Reverberations
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is produced - Wikipedia
Every time I watch this video I chuckle. It’s a parody of a pop video called “Party Rock Anthem” and was made as an end of year celebration by the Year 13 school leavers at a school in Sidcup.
Watch out for the way the accents change from British to American part way through, the dance routines, especially the Spongebob in the middle (ask a teenager if you aren’t sure which one is the Spongebob), the Head Teacher pretending to smoke a pipe whilst a group dances unnoticed past his window, the boy banging his head on the ceiling light and the look of surprise on the face of a young boy in uniform as frenzied dancers appear from under a reception desk. You’ll find your own special bits.
The film was made with a hand held camera, the choreography was made up in a few hours, and it took a couple of days to make. It was the enthusiasm of a group of sixth formers who got things going, inspiring the whole year group to take part, cajoling teachers, admin staff and the catering team to let their hair down, and commandeering the school as their film set.In the days after the film had been loaded onto YouTube, the students and teachers gasped as the number of hits rose from 100 to 1000, then over the weeks to 10,000, 100,000, 110,000 as word got round. Comments started to come in from around the world appreciating the video. Rumours spread that it had been watched at 10, Downing Street and by celebrities in the US. The girl who came up with the original idea was asked to produce more for Tango and the boy who edited it was asked to film and edit a short corporate website video. A year on and there have been 220,000 hits. Every so often another student hears a bit of news about how that video is still reverberating. Not bad with a hand held camera and a few hazy Summer hours.
This video reminds me of what is possible when we are playful, work with affection and comraderie, take a few risks and produce something that makes a difference without sweating about perfection. It also reminds me that none of us have any idea how far our voices will reverberate.