On the 5th of September, Tembusu College released a lipdub video. The video, dubbed over with “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction and “Good Day” by Click Five, showcased the various aspects of college life from the school’s administration to the different unique interest groups. Some of these interest groups include “Tembusu Shuttlers” and the “Tembusu K-Pop Group” that make up the vibrant college life.
For the uninitiated, a “lipdub” is a video of people lip synching to the lyrics of (a) song(s) with the music dubbed over during the post-editing process. It has become quite a staple of university students trying to market their identity. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90lgMGfYF6Y for an example of one by students from NTU)
It has become quite a staple of university students trying to market their identity.
According to the 11-men organising committee, this video was first mooted almost a year ago with the specific aim of creating a “Tembusu Story”. About 200 of 600 residents in Tembusu College, spanning a time period of eight months, were involved in the making, planning and execution of this narrative. In the final months, arrangements were also made to include the incoming freshmen of Academic Year 2012/13 in the production. For these freshmen, it was an apt introduction into the tight-knitted community that Tembusu College wants to portray itself as.
Such a large scale production was not without its challenges. Angus Gilchrist Ess, Project Director of the Lipdub project, explained that “planning got off on a bumpy start,” especially with regards to managing the logistical arrangements with various college and university administrations regarding use of the area in UTown for filming. “Blackout dates” were also scheduled to ensure that committee members had sufficient time for their academic studies. Nevertheless, the project received widespread support from both staff and students which made the whole process a lot smoother. They even managed to get their residential fellows to star in the video, all decked out in black suits and sunglasses.
On the completion of this project, Ess marvelled that “this idea we thought was crazy half a year ago” became reality. Crazy though it may be, it is certainly brought some colour to University Town.
There are currently no plans to make another lipdub video but the gauntlet has been thrown down for other student organisations to produce a larger and better counterpart. An NUS-wide lipdub video, perhaps?
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Watch the video here: