It’s a tradition dating back to at least 2010, but this year’s entries – encompassing everything from drones to dogs and zoom calls – took the competition to a whole new level.
Before stray cases of COVID-19 shuttered us in, UWA’s residential colleges battled it out in their annual Inter-College Lip Dub competition – Pelican was lucky enough to land a spot on the judging panel!
Anyone with any experience in content-creation knows what a challenge is to coordinate and film…well, anything – add to the mix dozens of college students and the requirement to shoot the video in a single, unedited take and you have a mammoth task on your hands.
Yet, the colleges – St Catherine’s, St George’s, St Thomas More, Trinity, and University Hall – have showcased some incredible talent!
Read on below for a breakdown of the competition, but first, take a look for yourself.
Here are the three entries which have been uploaded to YouTube so far, accompanied by some commentary.
St Catherine’s College – Jitterbug
“The beginning was so dope…I loved that! The lip-syncing was done so well.” – April Htun
“I especially loved the Cat’s Life shirts…it’s about as vibrant as I heard the culture’s like there!” – Connor Price
“The control of lighting was amazing, I loved the light switching at the start…the gymnastics and athleticism was also incredible.” – Pelican Magazine
Trinity College – I Want It All
“As much as I love some good High School Musical, why was it not just Whoopty for the whole song?” – Connor Price
“The choreography and cinematography was hype!” – April Htun
“Loved the beat drops, loved the poodle, loved the energy…the motif of stars was very fitting, you guys are definitely stars!” – Pelican Magazine
University Hall – Holding Out For A Hero
“I just have to say I’m glad that Curtis has found a new career path after PROSH.” – Paris Javid (2021 PROSH co-editor)
“I think all I have to say is just…wow…that was amazing.” – Prakhar Bhandari
“As much as Pelican has a bit of a rivalry with PROSH, I have to say that a chain mail-clad Curtis is quite superior.” – Pelican Magazine
Where are St George’s and Tommy More’s entries?
While we eagerly await the public release of their LipDubs, here are some comments from the night.
St George’s – UPDATE: Uploaded as of the 29th of April
“I had war flashbacks to the mannequin challenge at the start there so thank you for that.” – Paris Javid
“The theme was very fitting to St George’s…the part with the heart – very edgy.” – April Htun
“You made the most of the Harry Potter-esque space that we all know and you really took that to a new level.” – Pelican Magazine
St Thomas More
“My dad went to Tommy More back in the day – in the 80s this was – and he was in that back wing in that one scene there…he reckons it was that old when he went there, so it’s good to see Tommy finally get some use of it.” – Connor Price
“Well I just rocked up…but that was the best video I’ve ever seen.” – Callum Lindsay
“The use of the drone was amazing – the camera work in general was incredible. You guys adopted the characters really well at the beginning and then ramped it up with the energy.” – Pelican Magazine
How did it all go down?
MCed by Elisabeth Jongenelis and Connor Price, the event, held on the 20th of April, was attended by hundreds of students from the five colleges.
UniHall, the reigning champions from 2020, were on home soil at the screening.
They also happened to take home the top prize, coming out just above Trinity and St Cat’s which took out second and third place respectively.
Entries were judged on creativity, production quality, lip-syncing, involvement, and engagement, with additional bonus points for elements such as the inclusion of a dog and painting.
Complete with popcorn, instruments, and a vibrant afterparty at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, RSD’s Inter-College Lip Dub event – and incredible entries – far exceeded your correspondent’s expectations.
Keep an eye out for St George’s and Tommy More’s lip dubs which are well worth a watch!
As Connor Price observed, “this was deadset the best year ever…you go back on YouTube and watch past years’ lip dubs…they’re not even half of these.”
Words by Millie Muroi