Dougherty Valley’s eighth school-wide Lip Dub occurred on Wednesday, April 30 during Student Support. Posted at the end of the school year on Youtube, the music video filmed during Lip Dub serves to commemorate the school year, display the student body, and feature DVHS’s sports teams, special programs like dance and band, as well as student clubs.
“The lip dub aims to display the different communities at Dougherty Valley through one video, with a lot of school spirit and hype,” Manna Sahle, a Campus Life Leadership team member, explained.
The Campus Life team, composed of eight Leadership students, began working from the first week of school to create the video, starting with song selection. To help form the video, the Campus Life team was created intentionally with Leadership students who are part of different sports, performing arts groups and clubs on campus.
“All of us have different connections on campus, so it makes it easier for us to split up communication with these different groups based on that. Within our team, there are no specific jobs per person; we all do the same thing,” Sahle explained.
The Campus Life team captures the individual clips of various groups on campus, starting with fall sports during the first few months of school.
“We reach out to all of the sports teams and performing arts programs to organize a day where we can film a video of them lip-syncing to a song. We do another one for the students with special needs as well as one with the DVHS administration,” Sahle said. “We can only access certain sports in their seasons, and it can be challenging to find a day where a majority of the team can participate. But, the teams are very cooperative in general.”
Meanwhile, the Video team takes care of the live route portion and editing the entirety of the video. The live route, which includes the entire student body, is usually filmed during Student Support in late April or early May. MCs, groups of two students who lip-sync in front of the camera, are chosen a couple weeks prior. Usually, two ASB officers end the video as MCs.
“The live route is so well known because it includes the entire school. It’s a great way to bring students together and a fun activity overall,” Maanika Thakur, a Leadership member, stated.
In the background, students are featured alongside the MCs. On the day of, students are encouraged to deck out in blue, with blue face paint provided in the quad for those who are interested before filming. Students often create signs for their clubs and wave to the camera as it passes. The Leadership class has a special role in the video.
“It’s our tradition to be a part of the powder toss as Leadership students. It makes the video colorful, and it’s fun to see everyone after it,” Thakur explained.
Yet, Leadership students recognize the difficulties that come alongside planning.
“While students only see the live route and MCs, a lot of work is put into organizing the video and the behind the scenes, ” Thakur said. “The team gets two takes to get the live route correct and the entire student body is out there. It’s over-stimulating and hard to manage, but the team handles it well.”
All in all, Leadership hopes that students see the Lip Dub as a fun end-of-the-year experience.
“The Lip Dub, in particular the live route, showcases all of DVHS’s school spirit, with powder and hype,” Sahle said.
