Receiving A Reply

On the 1st of March, I received an e-mail back from my expert. He answered my questions very thoroughly and I put together some of his main points to share with you -

• Approximately it took him a month and two weeks to plan, film and edit the lip dub
• Approximately it cost him $2000 dollars to plan, film and edit the lip dub not including editing equipment and other things that his school already had. He said that that would cost about $2000 dollars more, although he did hire a segway and special sound system and given that Selwyn House is quite small I probably won't be needing a segway!!
• He told me to get in touch with the composer of the song that you chose and check it with them if it is okay to use their song. Also, it's easier to get in touch with a New Zealand artist so try to chose an upbeat, fun, recognisable, Kiwi song.
• The most important step is planning. Everything needs to be thought out before the day because you don't wait to have major problems on the day of filming caused by you forgetting something. 
• When filming, you need to get people engaged and excited so that the school looks good on camera.
• Necessary equipment - A camera (a stedicam is better if you can get hold of one), sound system (for playing the music so that the people who front it, the people who go in front of the camera, can lip-sync in time.)
• Helpful but not necessary equipment if you can't afford it - Lighting (for moving from outside to inside), a helicopter (probably not necessary, but how he did the last shot in the StAC lip dub), Segway (As I said earlier, I probably won't need one)
• IT IS NOT EASY! If you can pull it off, you can be very happy with what you have achieved, but it is by no means a small undertaking.

I was very grateful for his prompt response. Now, I will need to find out more information. My next step will be to find out exactly how much it will cost. I probably won't need lighting, a helicopter or a segway so that takes off some of the $4000 dollars that it might cost. I will also need to find out what editing equipment I will need to use as I have not done this sort of thing before. Then, once I have the costs,  I will need to make a proposal to our principal to see if I might be able to get some funding for the lip dub. 

Sunshine & Rainbows

Hana