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WARREN — To show their school pride and share it with the public, Warren Woods Tower High School students and staff recently unveiled the 13-minute “Lip Dub 22” on the internet.
A lip dub is a video in which a large group of people lip-sync and dance to a medley of songs. The video is shot in one long, continuous take with no cuts or edits.
On Jan. 4, “Lip Dub 22” premiered on YouTube. To view it, just log onto youtube.com/@TitanNationWWT. Produced by career and technical education digital media teacher Eric Martin, the lip dub was recorded on the afternoon of Dec. 21, just before the holiday break.
When fifth hour began, the Warren Woods Tower student body, teachers and support staff — full of energy — lined up along the school’s hallways, inside the cafeteria, at the commons area and the swimming pool, waiting for their cues. Dozens of students and a few teachers signed on to lip-sync while others acted out different scenarios to drum up school spirit.
Many of the approximately 1,100 participants wore Titans gear, carried pompoms, sported bandanas or draped boas over their shoulders to add to the mood. Some students even painted their faces. The lip dub also highlighted athletics, the marching band, culinary arts and various school clubs. The Titan school mascot also makes an appearance.
The lengthy video, featuring various “mash up” songs from the past decade or so, was recorded in one take. Viewers will hear songs from Maroon 5, Adele, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and others.
With some assistance, Martin used a handheld camera to walk through the school getting footage of everyone lip syncing and dancing. Toward the video’s end, everyone hustled over to the school gym for the lip dub’s big finish.
All filming occurred on the school’s first floor. Prior to filming, Martin gave a pep talk to his fifth-hour students.
“This is it. This is the moment we’ve been practicing for,” said Martin, also the English department chair. “I’m so proud of everyone here. We are going to make Tower history. I think it’s such a huge undertaking. You know what to do; just stick to the plan.”
On their own time, seniors José Rios and Marissa Scaranda-Stough and junior Natalya Bonkowski helped Martin coordinate the project by directing and doing the dance choreography.
“The lip dub brings school spirit,” Scaranda-Stough said. “It’s a fun tradition to do once in a while.”
It’s also a way to reconnect with each other and the community after COVID-19 hurt the school’s culture, Bonkowski said.
The lip dub took about six weeks of planning.
“We had a lot to figure out. We had a floor plan. We drew out where we were going to walk,” Bonkowski said. “We had to choreograph the parts. We put tape on the floor so everyone knew where to stand. Green is ‘go.’ Pink is ‘stop.’ It was all timed out to a T.”
“You need a camera, computer and communication with the students,” said Rios, adding that after the first take, “You have to review everything.”
“The classes are in certain areas and have to make sure they don’t wave too early,” Scaranda-Stough said.
This is the third time Martin has created a lip dub. The first one was produced in 2011 and a second in 2015.
“If you watch the videos of the past, you can see the heart of the other students,” Bonkowski said.
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