Lip Dub

What it is

People lip-sync a song everyone knows and shoot their own music video over it, miming the words, dancing and acting. They do their own costumes and make-up.

What’s left is a real music video, usable in internal communications, for recognising a team’s work, or on the company’s social channels.

When it makes sense to choose it

It works well when you want everyone involved at once, including very large numbers, without splitting the group into teams that then compete. Here there’s one result and everybody is in it.

It works well when you need material for communications. The finished product is the point of the day, and it can be shown to customers and partners as easily as to the people who weren’t there.

It works less well with people who don’t want to appear on video. There’s no behind-the-scenes version: the format is the video.

How it actually works

The first step is choosing the song and writing the script. The choice depends on the message the company wants to get across, and a well-known, cheerful track is the sensible option, because the video will stay and get watched again. Then each group writes its own part and decides what to put in it, and builds costumes and make-up that fit the underlying idea.

The second step is the filming. The groups shoot their parts one at a time and can decide to come together for a final ensemble scene.

The part nobody predicts is how quickly the embarrassment falls away. After two takes the scenes become hilarious, people step out of their comfort zone and learn to laugh at their own mistakes and everybody else’s, which is why the outtakes are always the best part. Our music and dance facilitators stay alongside every group, so that nobody is left standing there not knowing what to do. The day after, the hierarchy has been turned upside down for an afternoon and everybody has seen it happen.

On request we prepare a rough edit in the hours after the event: if it’s needed, the video gets watched at dinner the same evening.

Three questions

Do you need to be able to sing or dance?

No, and strictly speaking there’s no singing either: you mime it. What’s needed is being willing to stand in front of a camera.

How many people can it hold?

It’s built for large groups, and the more there are the better it comes out. There are no competing teams: there’s one video and everybody makes it.

When is the video ready, and where can it be shot?

The finished edit comes later, and if it has to be shown the same evening we prepare a rough version in the hours straight after filming. As for the venue, recording the song needs a soundproofed room, while the video itself can be shot anywhere, indoors or outdoors, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Saudi Arabia or another city in the region. Your own offices work particularly well, especially a new headquarters, because people end up looking at familiar spaces with completely different eyes.