Spirit of The Knight --- Prospect High School LipDub

Описание: Prospect High School LipDub, Oct 5, 2012

By: Mark J. Sandel

Info:
It all started when Maggie Murphy and I made our Knights Way topic "Attitude of Gratitude & School Spirit". We came across the GBS video in I believe April and decided we should do one for Prospect! We planned it over Google Docs and over summer. We knew we couldn't get a helicopter or horses, but that wasn't the idea. The Idea was NOT to showoff how much money we have but rather to showcase the amount of school spirit we have!
After some basic planning, I went to Mr. Laakso about the idea. After getting his enthusiastic approval I then sent out an email to all the club sponsors and sport coaches to let them know what we had in mind.
Throughout the beginning of the planning processes in August and September I was met with huge amounts of enthusiasm, but also huge amounts of negativity. From both students and teachers, some said "You cant do it" and "If you do it wont be that good". Instead of being discouraged, I saw their negativity as a challenge and kept moving forward with the project.
A month later Maggie and I brought the idea up at the Knights Way training and got some great feedback from the incoming leaders.
Some of our original ideas were scrapped and we implemented the new ones. That of course meant talking to Mrs. Fonsino (Rosenheim) about filming this video during the upcoming Pep-Assembly. After getting a YES and internally screaming for joy I began to realize how real this was. It was only a month away and we had so much to do.
Madelyn Sobey and I put the names of singers into a hat and moments later we had the 20 singers ... that list was then shortened and edited because no one checks their school email ...
Mrs. Fonsino and I began putting "dates" together that we wanted the singers (15 or so) and the 18 directors to come in for some meetings. Problem was, at each of the 4 or 5 total meetings we ever had ... only about half of the people showed up. In fact on the day we shot the video it was some singers "practice" shot as they were to busy to rehearse.
The day of.
As 8th period rolled around we called every singer and every director out so they could come for one final meeting! At 2:18 the bell rang, hearts began to pound, but the cheering settled as Mr. Laakso got on the intercom and reminded everyone that the LipDub was going down and to get to their positions. I grabbed the camera, a walkie talkie and we all got to our places. People asked me all throughout the day ... "Mark, are you ready" which i replied, "as ready as i can be!" Some said "It's, your big day mark ... don't screw it up!" and to that I replied "... thanks."
2:30 rolled around and we needed to get confirmation that everyone was in place. Keep in mind we had no rehearsals and we just officially announced to the whole school we were doing this LipDub THE DAY BEFORE!
To be honest, I never thought we were ready for it. I am not usually a "glass half empty" guy, but i really didn't think we were ready for it. Many students had no idea what to even do or where to go. We began anyway! We started with the A Capella group and all was going well see as we had never practiced before. The moment I stepped inside the school and saw all the people lining the halls I got goosebumps. I never expected this one idea, (not to be corny but ... ) my one dream was finally happening and the school was PUMPED!!! It had turned out so much better than I had hoped and I don't care about any of the problems or mess ups we had. I am so proud of what was accomplished that day.
When the filming was over I got more hugs than a grieving widow at her husbands funeral. It was crazy, from students, faculty, and even the principal. It meant so much. All the weeks of stress and taking my anger out on family and friends was done!
Only problem, I wasn't close to being done ...
There was still plenty of editing to be done and I was missing the first 32 seconds of audio.
A week went by and the question from everyone had been the same: "WHEN IS THE VIDEO COMING OUT?!?!?!?!" and my reply was the same "SOON". Well, soon meant a couple days, then it meant a week, and then it means two weeks. They say that for every minute of shooting means an hour of editing ... I think they meant for every minute of shooting means a day or two of editing. After the video was completed I uploaded it privately for a FEW administrative members to see. They gave me feedback and I had to re-edit and even blur out some inappropriate things, thanks guys. Yeah, im talking about you.
But when all was said and done ... I CANNOT thank everyone enough, what we all accomplished that day was amazing.
Without any rehearsals or $$ spent we were able to get over 2,200 students and hundreds of staff members to enthusiastically participate in the greatest feat in Prospect's history. I am happy to say this is the legacy I am leaving.
Thank you Prospect!