Lip Service

July 10, 2011

Lip Service: TC lip dub planned for July 17
By Erin Crowell
When a rock star lip-syncs on stage it’s considered cheating. Lip-syncing
on YouTube? Perfectly acceptable… even celebrated as lip dub music videos
are popping up all over the Internet – most recently (and famously) a
music video to Don McLean’s “American Pie” performed by the City of Grand
Rapids.
Thousands of residents participated in the downtown lip dub after a
January Newsweek article declared Grand Rapids as one of America’s Dying
Cities. The music video—which runs approximately nine minutes—was declared
a new world record, with over 3.4 million views (as of print) on YouTube
and Roger Ebert claiming it as “the greatest music video ever made.”
Traverse City hopes to make its own musical mark with a lip dub scheduled
to shoot on Sunday, July 17.
“We’re not saying we’re a dying city,” said Max Fischer, director of the
planned lip dub, “we’re just saying TC is an amazing place.”

LIP WHAT?
For those still left in the dark, a lip dub is a single-shot,
choreographed music video where participants mouth words to a song –
preferably a famous one. In this case, Traverse City will “sing” Paul
Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” and “Jump” by Van Halen – two upbeat, high
energy tunes of the ‘80s.
“We had a bunch of song ideas but none of them really embodied Traverse
City,” said Fischer who, when he moved to the area in 2009 from Orlando,
believes everyone should visit Traverse City at least once in their lives.
“When I think of ‘Jump,’ I think of fun; and ‘You Can Call Me Al’ makes me
think of building friendships and bonds.”
The music video will incorporate many elements of the area, including
members of the community such as the Traverse City Roller Derby team,
several cheerleading squads and numerous businesses and media.
“We’re looking for a lot of boats in the water just to show, ‘hey, not
only do we have a great community, but we’ve got great weather and a place
to park your boat,’” said Fischer.

BODIES NEEDED
Hosted by the Traverse City Film Festival and FishSoup Films, the lip dub
is the brainchild of Film Festival interns Jenny Omness and Emily Aja.
Recently, the office hosted auditions for “singers,” those who will be
responsible for lip-syncing the words in front of the camera.
And while the final 36 singers have been chosen, Fischer said there is
still a need for background folks along the filming route.
Music will be played over a loudspeaker as the camera starts on Front
Street and heads west to the Boardman Bridge (next to the farmers market),
goes through the tunnel and ends up at the Open Space. There, the largest
crowd will be needed for the final shot.
Organizers said they are hoping for just one take, but because of the
complexity of coordinating one continuous shot, it could take several.
“We’re also in need of at least 15 more assistant directors,” said
Fischer, who served as an intern on Michael Moore’s latest documentary
“Capitalism: A Love Story.” AD’s will be stationed along the route and be
assigned to a specific area to help coordinate and cue their designated
group of people as the camera rolls.

The lip dub is scheduled to shoot on July 17, from 1-6 p.m. Those
interested in being a part of the Open Space final shot should arrive at
1:30 p.m. Others interested in signing up their organization or becoming
an AD may email lipdub@traversecityfilmfest.org. Check out their Facebook
page for updates by searching “Traverse City Lip Dub.”