse, the lipsyncer appears to be walking forwards while the cameraman backpeddles. Again, this is done so that the lipsyncer appears to be just moseying through the hallways while magi and djinn perform their nefarious black arts behind him or her.
posted by hincandenza at 3:14 PM on December 18, 2009


1) Why doesn't the camera man ever walk backwards?

The last person (girl, long hair, NOT the mascot) is filmed walking forwards with the camera operator walking backwards. They switch to the camera operator walking forward after her. I think it would have been MUCH harder for the camera to walk backwards the whole time - any given lipsyncher can choreograph their repsective 10 seconds fairly easily, but the whole thing? Harder.

Funny: also watching the last/first girl in reverse, uh, I mean non-reverse, the way it was filmed, she seems to be thrashing her hair around sort of intentionally. Watching it backwards her hair does crazy stuff. I imagine this was something someone noticed was cool on an earlier take or rehearsal take, and asked her to emphasize it in a subsequent take.
posted by dirtdirt at 3:22 PM on December 18, 2009


H&O have been embraced as significant influences by such current artists as Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes), Chromeo, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Jimmy Wayne, etc.


I need a drink and quick decision...
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:23 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Burhanistan: Goddamn I hate that stupid Outkast song.

Dude.

Burhanistan: I'm actually astonished that so many students participated in the Sherwood video. In the huge dystopian suburban high school I went to, you would be hard pressed to get a hundred kids interested in any one particular activity.

That stupid song is the sort of song that brings that sort of thing out of people.
posted by Anything at 3:24 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


I love the kid who was able to play the entire guitar bridge backwards while walking backwards.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 3:25 PM on December 18, 2009


The speedo boys took this from rad high school to fantasy high school. Love it.
posted by wemayfreeze at 3:27 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


My guess is the camera man is on a dolley or in a shopping cart, being pushed/pulled -- the shot is very smooth.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 3:28 PM on December 18, 2009


Wow, look at all those guys in the second video just running around in speedos. I don't know if it's "times they are a changing" or if kids are different or if my lawn...

In the credits, the videographers give credit to the various school groups that took part, such as the "mens swim team."
posted by ericb at 3:28 PM on December 18, 2009


The Outkast video is absolutely amazing. I think, in all seriousness, it's the best music video I've ever, ever seen. The fact that it is done by amateurs gives it a charm which professional productions can't compete with, and yet it's done well enough that at times I almost thought it was actually one of those trippy Spike Jonze/Michel Gondry digitally-stitched-together faux-camcorder-footage efforts. I'm amazed it was produced by a high school, it's excellent.
posted by salo at 3:34 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


such as the "mens swim team."

The guys in my high school wouldn't have been caught dead in their speedos anywhere but the pool, is what I'm saying. I mean they're clearly the swim team but they're just ... standing there!
posted by jessamyn at 3:36 PM on December 18, 2009


My guess is the camera man is on a dolley or in a shopping cart, being pushed/pulled -- the shot is very smooth.

In the SeattlePI blog links (in the FPP) it's mentioned that the videos were shot using a Steadicam -- "a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface."* They're ubiquitous these days in film and video shoots.
posted by ericb at 3:37 PM on December 18, 2009


MeTa.

Sorry, I saw the idea above, and my head exploded a little bit.
posted by cereselle at 3:37 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


I like how they're actually shaking Polaroid pictures in the Shorecrest video, instead of what I expected, which was a massive shaking of "it" like a Polaroid picture.
posted by ekroh at 3:41 PM on December 18, 2009


The guys in my high school wouldn't have been caught dead in their speedos...

Ah, OIC.

Next thing ya' know these teenage swimmers will be posing nude/naked in their parents' Christmas card photos. I'm willing to bet, however, that it'll take more -- much, much more -- than Gummy Worms® for them to be bribed into any photo session.
posted by ericb at 3:41 PM on December 18, 2009


Sometimes I think that the kids born in the 1990s is the greatest group of humans ever.

Oh shit, I just pulled my "I feel old" muscle.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 3:42 PM on December 18, 2009


In the SeattlePI blog links (in the FPP) it's mentioned that the videos were shot using a Steadicam -- "a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface."* They're ubiquitous these days in film and video shoots.

That would make sense -- having never used one, the shot at 3:04 (where the camera quickly pans 360 and seems to film the cameraman for a minute) made me think it was dollied. Watching it again, there aren't any stairs, but a lot of curbs and bumps that aren't translated to the shot. That 360 must have just been the cameraman's movement then, or a feature of the steadicam.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 3:50 PM on December 18, 2009


This was surprisingly awesome.

The only question in my mind is, where did the Shorecrest kids get Polaroid film?
posted by hattifattener at 3:58 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


One of these schools is a few blocks from our home and we drive past it every day on our commute route. The usual appearance of these teenagers is the standard kid going to school look: glum, clad in hipster outcast dress, heads down, unsmiling. Who knew? Go kids!!
posted by bearwife at 4:00 PM on December 18, 2009


That was really fantastic, thanks for posting it!
posted by fshgrl at 4:02 PM on December 18, 2009


"Sign up for Trent Mitchell's Video production class!!!!!!!!"
posted by yeti at 4:04 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


The enduring legacy of Touch of Evil's opening scene.

See also The Pharcyde's Drop.
posted by carsonb at 4:09 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


there *are* stairs at the beginning....rrr...end.
posted by atomicmedia at 4:10 PM on December 18, 2009


The idea that someone can genuinely prefer Hall and Oates to "Hey Ya" is so astonishing to me that I'm literally at a loss for words.
posted by empath at 4:13 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


The enduring legacy of Touch of Evil's opening scene.
See also The Pharcyde's Drop .


Surprised it took so long to mention Drop. Metafilter users don't own The Directors Series 3 disc set? I thought all kids these days knew about the backwards filming technique, as demonstrated in the Spike Jonze dvd. The box set sure was popular a couple years ago, my younger sister and her friends all had copies. Very cool collection of music videos and short pieces by Jonze, Gondry and Cunningham.
posted by stachemaster at 4:21 PM on December 18, 2009


Cunningham never did a lot for me so I didn't pick that one up. =D
posted by carsonb at 4:25 PM on December 18, 2009


What's with the super-narrow hallways? Kind of claustrophobic.
posted by marble at 4:26 PM on December 18, 2009


I am filled with delight. My little grinchy heart grows three sizes every time I see one. Look at them all, cooperating and having fun. Adorable. It's like the good side of facebook over connectedness, the opposite side of the cyber bullying/sexting coin.

If we'd been able to show school spirit like this back in my day (as opposed to seeing which graduating class could cheer loudest during mandatory pep rallies to see which would then be awarded the "spirit stick" by the cheerleaders) maybe we would have been a bit more enthusiastic. Alas, I'd bet good money my school still wouldn't allow this for fear it would get in the way of football or wrestling practice after school. Not that I'm an embittered former theater nerd or anything.
posted by mostlymartha at 4:28 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


I love the kid who does the flip at about 15 seconds into the first video. He just walks away like nothing...I loved this, thanks for posting.
posted by Grlnxtdr at 4:32 PM on December 18, 2009


The idea that someone can genuinely prefer Hall and Oates to "Hey Ya" is so astonishing to me that I'm literally at a loss for words.

The reverse is true for me. To each his or her own.

Not trashing the Outkast song, which I don't hate. But I'm just saying.

I thought the videos were charming.
posted by blucevalo at 4:45 PM on December 18, 2009


This kinda makes me sad about my high school. I'm not exaggerating when I say that an attempt at something like this would have ended in bloodshed and possible gunfire.
posted by cmoj at 4:48 PM on December 18, 2009


I don't think they actually filmed this backwards. I think this school is located in the Black Lodge.
posted by anazgnos at 4:51 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Can someone explain to me why I should call these lip dubs instead of lip syncs? Because lip dub just sounds stupid to me.
posted by linux at 5:02 PM on December 18, 2009


shen1138: “Outkast: rap safe enough for white folk.”

Hall and Oates: cheesy shitpop safe enough for black folk.
posted by koeselitz at 5:02 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]




Grr, posted too soon -- anyway, I presume that's why a poster of Rainn Wilson is being vandalized in the Shorewood video. I can see my house from here!
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:07 PM on December 18, 2009


Shorewood for the win. From now on, I'm claiming them as my alma mater. But can someone explain the significance of the syncronized bleacher movements they're doing at the end? It might come up in job interviews, so I want to be prepared to answer the question.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 5:08 PM on December 18, 2009


Grr, posted too soon -- anyway, I presume that's why a poster of Rainn Wilson is being vandalized in the Shorewood video.

That and he's a Shorecrest grad.
posted by dw at 5:15 PM on December 18, 2009


Man, if Shorewood had some keyboard cat in there, that would end the internets. (Someone get on that.)
posted by mek at 5:16 PM on December 18, 2009


These things look very difficult to pull off. I think this one is pretty impressive.
posted by A Long and Troublesome Lameness at 5:25 PM on December 18, 2009


These are both excellent. I can't imagine how much planning must have gone into this.

Extra kudos for whatever school administrators took the sticks out of their asses long enough to allow such a large amount of time to be wasted on such an utterly silly, frivolous, delightful, spirit-building activity.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:31 PM on December 18, 2009 [4 favorites]


That was the most fun thing I've seen in a long time.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 6:08 PM on December 18, 2009


Shorewood FTW!
posted by Doohickie at 6:22 PM on December 18, 2009


Crest:Wood::Colgate:____________
posted by Sys Rq at 6:25 PM on December 18, 2009


"Hey Ya" is from 2003, so the seniors would've been about 12 when it came out. "You Make My Dreams" came out in 1980, when some of their parents could've been about seven.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:49 PM on December 18, 2009


On the evidence of these videos, I think these kids could have organized the invasion of Normandy, backwards, on Twitter. Thanks for posting.
posted by chinston at 6:57 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Excellent. Between this and the "Surprised Kitty" Youtube video, I am sufficiently fortified against the holiday blues. Bring on the humbug, i am immune!

oh yeah? check the 'last minutes with oden' fpp...

then hurry back over here.
posted by rainperimeter at 6:58 PM on December 18, 2009


Hey yay! My kids are going to go to one of those schools (the whole Shore$ thing -- I can't remember which is which) -- I hope they get to do something awesome like this!
posted by susanbeeswax at 7:10 PM on December 18, 2009


Kudos to both. Well done.

But, Holy shit...backwards? Damn. The kids are alright.
posted by VicNebulous at 7:15 PM on December 18, 2009


This is the only thing that has ever remotely made me want to go back to high school even slightly. These kids could definitely hang out on my lawn sidewalk.

H&O FTW
posted by grapesaresour at 7:32 PM on December 18, 2009


This is making me proud that the one high school dance I went to was at Shorewood. SUCK IT SHORECREST!

(Hi former high school boyfriend! Sorry I made fun of Shoreline and denied it was separate from Seattle.)
posted by piratebowling at 7:52 PM on December 18, 2009


I don't miss high school, but I might think of it fondly at least sometimes if we did stuff like this.

Amen, sister. If my high school had been even half as cool as this, I might've stayed in school.
posted by amyms at 7:53 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


This was great! Awesome to see kids come together and make something cool like that! Nice job!!
posted by garnetgirl at 7:54 PM on December 18, 2009


1) You don't shake a Polaroid, damnit.

2) Was the lipsynching "off" in the Hall and Oates version, or is it just my crappy intertubes?

3) Hall and Oates still rule.

That said, I'm always amazed when schools have this much spirit contained within them. Anything like this would have merited a big, giant meh in my school. Hell, we didn't even have a mascot, let alone school spirit.

Also:
"You Make My Dreams" came out in 1980, when some of their parents could've been about seven.

Holy crap, I'm old.
posted by madajb at 7:56 PM on December 18, 2009


I totally want to do that. NOW!

Ah, sometimes youth is not wasted on the young. Kudos to these kids and to the hardworking teachers who helped them. I actually found myself getting a little misty-eyed at all that youthful enthusiasm. I'm going to pass this along to so many performers and performing arts teachers I know.

I’m sometimes grateful I didn’t have to endure MySpace/Facebook cliques when I was in school. But OTOH I also regret that the interwebs, especially stuff like Youtube, was not around then. What great opportunities for theatre/ music nerds like me. (Fortunately my teachers went the extra mile in other ways for us.)

(And boo to the Hey Ya haters.)
posted by NorthernLite at 8:03 PM on December 18, 2009


I've never been prouder to be a Shorewood grad. Go T-Birds!
posted by l2p at 8:09 PM on December 18, 2009


"Hey Ya" is from 2003, so the seniors would've been about 12 when it came out. "You Make My Dreams" came out in 1980, when some of their parents could've been about seven.

Wow. I feel ancient - I was 7 in 1980!

But I so would have loved to be involved in something like this when I was in high school. Heck, I would love to be involved in something like this now!
posted by SisterHavana at 8:59 PM on December 18, 2009


As someone who grew up with the Polaroid Instamatics - and having heard several complaints about the lyric - let me just clarify something.

The reason you "shook" a Polaroid picture was not to help it develop. That simply took waiting a minute or two once it came out of the camera.

The reason we shook them was to dry them off. They were still wet when they came out of the camera and you had to wait for a minute as it developed, so the natural habit was to kind of wave it back and forth in a shaking motion to air dry the print (and kill time) while the picture completed development.

It wasn't strictly necessary to do that, since the solvent would evaporate quickly anyway, but hey, we're impatient people.

The motion, if done with vigor, causes your upper torso to wobble. Hence for Beyonce-esque women (i.e., attractive women with large breasteses), "shaking it like a Polaroid picture" leads to getting all jiggly with it.

/the more you know
posted by darkstar at 9:00 PM on December 18, 2009 [2 favorites]


They're all trying to pretend they don't feel self conscious, but it's so evident that they are.

Ah, I'm so glad I'm not 15.
posted by anniecat at 9:09 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


These guys have them all beat.
posted by anniecat at 9:15 PM on December 18, 2009


MY INITIAL FROWN WENT BACKWARDS INTO SOME KIND OF REVERSE-FROWN WTF
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:41 PM on December 18, 2009 [9 favorites]


This has put a surprising dent in my current Grinchitude.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:21 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


And in the amazing singing in reverse category, I haven't seen anything that tops Jeroen Offerman doing Stairway to Heaven in reverse at St.Paul's while people walk by. When the video and audio are reversed, you get people walking backwards while he does a passable rendition forwards.

Check the video here. In the past, Offerman has objected to other postings of his video and has had them taken down. See this before then.
posted by A-Train at 10:25 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


they're both delightfully kooky!
posted by geekhorde at 11:10 PM on December 18, 2009


Stachemaster: I thought all kids these days knew about the backwards filming technique, as demonstrated in the Spike Jonze dvd

Well, it was the inspiration for the Shorewood video.

Also, God I love Pharcyde
posted by Kattullus at 12:24 AM on December 19, 2009


Let's not forget other great backwards music videos Mute Math's Typical (I mean, drumming like that, COMON) and Coldplay's The Scientist.

And, while not in reverse, one-take-wonder Goldfrapp's Happiness.

Man, these high schoolers did well—resetting a take would be an EPIC pain, especially the backwards one, what with things getting thrown. But really either, as there are hundreds of kids throughout a sprawling high school. I wonder if they just nailed it, or had a few false starts, or had a few near misses or what?
posted by disillusioned at 3:32 AM on December 19, 2009


Darkstar,

I think shaking the Polaroids might also come from the Polaroid Instamatic predecessors where you had to take the photo out of the camera, peel back a protective cover and then use this finishing stuff that came in a tube and you'd wipe it over the picture (I guess to seal in the chemicals.) That stuff was wet and I remember waving the picture around so it would dry.

I am talking old school black and white Polaroids, at least that's what I remember doing with my dad when I was a little girl. So perhaps people just kept that behavior when the newer Polaroids came out?
posted by NoraCharles at 5:37 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]


Whoa. That Shorewood clip is one sophisticated piece of choreography. I mean, damn, it makes Scorcese's Goodfellas scene (Henry and Karen followed into the Copacabana and through the labyrinthine hallways to their table and ending with Henny Youngman's one-liners) look like a student film!

I am so thoroughly impressed with their achievement. Marvelous! Let's hear it for Mr Ballew's Video Production 1 Class! Woot!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:49 AM on December 19, 2009


Um, sorry, I meant Shorecrest, of course.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:52 AM on December 19, 2009


No, wait... I meant ShoreWOOD, in fact. Can't these schools come up with better names, fer chrissakes?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:53 AM on December 19, 2009


Polaroid warns buyers not to 'shake it'
“OutKast fans like to ‘shake it like a Polaroid picture,’ but the instant camera maker is warning consumers that taking the advice of the hip-hop stars could ruin your snapshots.

OutKast's number one hit ‘Hey Ya’ includes the ‘shake it’ line as a reference to the motion that amateur photographers use to help along the self-developing film.

But in the ‘answers’ section on the Polaroid Web site, the company says that shaking photos, which once helped them to dry, is not necessary since the modern version of Polaroid film dries behind a clear plastic window.

The image ‘never touches air, so shaking or waving has no effect,’ the company said on its site. ‘In fact, shaking or waving can actually damage the image. Rapid movement during development can cause portions of the film to separate prematurely, or can cause 'blobs' in the picture.’

A Polaroid spokesman added: ‘Almost everybody does it, thinking that shaking accelerates the development process, but if you shake it too vigorously you could distort the image. A casual shake typically doesn't affect it.’

Polaroid said its film should be laid on a flat surface and shielded from the wind, and that users should avoid bending or twisting their pictures. Of course, ‘lay it on a flat surface like a Polaroid picture,’ doesn't sound nearly as cool.”
posted by ericb at 8:01 AM on December 19, 2009


Blog: Mr Ballew's Video Production Class.
posted by ericb at 8:06 AM on December 19, 2009


Blog: Shorewood Associated Student Body.
posted by ericb at 8:10 AM on December 19, 2009


Nora, you're right, the older ones were definitly wet. My Dad's camera's prints had to be waved about for a while to get them to dry off.

But even in the Instamatic (the first camera I ever owned) the prints did come out still a bit damp. So one stood there for 60 seconds or so with a damp print while it was undeveloped and waving it about to dry it off was kind of a natural thing to do. Mind you, I never shook it so hard my boobs jiggled, but still, Polaroids did encourage that general kind of motion.

Anyway, the lyric is pretty neatly evocative of a particular kind of bodily motion and a particular era, as well. But then, I'm one of those evidently benighted "Hey Ya" fans, too.

Props to both schools for some pretty cool videos. Growing up in the ssuburbs south of Atlanta in the 70s and early 80s, we were treated more like cattle at our schools. Something like this would have been seen as detrimental to school cohesion, or whatever. The practice upthread of having mandatory pep rallies and the contest to see which graduating class could oucheer the other is a haunting recollection. I still refer to jigoistic nationalism as "that indoctrinated pep-rally mentality", since it was then that I learned to hate that kind of thing (i.e., pure tribalistic exceptionalism based on nothing more than where you happen to be going to school, living, etc.).

So, go kids!
posted by darkstar at 8:14 AM on December 19, 2009


That Shorewood video is the most fun I've had watching a music video since OK Go's Here It Goes Again. By extension that probably means it's one of the best music videos of the decade.

Sure, it was completely derivative. It just did the same thing as the Shorecrest kids (who also deserve props), with the deliberate addition of Spike Jonze's Drop concept. Yet the esprit de corps, the sincerity, the youth, the complexity, and the craftsmanship make it seem one of a kind. There's so many interesting things going on at once in every frame; like a Graeme Base picture book come to life.
posted by dgaicun at 8:31 AM on December 19, 2009


Video Bulletin for the Shorewood Lipdub Music Video -- used to recruit students to be in the video.
posted by ericb at 8:36 AM on December 19, 2009


Dang: the proper Recruitment Video link.
posted by ericb at 8:38 AM on December 19, 2009


"At the end of the video is a message: 'Try and beat that Shorecrest!'

Game on. Shorecrest says it's already planning its response, but the students aren't ready to give away what that is.

What makes this rivalry more special is the video teachers for each school. Shorecrest's Trent Mitchell and Shorewood's Marty Ballew are childhood friends."*
posted by ericb at 8:40 AM on December 19, 2009


Shorewood teacher Marty Ballew talking about the next phase of the video rivalry.
posted by ericb at 8:52 AM on December 19, 2009


Fun fact: Marty Ballew is the nephew of Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America.
posted by jessamyn at 8:56 AM on December 19, 2009


The trash talking between students of the two schools at YouTube and Twitter.
posted by ericb at 9:02 AM on December 19, 2009


OK the recruitment video was way better than either of the full videos. The really needed a director or someone making a decision who at any given point is mouthing the lead vocals. Too often it was a mass of people jumping and waving and no one was tending to the lead vocals. Which would seem to be a major part of a lip dub.
Also if your performers can't walk backwards without constantly looking away, then have them move forward and the camera move backwards. That's why you have a second to guide the camera operator, so he doesn't have to look where he's going.
Anyway, I'll stick with the original Flagpole Sitta lip dub or the 'Université du Québec à Montréal's dub of I've Got a Feelin.
posted by MrBobaFett at 9:31 AM on December 19, 2009


My high school yearbook shows abundant male semi-nudity and we didn't even have a swim team.

Nor did we have anything this awesome. Our rivals had the same colors and the same mascot, so at homecoming, there was just a blur of orange and black people yelling "GO WILDCATS!" and the whole thing seemed really meta-ridiculous.

Clearly, we would have been better served by lip-dubbing the competition.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:05 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]


... one was tending to the lead vocals...

To be fair those who were lipdubbing were s"singing" the words backwards, hence mouthing gibberish that when viewed in reverse the lipsyncs matched the real lyrics.
posted by ericb at 10:12 AM on December 19, 2009


God, I forgot how awkward high school boys are. Still, very fun and sweet!

The idea that someone can genuinely prefer Hall and Oates to "Hey Ya" is so astonishing to me that I'm literally at a loss for words.

Sooo... you're saying you can't go for that (No, Nooo, No can do!)?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:25 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]


Sooo... you're saying you can't go for that (No, Nooo, No can do!) ?

And that is why I can't go for that.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:41 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]


Cool Papa Bell -- here's a version of the Shorewood video in reverse [starting at 02:12 -- i.e. it shows the actual filming.

That video is no longer available, but someone has reposted it. It shows what the camera recorded and the backword lipsynching required for the video shoot.
posted by ericb at 4:23 PM on December 19, 2009


If the ball's in Shorecrest's court, one would presume that a POTUS song might be under consideration.
posted by mwhybark at 6:40 PM on December 19, 2009


More where that came from
posted by destro at 10:07 PM on December 19, 2009


Sort of late, and still OT to the OP, but for everyone hating on Outkast as "rap for white people" and "pop-rap," as a native Atlantan and big Outkast fan, let me say PLEASE listen to old Outkast before you classify them based on your opinion of "Hey Ya!" If you hate rap, you're going to hate them no matter what, but if you like hip hop and think "Hey Ya!" is a good representation of Outkast, well...for shame!

I mean, "Hey Ya!" came out on their FIFTH album, almost 10 YEARS after their first.

Just to pick one of my favs: Elevators (particularly Andre 3000's final verse--simply fantastic)

Got stopped at the mall the other day
Heard a call from the other way
That I just came from
Some nigga was sayin somethin
Talkin bout "Hey man, you remember me from school?"
Naw, not really but he kept smilin like a clown, facial expression lookin silly
And he kept askin me, what kind of car you drive, I know you paid
I know y'all got beau coup them hoes from all them songs that y'all done made
And I replied that I had been goin through the same thing that he had
True, I got more fans than the average man but not enough loot to last me
To the end of the week, I live by the beat like you live check to check
If you don't move yo' foot then I don't eat, so we like neck to neck
Yes we done come a long way like them Slim ass cigarettes
From Virginia, this ain't gon stop so we just gonna continue


With that said, the H&O video is still better. Carry on.
posted by jckll at 8:50 AM on December 20, 2009


Just listen to the Supersuckers version of "Hey Ya" if you hate the Outkast version, kittens. Problem solved!
posted by bitter-girl.com at 11:43 AM on December 20, 2009


So "meep" is banned but "just wanna make you cumma" is ok? Being a teenager today is double-plus hard.

Disclaimers: Ok, yeah different schools with different staff. And on the grand scale titillating lyrics, "cumma" hardly makes an appearance. Also, I did note that nobody actually was lip dubbing at that point. But how can I send my child to a high school knowing that there are administrators out there, responsible adults, who would allow them to perform Hall and Oats on video? I mean, won't somebody think of the children?

Also, H&O version FTW

posted by deliquescent at 4:55 PM on December 20, 2009


"When Javier Cáceres walks the halls of Shorewood High School, he is greeted as a rock star, a conquering hero … the guy who engineered the defending blow against Seattle rival Shorecrest....Did you know that if you simply sing words in reverse, your mouth won’t match the words, making your video look like a badly dubbed Godzilla movie? Cáceres spent hours filming himself singing 'You Make My Dreams Come True' in reverse, adjusting the lyrics phonetically so they’d sync when played backwards....In the end, even rival alumni Rainn Wilson gave Shorewood begrudging props, posting a link to the new video in this Twitter post: 'Ok, it's on. Shorewood (idiot losers) have issued a video response to Shorecrest's awesome "Hey Ya!" vid — u decide'" ... [more].
posted by ericb at 6:59 AM on December 22, 2009


Rachel Maddow on the rivalry.
posted by ericb at 7:03 AM on December 24, 2009


I skipped this the first time I saw it because I thought it would be stupid. Stupid me. Great stuff. Enough to make me think humans are kind of OK. Thanks for posting.
posted by Karmadillo at 3:43 PM on December 24, 2009


"So Ashton Kutcher and Ben Stiller were tweeting the other day. You know. Down in Hollywood.

Ashton says to Ben: Wish YouTube existed when I was in high school.'

And Ben says, 'We are all going to be working for Javier Caceres in five years.'

Javier Caceres. You know. The filmmaker. [more].
posted by ericb at 6:08 AM on December 25, 2009 [1 favorite]


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