Recurring Meme: The Lip Dub
October 1, 2009
The lip dub is a relatively old meme, but one that gets revived from time to time when a new video gains notoriety. The most recent lip dub video to take the internets by storm was filmed by a large group of communications students at UQAM during frosh week. It probably doesn’t hurt that the song they used in their video is inanely easy to sing along to (or lip synch, in this case) and doesn’t seem to be losing popularity any time soon.
What really sets this lip dub apart is the scale of the production. Filming a video in one take is no small feat and when you factor in 172 people over the course of 5 minutes… well, it’s a logistical nightmare. So it’s pretty impressive that this group of students were able to shoot the video in a little over two hours, without knowing how many people would show up ahead of time.
The history of lip dubs:
The term lip dub was first coined by Jakob Lodwick, the founder of Vimeo, in 2006. He later went on to direct a lip dub of Flagpole Sitta’ in the Connected Ventures office, which includes College Humor, Vimeo, and Busted Tees. This lip dub went on to spark many imitation office lip dubs, and not surprisingly, compelled a lot of people to send in resumes in the hopes of working at Connected Ventures. To date it’s received over 2 million views, making it the best know and most watched lip dub ever.
What makes a good lip dub?
There are a few general rules to follow if you want to make a great lip dub.
- Choose a catchy, well-known song
- Film the video in one take
- Choose an interesting location and take advantage of the space (hallways, stairs, etc)
- Have young, attractive people in the video (this is not necessary if you’re making another form of meme-worthy office video: the senior management rap video)
October 1, 2009 at 3:02 pm
[...] Recurring Meme: The Lip Dub « What's in a Meme? whatsinameme.com/2009/10/01/lipdub – view page – cached The lip dub is a relatively old meme, but one that gets revived from time to time when a new video gains notoriety. The most recent lip dub video to take the internets by storm was filmed by a… (Read more)The lip dub is a relatively old meme, but one that gets revived from time to time when a new video gains notoriety. The most recent lip dub video to take the internets by storm was filmed by a large group of communications students at UQAM during frosh week. It probably doesn’t hurt that the song they used in their video is inanely easy to sing along to (or lip synch, in this case) and doesn’t seem to be losing popularity any time soon. (Read less) — From the page [...]
October 1, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Wow, I can’t believe I watched that whole senior management rap video, I had to stop half way through though, but goddamn that was bad! I must say bravo to them though for having the balls to actually make it!
Pretty cool also to see that the first video was from a Canadian university!
October 1, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Oh man, I love that senior management rap video so much. The numbers girl is my favourite part, hands down. The video from UQAM is getting a lot of attention! Apparently it was shown on Global News, and articles are popping up on a bunch of Canadian news sites. Not too shabby.
December 17, 2009 at 6:11 pm
The video from UQAM got a lot of attention because of their song but this clip here, made six month earlier, is way better :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZb_eXsNkc
Thanks.